Chapter Twenty-Four

They got to the hospital just as the sun was coming up. Noah was carrying a drowsy Lucy on his hip, while Jordan marched in front of them all the way to the oncology unit information desk.

“Hi, how can I help you?” asked a small chirpy woman with short brown hair and excessively long acrylic fingernails.

“My name is Jordan Mitchell,” Jordan explained. “I got a call from someone, I think she said her name was Cindy, telling me that there was something wrong with my uncle and I needed to get down here right away.”

The woman tapped something on her keyboard, causing her awful talons to clack together. To Jordan’s stressed and irritable ears, the mundane sound was like nails on a chalkboard.

“What’s your uncle’s name sweetheart?” the woman asked.

“Kenneth Mitchell.”

There was more clacking followed by subtle nod of her head.

“All right you guys. I’m gonna go ahead and direct you to the waiting room down the hall and to your left. If you’ll just sit tight, I’ll have your uncle’s doctor in there to explain the situation in just a few minutes.”

Jordan walked away without thanking her. His entire body felt cold and numb, almost as if it was stuck halfway between two different planes of existence.

He walked into the waiting room which was empty save for one sniffling young man off in the corner. Jordan sat down as far away from him as possible, praying that his uncle would not suffer the same terrible fate that his loved one clearly had.

Noah sat next to Jordan with Lucy in his lap. The little girl’s hair was still staticky and rumpled from her pillow, and she could barely keep her head up. Still, she had the presence of mind to reach out and pat Jordan consolingly on the head.

Jordan sighed and stared up at the ceiling tiles. They were painted baby blue with fluffy white clouds scattered throughout, which Jordan thought was a bit cruel. How many times had someone woken up in this building only to find a picture perfect sky hanging above them and thought, dang it, I guess that’s it for me then. It had to have happened at least once.

They waited about ten to fifteen minutes, although to Jordan it felt more like seventeen hours, before Dr. Cindy Armenta graced them with her presence. The first thing Jordan noticed about her was her height. The girl was tall, like, basketball player tall. She may have been taller than Noah. She also had dark hair and eyes that contrasted so much against her pale skin that it made her look like a black and white photograph.

She started by introducing herself and shaking Jordan’s hand. She apologized profusely for the wait and then proceeded to go on a lengthy tangent about how understaffed her department had been as of late.

“No offense doctor,” Noah cut in, shifting Lucy’s weight in his lap. “But can we get to the point?”

Jordan could have kissed him. In fact, he probably would have if he wasn’t so frazzled.

Dr. Armenta shook her head as if just now realizing who it was she was ranting to and said, “Right, of course. My apologies. So, regarding your uncle, I’ve got some good news and some very bad news. Which would you like to hear first?”

“Good news,” Jordan said automatically. He knew that after hearing the bad news his brain would lose all ability to focus on anything else.

Dr. Armenta stood a little bit straighter.

“All right,” she said. “So, we have significant evidence that suggests that your uncle may be in partial remission.”

Jordan narrowed his eyes. That wasn’t what he had been expecting at all. That wasn’t just good news, it was amazing news. Hearing it framed in such a way only made him more nervous about the bad news.

“So, what does that mean exactly?” Jordan asked.

“Okay, so it essentially means that we can no longer detect any malignancies. It’s not a sure thing. To officially be in remission, one has to be cancer free, with no symptoms whatsoever, for at least five years.”

Jordan was becoming more confused by the moment. This woman was saying all the right things; basically, everything Jordan had wanted to hear since this whole fiasco began, and yet, Dr. Armenta still did not look happy. She looked downright somber in fact. That was never a good sign.

“So, what you’re saying is that the chemotherapy worked,” Jordan said slowly. “Right?”

Dr. Armenta bobbed her head.

“At getting rid of the cancer, yes it appears so, but before you get too excited, that brings us to the bad news…” Dr. Armenta paused and took a deep breath. “Your uncle is currently experiencing acute renal failure.”

Jordan’s vision dimmed for a minute and the veins in his neck started throbbing.

“I’m sorry, what?” he asked.

Jordan’s heart was sinking fast. He knew very little about medicine, but he knew enough to know that kidney failure was no fucking joke.

“The type of chemotherapy we administered to your uncle can sometimes be very damaging to certain organs,” she began. “The kidneys in particular. Normally in circumstances like this, we are able to get through the chemo and then, switch our focus to helping the kidneys heal, but in your uncle’s case, his kidneys started failing suddenly and rapidly. That’s why I called you. At the rate his kidneys are deteriorating, he needs immediate action. Otherwise, he has maybe a week to live at best.”

A loaded silence fell over the room. This was it. This was his worst nightmare actually coming true.

“So, what can we do about that?” Jordan asked finally. He was fighting against the urge to curl up in a ball and cry. “Can we put him on dialysis or something?”

Armenta visibly winced.

“Well, technically we could, but because he might still have cancerous cells somewhere, it’s very dangerous, because the artificial blood purification process would likely spread those cancerous cells all throughout the body.”

Jordan’s body went cold. He was afraid that this might be it, the one hardship that he couldn’t bounce back from. He combed back over the doctor’s words, searching for something, anything, that would help him figure out a course of action that didn’t lead to his uncle dying in a week or less.

“You said that normally in these situations you’re able to help the kidneys heal,” Jordan said suddenly. “How is that?”

“Well, there are certain drugs and hydration methods we can use for patients who are particularly high risk to start out with. Otherwise, it’s diet modifications and diuretics post chemo.”

“And I take it that none of that was offered to my uncle, correct?”

Armenta visibly took a step back. It was clear that he’d struck a nerve.

