“Oh, my. What happened?” Christina asked. “But if you don’t want to tell us, that’s okay.”
“No, it’s fine. Wanda was playing sports, but started complaining of lower back pain.” Angie said. “This might be considered TMI, too much information, but I thought it was something to do with her period. You know how you get cramps in the lower back?”
“I do,” Christina said and winced. “Those are the worst, feels like someone is kicking you in your kidneys.”
“Exactly. That’s how Wanda explained the pain. I took her to get checked, but they couldn’t find anything, but after I explained about her Leukemia, they started running more tests, different tests than they normally would. It took three weeks and several other doctor visits, but her kidneys were failing. She was admitted to the hospital and put on dialysis immediately. It was so bad that she couldn’t leave the hospital. As soon as she was hooked up to dialysis, her name went on a list. We had to get tutors to go to the hospital for her schoolwork. It was a harrowing eighteen months. When we’d exhausted everything we could, a donor came through. She had the operation with a new kidney. Her fifteenth birthday was spent in the operating room. Eighteen hours of surgery and shecame out with a new kidney. She had to stay two more months in the hospital, but she came out healthy.”
“Did the Leukemia cause her kidney to fail?” Christopher frowned at them.
“We don’t know. You know those papers you’re given when you get medication?” Randall asked, and when everyone nodded, he continued, “One night, Wanda had a bad reaction to the chemo, and I was at the hospital with her. Between her bouts of sickness, when she rested, I read one of them. It said that the chemo could cause multi-organ failure as one of the side effects. But because it was eleven years between the incidents, we don’t know if it was because of the chemo, or if the donor bone marrow had something in their DNA, or if it was just Wanda.”
“She’s healthy now, the only side effect I see is that she has to be on medication for the rest of her life so that her body doesn’t reject the donor's kidney. It’s been eight years since that surgery, twenty since the chemo and radiation,” Angie said. “As long as she stays alive, I don’t care how much medication she has to take.”
“And the lemon water?” Christopher asked, and at his parents’ frowns he opened the refrigerator and pulled out a pitcher of ice water and lemon slices. “This is what she says she drinks to calm nausea from the medications.”
“Yes, it is. It looks like lemonade, but there is no sugar in that pitcher,” Randall said, and gave a shudder. “She says it’s the only thing natural that calms her stomach.”
“And I imagine she’s on a lot of meds and doesn’t want to add anything more,” Chris said. “An oldMarine buddy of mine’s father had a double lung transplant and had the same reaction to his meds. Never thought about lemon.”
They watched as Christopher began opening a cupboard door, muttering about disorganization and when he finally found what he wanted, withdrew a glass, filled it from the pitcher of lemon water and returned it to the refrigerator, and said that he would take the drink down to Wanda. On his way down to the first floor, the older adults were talking about dinner.
Chapter 13
“Wanda,” Christopher said from the bottom of the stairs, just inside the workshop. He stayed back enough that if she was surprised, nothing should hit him. “Wanda,” he said louder, and smiled when she started and looked up.
“What?” She frowned at Christopher.
“Thought you’d like something to drink.” He held up the glass and released the breath he’d been holding when she smiled at him.
“Wonderful.” She wiped her hands on a towel and stood. They met halfway, and after she took the glass, she downed almost all of it at once. “Sorry, I don’t realize how thirsty I get when I’m lost in the zone, but I thank you.” She held up the glass and finished it. “I’m almost done for the day. I’m sure my parents want to go out to dinner. I love them dearly, but with them here, I don’t get to work as much as I’d like. Don’t get me wrong, as I said, I love my parents dearly, but sometimes...”
“You don’t have to explain yourself to me.” Christopher sighed. “I called mine to just use them as a sounding board as to what I’ve done, and what I should do next. Next thing I know, they’re knocking on my hotel room door. They said they came to see if I needed help explaining things to you. But between you and me, I think they wanted to check you out.”
“Why? I’m nothing important.”
“Maybe not, but we are legally married. And I’m sorry for earlier coming over strong and yelling at you. I’m beginning to realize that not everyone works like Ido. For that I’m sorry.” Before she could answer him, their parents joined them.
“We’re thinking of going out to dinner,” Randall said. “Would you two like to join us?”
Wanda looked down at herself and sighed. “I should get cleaned up first. Give me thirty minutes?”
“Sure,” Angie said, and looked around. “Is there anything we can do to help you clean up down here?”
“No, I’ve done it. I just have to grab the towels and head up to shower.” She did that and headed up the stairs, leaving the five of them standing there. Upstairs, she quickly removed her shoes, and hurried over to the laundry room and stripped down. She grabbed a robe and promptly donned it and hurried through and up to her bedroom. After turning on the water, she immediately jumped in and showered and ended up having to wash her hair twice to get all the goo out of it. Once she was clean, she quickly finished and dried off with her hair in a towel. Out in her bedroom, she sighed as she opened her closet. Not knowing where they were going, she decided to wear a sundress and quickly dressed in a pale blue sundress, tan sandals, and she tossed a light wrap on the bed and went back into the bathroom. She towel dried her hair, and used the blow dryer to promptly finish drying it. She only used a minimum of makeup, just a light blush, eyeliner, and clear gloss. After finishing up in the bathroom, she went back to her bedroom and quickly donned her watch and a necklace that her brother Douglas had given her as a high school graduation present. It was a silver heart that opened and on one side was a picture of their parents, the other held one of the three siblings.The rings had been removed from the chain she had them on, and placed next to the heart.
With one last look in the mirror, she was satisfied with her appearance and quickly made her way down to the second floor. The only person she saw was Christopher. “Where is everyone?”
“They already left, said something about going ahead and getting a table. Told me to follow with you. That you would know directions.”
“Okay, where are we supposed to be going?”
“Someplace called The Dragon’s Den?”
“Oh, yeah.” Wanda giggled. “Hope you like variety in your foods.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“The Dragon’s Den is a buffet type restaurant. You have everything from Chinese, to Italian, to finger foods. Then there’s meat and potatoes. It’s like ten restaurants all rolled into one, buffet style.”
