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Chapter 33:
“Please sit down” Dr. Alexander instructed Jack and Sarah.
“How bad is it?” Sarah asked
“The results came back this afternoon, they do not look as good as we hoped. This is what we are up against. Kat has what is called Primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNETs) she has a type called Medulloblastomas, the most common PNET, it represents more than 25 percent of all childhood brain tumors.”
Dr. Alexander informed them.
Crying Sarah ask “What does this all mean, is she going to die?”
“Mrs. Martin, I would like to start radiation therapy, we will go from there. Kat can go home but I would like to start her radiation therapy in the next week or two we will be doing a MRI in the next 10 days to see if how much of the tumor we could not get with surgery.” She asked them if they had any questions.
“What does the radiation do?” Jack asked
“The tumor is bombarded with beams of energy that kill tumor cells. The dosage is fairly uniform throughout the treated areas, making it especially useful for tumors that are large or have infiltrated into surrounding tissue. The treatment will last about 6 weeks.”
“What kind of side effects are there” Sarah spoke up.
“Well there are side effects that include nausea, loss of hair from the treatment” the doctor answered more questions the Martins had for her. They decided to wait to tell Kat the news until she was home.
“I wonder what is taking my parents so long.” Kat looked around the room. Before they entered Kat’s room they hugged each other and tried to smile hoping to not let on about the bad news.
“There you guys are” Kat said seeing her mom and dad.
“Sorry, these hospitals want so much information” Jack said with a pained smile.
“Well when can I get out of here” Kat asked
“The doctor is working the papers up right now” Sarah said packing her stuff into a bag.
Diana could feel that something was wrong, she knew Sarah and Jack were trying not to let it show. Helping pack Kat’s things Diana touched Sarah’s hand. Not looking up Sarah just squeezed Diana’s hand softly.
The nurse brought in a wheelchair and Kat was ready to leave the hospital for home.
Chapter: 34
Following behind the Martin’s car Diana sat and listened to the boys talk about various subjects.
At home Taylor and Zac raced into the house.
“Mom, it’s bad isn’t it” Ike said softly.
Turning to her oldest son Diana hugged him “It’s bad Ike, very bad.”
Diana told Ike how she could just sense that Jack and Sarah knew something that they felt they wanted to wait to tell Kat.
They walked into the house. Ike decided to go into the music room.
“Have you seen Ike” Taylor asked Zac who was making a sandwich.
“No not since we got home?” Zac replied.
“Oh ok, maybe he is in his room?” Tay went off looking for Ike.
“Taylor” Walker called from the study.
“Yeah dad.” He answered
“Your mom and I want to talk to you and Zac, could you please get him and come to the study” Walker spoke in a sadden tone.
“Ok well I’ll go get Zac, be right back” Tay said as he headed for the kitchen where he had left Zac seconds ago.
“Zac, hey Zac” Tay shouted into the kitchen not getting an answer. “Now where did he go?” he said as he went off into another room in search of Zac.
“Zachary, where are you” Tay yelled in the hallway hoping that this would end his search.
“What are you yelling for?” Zac said emerging from the bathroom.
“Dad and mom want to talk to us, it seems very important” Tay said giving his brother a strange look as Zac picked up his sandwich from the bathroom sink.
“Your gonna eat that?” Tay asked
“Why not? It’s not like I didn’t wash my hands or anything, I brought in here so no one would eat it” Zac said taking a bite.
“Well one thing is for sure no one would eat knowing it was in the bathroom with you” Tay said making a grossed out face.