“Sir, like I said, your uncle wasn’t exhibiting signs—”

“Is that true, or did you just miss the signs?” Jordan demanded.

Dr. Armenta’s eyes darted across the room, which basically told Jordan all that he needed to know. This wasn’t just regular old bad luck. This was malpractice at its finest. Jordan let his anger and devastation build like a storm cloud inside him and now was the time to let it all out.

“How could you let something like this happen?” Jordan demanded. “Especially when there are measures in place to prevent this sort of thing. Don’t you monitor patients who are undergoing this kind of treatment? How come nobody caught this sooner? Hmm? Please tell me Dr. Armenta because I’d love to know.”

“Well,” Armenta tried to explain. “As I mentioned, your uncle was not exhibiting any signs of kidney damage we typically see in this situation…”

“That’s bullshit,” Jordan told her. “You’re saying you didn’t take care of my uncle the way you were supposed to because he seemed pretty all right to you? That’s not okay! That’s something I could sue you guys over.”

Jordan had to stop yelling because it was making his head pound. Noah and Lucy were tense and silent beside him.

“I understand sir,” Dr. Armenta said slowly, enunciating every word. “I really do. And, if you’d like to discuss litigation, I can put you in touch with our legal team and help you sort it all out later, but for now, I’m more concerned with trying to save your uncle’s life.”

“Isn’t there another doctor I can be talking to about this?”

“Did you not just hear me complain about how understaffed we are? I’m trying my best. We all are.”

“So, what are our options?” Noah asked before Jordan could go off on her again. Lucy was now watching the back and forth of the conversation through slitted eyes.

“Well, like I said, dialysis is a very risky choice, but we can do it if both you and your uncle consent. The other option is kidney donation. We can put him on the waiting list, but he’s going to be very low priority due to his age and the cancer. Your best bet would probably be to find someone with the same blood type willing to donate their spare.”

“I’ll do it if I can,” Jordan said. “I don’t know my blood type, but my medical records should be on file here.”

“Sir, I feel like I have to tell you that kidney donation is a serious medical procedure and isn’t something to commit to lightly.”

Jordan clenched his fists in his lap. He was about one more condescending word away from standing up and socking Armenta in the face. Luckily Noah seemed to sense this and gripped his boyfriend’s arm, holding him back.

“Just check on his blood type for us, ma’am,” Noah said.

Although his words were polite, his tone was not.

Armenta sighed and ducked out of the room, promising to be right back. Jordan dropped his head into his hands. He didn’t know what he was going to do if he wasn’t a match. Lucy slid off Noah’s lap and wrapped her arms around Jordan’s neck. Noah did the same on the other side. Jordan did his best to relax into the embrace and focus on his breathing.

A few minutes later, Dr. Armenta returned with a blank expression and a tablet in hand.

“Jordan, your blood type is AB, the rarest type. Your uncle is a B. You’re not a match.”

Jordan sagged in disbelief.

“So that’s it then,” he whispered. “My uncle’s gonna die.”

The room was quiet for a good long moment. Even Dr. Armenta looked like she wanted to cry.

“I have type B blood…” Noah said suddenly.

Jordan looked over at him in disbelief.

“What on Earth are you saying?”

“I have type B blood,” Noah repeated. “I could give him my kidney.”

Jordan worked his jaw and clenched his hands into fists.

“Lucy sweetheart,” Jordan said quietly. “Excuse me and your dad for a minute.”

Then he grabbed Noah by the wrist and dragged him out into the hallway where everything was silent, and the lights were flickering overhead.

“Are you insane?” Jordan whispered, turning to face him.

Noah’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“Are you? I thought you wanted to save your uncle.”

Jordan sighed.

“I do, it’s just,” he bit his lip. “It’s major surgery, Noah. There are so many things that could go wrong. I don’t want to risk one person I love to save another.” Jordan realized, idly, that it was his first time using the L-word around Noah. It was probably way too soon for that type of language, but Jordan was too worked up to care. “Plus, you have Lucy to think about,” he tacked on.

Noah leveled him with a look and placed a hand on Jordan’s shoulder.

“I’ll talk to Lucy and make sure she understands. I want to raise her to be the kind of person who stands up for others and helps people in need. There’s no better way to achieve that than leading by example.”

Jordan frowned, warring with the urge to be selfish and the urge to just let Noah do this. Those too choices weighed like a proverbial angel and devil on his shoulders.

“Yeah, but this is too much,” he said finally. “Too big of a gesture. How would you feel if Lucy were an adult donating her kidney to some stranger?”

“I would feel worried,” Noah admitted. “And scared that something could go wrong, but at the end of the day, I’d also be extremely proud of her.”

“You’ve never even met my uncle,” Jordan argued.

“I don’t have to. I’d want to do this even if he hated me. You love him, and that’s all I need to know.”

Jordan chewed on his bottom lip.

“There’s a chance that this still might not work, or that his cancer will come back. Then you’ll be down one kidney for nothing. What then, huh?”

“It won’t be for nothing. Then I’ll rest easy knowing I’ve done all I could do.” Noah bent down and placed a kiss over Jordan’s temple. “I understand the risk, and I still want to do this, J. I really do.”

Jordan rested his forehead against Noah’s. He was getting really close to caving, and Noah must have sensed it because he said, “Once upon a time, you put yourself in harm’s way to save somebody that I love. Let me do the same for you.”

Jordan’s eyes filled up with tears and he gave Noah a good and proper kiss on the mouth this time.

“Okay,” he relented. “Just...come back to me Noah.”

Noah smiled and chucked Jordan under his chin.

“Always, my love,” he whispered. “Always.”