The Running Free

Chapter 24

Warning!!! ~ This chapter has description of a surgical procedure. So if you are squeamish, I recommend you tread with caution!!!
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Itachi made his way into the bedroom and was a bit surprised to find that Naruto was already awake and reading… that in itself was unusual. Naruto tended to be a bit of a procrastinator when it came to school.

The raven made his way over to the bed and sat down next to the pregnant blond. “Did you take a nap?” he asked quietly as he wrapped his arms around Naruto’s shoulders.

The blue eyed man sighed and leaned back against his older lover. “Yeah But not for that long. I guess I wasn’t as tired as I thought.” he said as he closed the book and put it down on the nightstand. “How’s Sasuke?”

Itachi repositioned himself so he had Naruto lying in his arms comfortably on the bed. “He’s a bit nervous about next week. Hell, I don’t blame him. I just wish there was something more we could do for him.”

Naruto snuggled into Itachi’s arms. “I guess all we can do is be there for him. It’s not like we’re doctors. Where is he anyway?”

“He fell asleep on the couch. I’m probably going to have to reheat dinner. I don’t think we’ll be eating soon.”

Naruto turned so he was facing the long haired raven. “Itachi…” he paused for a moment, not really knowing how to voice his concerns to the older man. He looked down at the bed sheets and felt the familiar lump in his throat form from trying to prevent himself from crying.

Itachi lifted Naruto’s head up to look at him. “What’s the matter baby?”

“…I’m scared ‘Tachi; of what’s going to happen to Sasuke, and what’s going to happen to me when I have the baby.” He could feel the tears falling and tried to hold them back but it was inevitable. “I just want to know what’s going to happen; more for Sasuke than myself. I don’t know what I’d do if…”

“Let’s not think about that.” Itachi said quickly. “I can’t promise you that Sasuke will be alright. No one can guarantee that. But Sasuke is strong; he’ll make it through this. And you will be fine. I’m sure Dr. Tsunade can go over everything with you about labor.” Itachi didn’t want to sound like he didn’t care or understand. He understood a lot about fears of the future; especially when they had to do with one’s well being.

Naruto buried his head into Itachi’s chest and held onto the older man for comfort. He knew that it would most likely work out… but the thoughts running through his head didn’t make the fears lessen any.

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The next Monday came too soon in Naruto’s opinion. He was still worked up about Sasuke’s surgery and he knew it wasn’t helping his boyfriend much. Sasuke looked like a wreck as it was. The blond couldn’t help but grab Sasuke’s hand as the raven nervously fidgeted with the blanket he was currently under.

Sasuke was trying to relax. He was not having too much luck with that, even though the nurse had told him that it would be easier on him if he at least tried. He grasped Naruto’s hand as soon as the blond touched him and he wished his brother was there. Well, he was there, but he had to fill out stupid paperwork for him. He didn’t say anything as he waited for the OR to be prepped for him but he could tell that Naruto really wanted him to. “Don’t be scared Naruto.” he said in a whisper that sounded like it could have been more to himself than to his boyfriend. “I’ll be ok.”

Naruto let a small sob escape and he buried his head into Sasuke’s neck. “How do I know you’ll be alright? I can’t be in there with you and I don’t want to wait to hear if you made it or not.”

“Calm down baby. Don’t get too worked up. The procedure has been preformed numerous times. Plus, I’m not worried so much about the surgery. I’m worried that they won’t be able to get the entire tumor.” That had been plaguing Sasuke’s mind since the surgery was scheduled. If they weren’t able to get rid of all the cancerous cells, he’d have to go back on chemo; probably stronger than before. He did not want to go through that again on top of how crappy he’d feel after the surgery.

Itachi walked into the room at that moment. The hospital that they chose treated their patients very well and was given a private room before and after surgery. Something about helping the patient relax and recover in a softer more home like setting. He made his way over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it. “Your surgeon should be coming in to talk to you soon. How are you feeling?” He knew that Sasuke hadn’t been feeling very well for the past few days. He wasn’t sure if it was from nerves or if Sasuke was getting sick again.

“I feel like I’m going to puke but other than that… I’m fine.” It was true; he did feel very sick to his stomach and he knew it was from nerves. There was no reason to be alarmed by this; it was only natural to be scared out of your mind right before a major surgery of this level.

A woman with long brown hair entered the room and smiled reassuringly at the three men. She walked up to the bed and offered her hand to Sasuke. “I’m Dr. Santiago; I’ll be your surgeon. Would you like me to tell you a bit about what we’ll be doing?” she asked kindly as she smiled at him.

