AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Me too. I’m just ready to get it over with.” Astria says and with that, it’s decided.
I guess we’re moving forward with an anonymous donor.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Gia
One month later
“Freedom!” Astria waves her arms in the air as we finally return home.
This is the first time she’s been back here since she was admitted to the hospital for the transplant over a month ago.
She’ll have another thirty days of monitoring that we will do from home with weekly visits to the doctor’s office. The doctor has assured us that everything appears to be going according to plan. Every step of the way Astria has met and exceeded the benchmarks in the clinical trial.
In the beginning, she was very weak. She had some nausea and fatigue. It was nothing that we didn’t expect going into this, though. If anything, the procedure went smoother than I’d anticipated. I’d read all of the potential risks, and I was preparing myself for some of the worst. Not Damien though, he was confident that our girl was going to pull through a fighter, and he was right.
Every day she continues to grow stronger. She’s still experiencing some of the same symptoms from the autoimmune disease that she had before, but we’ve been assured that we should start seeing improvements soon, now that the transfer has been deemed successful and her body has accepted the donated marrow. We’re all holding onto that hope.
“Not so fast Wonder Woman, you have thirty more days until you’re officially free,” I call out after her through the entryway as she rushes ahead of me.
Freedom, it’s kind of a relative word in her world, I guess. She’ll always deal with this disease, even after having gone through the trial program. Even at a one-hundred-perfect success rate, she will still never be free. I can’t choose to focus on that though. We will take our wins daily and celebrate those together.
I roll our suitcases inside and begin dropping things on the kitchen counter to put away later. I didn’t realize how much we accumulated at the hospital over the last month, Astria especially.
Her friends brought her books and stuffed animals. Her classmates and teammates from her hockey team showered her with gifts and cards. And don’t get me started on the things that Damien’s teammates sent. We’re going to need to rent a storage unit.
“But my bed! I can sleep in my bed tonight! I missed the couch, and this lamp, and the refrigerator.” Astria runs her hands along the back of the couch and twirls in place. God, I hope she doesn’t get dizzy.
“You’re ridiculous, you know that.” I smile at her basking in the brief moment of euphoria.
We made it. I hope we’ve gone through the worst of it.
“I mean, don’t get me wrong,” Astria pauses in the hallway outside of her bedroom door, where the door is closed, “the digs at the hospital were pretty sweet, but it feels so good to be home. It smells like home. Ahhhhh, do you smell it, Mom?” She lifts her nose into the air and sniffs.
I do the same, humoring her. “Yes, baby, I smell it. I’m happy to be home too. Maybe you should go check out your room and see if everything is still where you left it.”
I look at the door to her bedroom with tight-leashed excitement. Damien’s waiting for her just behind that door. He wasn’t supposed to be home until tomorrow, but when he found out we were being discharged a day early, he made it his mission to get here.
Astria grabs the doorknob and pauses as if just thinking of something. “Why wouldn’t everything be where I left it? Wait, did Camden come over while I was gone? If he touched my signed puck collection, I swear I will…”
This girl, I swear she’s too smart for her own good.
“Astria, honey, Camden was not in your room.” I roll my eyes and motion her to move along with my hand. I can hardly contain my anticipation.
Slowly, she turns the doorknob and pushes the door open.
“Surprise!” Damien says as he steps into the doorway, and her face lights up.
“But your daddy is!” I shout, and bounce up and down on my toes, matching her excitement. I watch Astria jump into his arms and am overwhelmed with pure joy.
“Dad! I thought you weren’t flying in until tomorrow! Mom said you guys had a layover because of the weather!”
I might have told a tiny white lie. I didn’t want her to get her hopes up in case he didn’t make it. I should have known better, though.
“A raging volcano couldn’t keep me from being here. I didn’t get to fly back with the team and had to make a few transfers, but I made it. I would have rented a car if I had to.” Damien’s eyes fill with tears as he peeks over her shoulder at me and holds her tightly in his arms.
“I’m totally worth it.” She says as he finally places her down on her feet.
