AN: I wanna warn you guys this chapter has a lot of specific cancer treatment information that may seem boring, but please bear with me. I love you guys and I hope you enjoy the chapter. Please follow, favorite, and review! I love hearing from yall!

Chapter 12

Natsu and Lucy got up and followed a brown-haired nurse into an examination room where she weighed Lucy and checked her vitals. Then the woman left saying, "I will be back in a few minutes to draw some blood."

Lucy nodded and watched as the nurse shut the door. She sat on the examination bed while Natsu settled himself in a chair at the foot of it. As soon as the nurse left Natsu stood up and looked at Lucy, "Hey Luce, I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'll be right back."

She nodded as he kissed her cheek and left the room. The room got quiet very quickly and in the silence she broke down. She buried her face into her hands and started to cry as quietly as possible because she didn't want to disturb the other patients or nurses. All the emotions Lucy had been holding back since she had woken up that morning came rushing out, she was so nervous. She knew she had Leukemia. She knew she would be getting chemo, but the doctor she was seeing today would tell her exactly how severe her treatment would be and how much she would have to endure. She tried to be strong for her family and friends, but in alone in this room she let go. She broke down in tears and sobbed for what seemed forever. She didn't even notice the door opening and Natsu coming in and wrapping her in his arms. He held her while she cried and promised her it would be okay. Five minutes later Lucy had calmed down. Natsu didn't ask questions because he understood she was under extreme stress, so he held her until the nurse came back. The nurse didn't say anything, just took her blood and left, but Natsu still stayed beside her and held her hand while the nurse drew blood.

After the nurse left Natsu finally spoke, "Luce it's going to be okay."

Lucy slightly raised her voice and lifted her eyebrow surprised how he could be so confident in the idea that everything would be ok. "How do you know that Natsu? Nothing is okay right now."

"Because I know Luce it will be, it always is, but it doesn't always seem that way. And you holding all your emotions in doesn't help! You don't have to be strong for me. I know this is a lot and you can break down. Just let me be your rock. It's my job." He said.

Lucy nodded and kissed Natsu. "I love you."

"I love you too Lucy."

Lucy grabbed Natsu's hand just as the door opened and tall man who looked like he was in his early fifties. His hair was starting to turn from a light brown to a light gray color and he wore a white lab coat.

"Hi, you must be Mrs. Lucy Dragneel," he said as he walked over and shook Lucy's hand that wasn't being held by Natsu. The doctor then looked at Natsu, "And you must be Mr. Dragneel?"

"Yes sir, I'm Natsu." The doctor shook Natsu's hand then began to introduce himself.

"Well, I'm Dr. Michael Landers and I will be over your cancer treatments under the direction of Dr. Resnik," said Dr. Landers. "Now after examining all your tests you are healthy enough to be treated through chemotherapy. While I'm sure you have heard of chemo, but do you medically know what chemotherapy is?" Asked Dr. Landers.

Lucy shook her head. Dr. Landers then said, "Chemotherapy is the treatment of disease by the use of chemical substances, especially the treatment of cancer by cytotoxic and other drugs," explained Dr. Landers.

He looked at the couple to be sure they understood and they both doctor continued speaking. "Now for AML chemotherapy treatment is divided into two phases. The first phase is called induction. This first part of treatment is aimed at getting rid of as many leukemia cells as possible. In younger patients, such as yourself, induction often involves treatment with two chemo drugs, one called cytarabine and an anthracycline drug such as daunorubicin or idarubicin. Sometimes a third drug, cladribine, is given as well. Now for the course of chemo we will be using what is called seven-plus-three. This means you will receive cytarabine for seven days then be given daunorubicin for three days. The chemo will be given in the hospital and will be given through a vein in your arm, we will use a needle to insert a catheter so it will be easier to give you the medicine and keep from repeatedly sticking you with a needle. For one week you will receive three to four hour treatments daily."

The doctor took a break to make sure the couple understood. Natsu looked slightly confused, but nodded in affirmation with his wife.