Sasuke nodded hesitantly and shook the offered hand. “That might help.” he said quietly.

Dr. Santiago nodded. “Well first we’ll be giving you anesthesia intravenously so you’ll be completely asleep through the whole surgery. Before we do that though we’ll give you a light sedative to help you relax a bit before the initial anesthesia is given to you. I can actually give you that now if you think it’ll help.”

Sasuke nodded gratefully. Anything to help him get rid of these nerves. He took the offered pill and swallowed it dry since he couldn’t have any water until after the surgery. “Will the anesthesia be a constant flow?”

“Yes, we have just enough to cover the time we need to complete the procedure. We do have more though in case the surgery lasts longer than we expect.” She looked over at Naruto and Itachi who she had met a little while before at the nurse’s station. “Do either of you have any questions so far?”

Naruto shook his head as he continued to hold Sasuke’s hand. He’d wait until she explained the whole procedure before he asked any of his questions.

The older raven on the other hand… “How do you know how much he needs? What if it’s not enough in the time you work on him? The anesthesia could ware off…”

Sasuke tried to ignore his brother’s question. He did not want to think about waking up in the middle of his surgery. “Itachi, I’m sure they know what they’re doing.”

Dr. Santiago frowned just slightly. “Don’t worry Mr. Uchiha. The only thing that could happen is that Sasuke may sleep a bit longer than normal. We never have a lack in anesthesia. But it’s regulated so that Sasuke won’t overdose.” She made sure that everyone understood and when there were no more questions, she went on.

“Now, after you’re asleep. I’ll make an incision in your abdomen and remove the parts of the stomach that are cancerous. I’ll also be examining the lymph nodes just to make sure the cancer didn’t spread to any of them. If it has, we’ll be removing the infected ones. I highly doubt that though, considering the fact that you’ve been undergoing chemo and we caught it fairly early.” She paused, letting the three interrupt with any questions. When none came, she went on.

“After the removal of the infected parts, we’ll connect the remainder of your stomach to either your small intestine or your esophagus. The reason it’s either or, is because we don’t know exactly which parts we’ll be removing. So it all depends on which end we take tissue from.”

Sasuke took this silence to ask a question. “How small will my stomach be after this?”

“We’re not sure. Like with the reconnecting, it depends on what we see once you’re in surgery.” She looked around for any other questions before she continued. She notice the blond looked a bit sick to his stomach and Sasuke’s older brother looked like he was ready to grab Sasuke and hide him somewhere.

“After we’re finished, we’ll stitch up the muscles and tissues with either staples or thread. Most likely we’ll use dissolving stitches for your muscle tissue and inner tissues. Your outer layer of skin we’ll most likely close up with staples. They’ll be easier to take out when the times comes.”

Naruto spoke up at this point. “So, the dissolving stitches just melt right?” He had heard about them before but he never quite knew how they worked.

Dr. Santiago nodded. “That’s right. They’re very good for internal stitching and dental surgery.” She gave a brief glance at Itachi who still looked like he was ready to stash Sasuke somewhere safe and away from doctors and sharp knives. “Do you have any questions Mr. Uchiha?”

Itachi hesitated for a moment, not trusting his voice. “How long does it take?”

“Usually one to three hours. Sometimes more if we have to search for the cancerous tissue. But I’ll be coming out periodically throughout the procedure to let you know how everything is going. After the tissue is removed we’ll send it to a pathology lab for examination.” She looked over at Sasuke who looked like he was about to say something.

Sasuke didn’t really want to ask this question, but he really needed to know what he was going to be facing once he woke up. “How much does it hurt?”

Dr. Santiago gave Sasuke a sympathetic look but answered him nonetheless. “I’m not going to lie; it will be painful once you wake up. But you’ll be getting pain medication as you need it to help with that. Depending on your pain level from what you will be telling us will determine which medication we give you. Of course if you feel as though it’s not enough we can always try something else.”

Sasuke nodded. Not feeling any better about the procedure but he was glad he was getting all this information. “What are the complications that can happen?” This was another question he was dreading to ask, but needed to be asked at the same time.

Itachi and Naruto leaned in at this, wanting to hear what the doctor had to say.

Dr. Santiago pulled out a pamphlet and handed it to Sasuke. “This has all the possible complication it but I’ll explain them. There could be damage to neighboring organs or structures, such as the gallbladder and pancreas. Also leaking from the new connection between the stomach, intestine, and/or esophagus could occur. Infection is another factor. Not just for the outside incision but also the inside. You need to make sure that you come in right away if you start to feel signs of infection; pain, fever, weakness…”

Sasuke nodded and looked over the pamphlet that told a bit more about the complications. He squeezed Naruto’s hand just a bit tighter, trying to reassure his boyfriend.

