Vanessa spent most of sixteen at home. Her hair and eyebrows grew back, her color returned, and a glow returned to her skin. She lost the lethargy, her eyes brightened, her posture improved, she gained stamina (and weight), and became a healthy sixteen-year-old. There were still routine examinations. Her doctors were relaxed, their comments were […]
Fifteen was tough. It started out, at least from Vanessa’s perspective, muddled. She was home and then she was in the hospital and then she was back home. Her team – she had to have a whole team of doctors? – grew bigger, and then things were discovered by one test or another, and the […]
At fourteen, Vanessa Hoffman started complaining of headaches and fatigue. Her stomach was finicky, and her appetite dwindled. Sometimes she found herself out of breath and sometimes her hands and legs felt numb and sometimes her joints hurt. Her balance would go off intermittently. She answered adults with “Yes, sir” and “Yes, ma’am” and mostly […]
He woke up with a painful crick in his neck from where he had fallen asleep on the sofa. The bottle of whiskey that he had been drinking to celebrate his success of the night before had fallen from his hand while he slept and rolled across the carpet, its contents spilling out and soaking […]