Dr. Landers took a deep breath and spoke again. "Now I'm going to tell you about how the chemo drugs you will be given work and some their side effects. Cytarabine is an antimetabolite. Antimetabolites interfere with DNA and RNA growth by substituting for the normal building blocks of RNA and DNA. These agents damage cells during the phase when the cell's chromosomes are being copied. Now daunorubicin is a type of antibiotic called an anthracycline. Now these drugs are not like the antibiotics used to treat infections. They work by changing the DNA inside cancer cells to keep them from growing and multiplying. Anthracyclines are antitumor antibiotics that interfere with enzymes involved in copying DNA during the cell cycle. Induction destroys most of the normal bone marrow cells as well as the leukemia cells. Most patients develop dangerously low blood counts at this time, and may be very ill. Most patients need antibiotics and blood product transfusions. Drugs to raise white blood cell counts may also be used. Blood counts tend to stay low for a few weeks. So for one to two weeks after treatment you will stay in the hospital, so you can be monitored. About one or two weeks after chemo is done, myself or Dr. Resnik will check a bone marrow biopsy. It should show few bone marrow cells and only a small portion of blasts. If the biopsy shows that there are still leukemia cells in the bone marrow, more chemo may be given. Sometimes a stem cell transplant is recommended at this point. If it isn't clear on the bone marrow biopsy whether the leukemia is still there, another bone marrow biopsy may be done again in about a week. Over the next few weeks, normal bone marrow cells will return and start making new blood cells. Myself or Dr. Resnik may check other bone marrow biopsies during this time. When the blood cell counts recover, myself or Dr. Resnik will again check cells in a bone marrow sample to see if the leukemia is in remission. For that to happen blasts makeup no more than five percent of the bone marrow. Remission induction usually does not destroy all the leukemia cells, and a small number often remain. Without the second phase, the leukemia is likely to return within several months. Induction is considered successful if remission is achieved. Further treatment is then given to try to destroy any remaining leukemia cells and help prevent a relapse. This is the second phase which is called consolidation. Consolidation chemo differs from induction therapy in that usually only cytarabine is used. The drug is given at very high doses, typically over five days. This is repeated about every four weeks, usually for a total of three or four cycles. Now after induction if there are still leukemia cells you may be given a stem cell transplant, but I'm not going to explain that unless you need it. A third phase called maintenance involves giving a low dose of chemo for months or years after consolidation is finished. This is often used for the M3 subtype of AML (also known as acute promyelocytic leukemia, or APL), but it is rarely used for other types of AML. Which means you won't have a third phase, but I wanted to let you know that there was a third phase. Now there is an eighty percent chance that after induction you will go into remission, receive consolidation and be fine. Now do you have any questions?"

Lucy sat there for a moment just taking in all the things the doctor had said it was a lot to take in. "Will I have any other side effects from the chemo?" She asked.

"Well most likely you will, but not everyone gets side effects. The most common side effects are: hair loss, mouth sores, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, and diarrhea or constipation. Chemo drugs also affect the normal cells in bone marrow, which can cause lowering of blood cell counts in AML patients. This can lead to: increased risk of infections (from having too few normal white blood cells), easy bruising or bleeding (from having too few blood platelets), and fatigue (from having too few red blood cells). I will also advise you to stay away from anyone who is sick and to avoid large crowds once you start chemo, because you will be at increased risk of catching an illness due to the fact that chemo will weaken your immune system and if you got sick it would be much worse on you," answered the doctor. "Do you have any other questions?" asked Dr. Landers.

"Yes, one more, I have a seven month old son, will he be able to visit me here in the hospital?" asked Lucy.

"Well, I don't usually recommend that people bring small children for visits, but because he's your son I'm not going to agree or disagree. I will say this, children get sick often and are very germy, so if he does come, I recommend that whoever brings him, cleans any visible areas of his skin with antibacterial wipes. Like just wipe his face, arms, legs, hands, and feet. And make sure he is healthy," said the doctor. "Now are there anymore questions?"

They both shook their heads and he turned around and picked up a folder full of papers and handed it to her, "This is a printout of everything I've told you today. Now you will start treatment on Wednesday. I recommend you eat a light meal before coming on Wednesday. You will need to be here at 8 am. Also, due to the severity of your AML, as I said earlier you will be hospitalized for the whole chemo process. You might be able to go home after treatment if you don't need any antibiotics or blood transfusions after chemo, but that is very unlikely. So I suggest you pack a bag of clothes for at least a week and a half stay. Alright, I will see you on Wednesday, Mrs. Dragneel." Then Dr. Landers exited the room.

Lucy clung to Natsu and hoped this wouldn't be as bad as the doctor made it seem to be.

I wanna give credit to the American Cancer Society which is where I got most of the cancer treatment information from.