Itachi stood up and sat down on the edge of the bed next to Naruto. “How long will he be in hospital afterward?”

“The time frame is usually six to twelve days. It all depends on how fast he progresses with the recovery. I’ll tell you the rest once you’re out of surgery Sasuke. I’ve told you everything that’ll be going on prior so I’ll tell you about the aftercare once you wake up. How are you feeling?” She couldn’t really gauge how Sasuke might be feeling considering the fact that his expression never changed, even after the sedative.

“Fine I guess. A bit better now that I know what’s going to happen. I just want it to be over with.”

Dr. Santiago smiled as she stood up. “I’ll go check and see how the room is progressing. It should be ready for you in the next couple minutes.” With that she made her way out of the room, leaving the three to say what they needed to say to each other.

Naruto finally let his tears fall as he hugged Sasuke. “What if something happens?” he asked in a whisper.

Itachi wrapped his arms around Naruto and tried to comfort the blond as best as he could. “These are the best surgeons we could find. They’ll make sure nothing happens to Sasuke.” he said as he rocked Naruto back and forth in his arms.

Sasuke reached out and ran a hand along Naruto’s swollen belly, wanting to feel his baby for possibly the last time. He wasn’t stupid thinking that nothing could go wrong. As the doctor said, many things could go wrong. “Naruto, come here baby.”

The bed was big enough for two people to lay in, so Naruto positioned himself so he was lying next to Sasuke. He looked into his love’s eyes and felt the tears well up again.

Sasuke still stroked Naruto’s stomach lovingly. “I love you so much. I want you to always remember that. And know that no matter what, if something happens, I would have loved our baby unconditionally…”

“But nothing’s going to happen” Naruto chocked out.

“Shhhhh… You don’t know that. I’m just saying all this because I don’t know. I don’t want to leave you without saying everything I need to say.” He looked over at Itachi. “If something happens to me; I want you to be the baby’s father.”

Itachi shook his head. “Sasuke, you’ll be fine…”

“Just let me say it!” Sasuke practically yelled as tears started rolling down his cheeks now. He had never been more scared in his life. “Please, just do it for me.”

Itachi nodded as he rested his head on Sasuke’s shoulder. “Alright.” He whispered.

Sasuke leaned down and gently kissed Naruto’s belly, then kissed the man himself. “I love you.” He said once more.

Naruto nodded. “I love you too.”

Sasuke turned his head so he could lean against Itachi. He looked up into his brother’s eyes and saw the rock that he needed. The older raven might have been scared too, but he was doing his best to be strong for Sasuke. “Will you promise to take care of him? “ Sasuke asked, referring to Naruto.

Itachi just nodded, not trusting his voice and leaned down to kiss Sasuke; possibly for the last time. “You’re strong Sasuke. You’ll be alright. Now I want you to promise me something.”

Sasuke nodded.

“I want you to promise me that if you feel like anything isn’t right… I want you to fight and try to come back to us.” He knew that while under anesthesia the brain was still working and could send signals to the subconscious letting the individual know if something was going wrong.

Sasuke knew this too and just nodded. His heart sped up as he saw Dr. Santiago return with another surgeon as they wheeled a gurney into the room. He turned back to his brother. “I love you Aniki.”

Itachi smiled just a fraction and kissed Sasuke once more. “I know; I love you too.”


“Alright Sasuke, we’re ready for you.” The doctor said as she helped the young raven out of the comfy bed and onto the hardness of the gurney.

Naruto got off the bed and went to Sasuke’s side to give the love of his life one last kiss.

Sasuke ran his fingers through Naruto’s hair and kissed him back. Trying to silently give the boy a bit of strength. He knew Itachi would help with that though.

Itachi did the same as Naruto and looked into his brother’s eyes. “We’ll be right here when you wake up.” He whispered as they started to wheel Sasuke out of the room.

Sasuke just nodded and looked at the two men he loved most in the world. He kept his eyes on them until they rounded a corner and he couldn’t help but let a few tears finally fall.

TBC
Sad I know... but don’t worry! He’ll be ok!!!

Information about the surgery procedure was found here http://www.thirdage.com/encyclopedia/gastrectomy-total-gastrectomy-partial-gastrectomy-subtotal-gastrectomy-stomach-remov