Hospital Days

She Needs A What?

Ava just held her breath as she looked at the doctor completely dreading whatever he had to say. "What's going on?" Ava asked after she finally managed to get the words out.

The doctor just sighed as she looked at her chart. "It's about her weight," the doctor hesitantly told the two young adults who just looked at each other in shock as they didn't understand what was going on.

"What about her weight?" Ava asked the doctor who just sighed again. "She's losing a lot of weight quickly and her weight isn't going up at all. It's becoming concerning," the doctor told the two again, causing Evie, who wasn't really sleeping, to get up again.

"I told you but you never want to listen to me!" Evie cried out as she had been trying to warn Ava over and over again about Mal's weight and her concern with it, but Ava just kept ignoring her.

April just glared at Evie as she knew that Evie wasn't trying to help, but it wasn't helping when the doctor was trying to tell them about their options and what to do next moving forward.

"Evie not now," April told Evie in her stern voice, making Evie roll her eyes as she was sick of being ignored just because she was younger than most of the others.

Ava just ignored Evie as she looked at the doctor again. "So what does this mean?" Ava asked the doctor who looked over at the sleeping toddler.

"Well according to my chart she doesn't seem to be holding food down is that correct?" The doctor asked Ava who just slowly nodded.

"Yeah she's been struggling to eat and when she does she throws up most of it," Ava admitted to the doctor as she didn't want to talk about it, but she knew hiding it wasn't helping Mal.

"I see well I think it might be time to discuss a possible feeding tube," the doctor told them, making Ava and April look at the doctor in shock while Evie was just shaking her head as she had been saying this all along.

"Trust me I don't like the idea either but unfortunately she's unable to keep food down anymore and her weight continues to decline," the doctor sadly told the two young adults.

"Okay so um how long are we talking here? Like a temporary thing or like a more long term one?" April asked as she was also trying to take in all the information.

Ava was technically the one in charge still, but with April being the second oldest and only by a few minutes that technically made her in charge as well now.

"That's the thing we're not sure about yet. I would like it to just be a temporary thing however it depends on her progress. I will say that her weight continues to decline drastically and I think it would be in her best interest to put her on a feeding tube. Whether that is temporary or more long term depends on how she does with it and on her progress though," the doctor told April who just slowly nodded as she looked at Ava.

"Okay thank you for telling us. We're going to talk it over first though. If that's okay," Ava told the doctor who nodded as she left the room. As soon as the doctor left Evie couldn't just stay quiet anymore.

"No! That's not okay! Did you not even listen to the doctor! Mal needs a feeding tube! She struggles to put food down and even when she does she just throws it right back up! Her weight is drastically declining! There's nothing to discuss here! Wake up and realize that you can't stop it! You're making her worse!" Evie cried out as she broke down sobbing.

Evie tried her best to not get involved but after hearing everything the doctor said and hearing Ava's response she just couldn't hold back anymore.

She knew it was hard, but she also knew that Ava and even April weren't helping this situation by trying to deny the help that Mal needed right now.

"Evie calm down," April told Evie as she noticed Evie's breathing starting to become irregular and she could tell Evie was about to have a panic attack.

Evie just shook her head no as she continued with her ranting. "It's true! Why won't anyone believe me!" Evie cried out as she felt herself starting to lose oxygen.

"Evie!" Ava cried out as she immediately ran to her little sister and just pulled her close to her but Evie pulled back as she didn't want Ava's comfort right now

"Evie it's okay, calm down," Ava told Evie in her gentle voice but Evie just continued to keep gasping, making April quickly run over as well.

"Evie you have to calm down. It's okay," April told Evie in her gentle voice as Evie was starting to scare her as well.

"Oh my gosh is she okay! What happened!" Lola cried out in panic as she woke up and found the two older girls trying to calm down Evie who was sobbing and having a panic attack.

When Lola realized she wasn't going to get an answer she turned her attention back to Evie as she wanted to try and help as well. "Hey look dude you gotta calm down! I don't know what happened but it's okay um take deep breaths," Lola told the younger girl as she tried her best to calm Evie down, but again that didn't seem to work either.

"Yeah look follow us," Ava told Evie as she began to take deep breaths trying to help Evie. "Evie please you're scaring us. We're sorry for not listening, we'll listen next time okay. You have to calm down though," April told Evie who just tried to copy Ava but couldn't seem to as she couldn't stop thinking about everything.

She was so scared something would happen to Mal and no one was taking her seriously. She just didn't know how to handle this anymore it was all too much.

"I...I...I...ca..." Evie gasped out but was interrupted when Tessa entered the room as she was sent in to check up on them.

"Um hi I was sent here to... oh my gosh is she okay!" Tessa asked as she had come in for her job and found the slightly younger girl clearly having a panic attack while it looked like the others couldn't seem to calm her down.

"I don't know I've never seen it this bad before," Ava told Tessa as she was panicking and just wanted her sister to be okay. Tessa just nodded as she sat down by Evie. "Hey shh you're okay. Look at me, take deep breaths, follow me okay," Tessa told Evie in her gentle voice as she began to try Ava's approach this time actually succeeding as Evie finally started to calm down.

Tessa smiled as she saw that she managed to calm Evie down. "There you go," Tessa told Evie. "Thank you so much! I don't know what happened. She was fine and then she just started having a panic attack and normally I can bring her out of it, but I've never seen her that bad before," Ava told Tessa who just smiled as she looked at Evie who was now okay and being engulfed in a group hug by April and Lola.

"No it's okay I've seen plenty of people have panic attacks. I'm just glad I could help her. Anyway like I was saying I came here to ask if you made a decision yet?" Tessa asked Ava as that had been the main reason she was sent there.

Ava just looked over at April who gave her a nod. "Yeah we have," Ava told the volunteer as she knew that she didn't want to do this, but after seeing Evie freak out about it and seeing her have a panic attack because they weren't listening was enough of an eye opener for her.

Evie had been right the whole time even if she didn't want to admit it. "Okay great I'll go tell the doctor you made your decision," Tessa told the others as she left the room and a few minutes later the doctor re entered.

"So you made your decision?" The doctor asked Ava who just nodded as she looked at the still sleeping toddler as she knew she didn't want to do this, but she had to do what was right for Mal.

"We did and we want the feeding tube," Ava told the doctor, making Lola look up in complete shock as she had been sleeping when the earlier conversation happened. "Wait, I'm sorry, what's going on?" Lola cried out.