The following morning began very uneventful. It was Good Friday and I’d be taking the family to services later, but we were all pretty much on our own until then. Around 10:30 the phone rang and soon one of the boys was handing it to me.
“Hello, this is Josh Currie,” I responded.
“Mr. Currie, this is Dr. Chandler’s office. The doctor would like you and your son, Nick, to come in for a consultation this afternoon. Would that be possible?”
“Yes, we could do that,” I informed her. “What time would you like us there?”
“Would 2:00 be good for you?” she asked.
“Yes, that would be fine,” I agreed. “We’ll see you then.”
After hanging up, I went to find Nick, so I could tell him about the appointment. He and Shannon were still in their room and I wasn’t sure if they were up yet, so I knocked lightly on the door. I knocked loud enough to get their attention if they were awake, but not loud enough to disturb them if they were still sleeping. Soon I heard a muffled reply. “Who is it?” Shannon asked.
“It’s just me, but I need to speak with Nick. May I come in?”
“Yes, it’s okay,” he advised me. I opened the door, only to discover the two of them still cuddling. My raised eyebrows must have asked my unspoken question, because Nick was soon filling me in about what they were doing.
“Don’t worry, we haven’t had any sex. We were just hugging and kissing,” he added, giving me a wink. “I never realized before how much fun that could be too, even without the sex.” Shannon grinned and blushed at the same time.
“I’m glad to hear that,” I countered, “but that’s not what I came here for. The doctor’s office just called and they want us there at 2:00, which means I want you ready to leave the house by 1:30.” Nick gave me a troubled look.
“Does that mean all my test results are back then?” he wondered, looking concerned.
“I think it does,” I informed him, but his brow seemed to furrow even more deeply now.
“Does this mean it’s bad news?” he asked.
“Not necessarily,” I advised him. “If you remember, the doctor said he would discuss the results with us, no matter how they turned out.” I saw Nick relax slightly.
“Okay, I’ll be ready then,” he agreed. “Can Shannon come with us?” Nick asked, shortly thereafter.
“No, I don’t think that would be appropriate,” I pointed out. “You can tell him anything you want about it, after we get back.” Nick didn’t look happy about my answer, so he merely shrugged and then nodded, so I left them alone.
I went back to my room, to fill Jake in about what I would be doing and to assure him he’d be one of the first people to learn about the test results. I did that to alleviate some of his concerns about Shannon being with Nick, so I hoped the tests results would turn out as we hoped. Now, all we had to do was wait.
Nick and I arrived at the doctor’s office a few minutes before our appointment time. Almost immediately, we were led back to an examination room, where we sat and waited for the doctor to show up. I thought this a bit strange, because I assumed the consultation would take place in his office and we’d sit on either side of his desk to discuss the results. Perhaps this doctor didn’t have an office or he was one of those types whose office was too cluttered to meet in. Whatever the reason, Nick and I tried to make ourselves comfortable while we waited.
Several minutes later, he entered, carrying Nick’s chart with him. He opened it, scanned its contents and then turned towards Nick. “The good news is your HIV test and most other tests are negative,” he began.
I wasn’t sure if Nick had caught on to his use of the phrase ‘MOST other tests’, but I certainly had.
“Great!” Nick exclaimed, obviously missing that minor difference in what he THOUGHT he heard.
“Doctor,” I interrupted, “I take it not ALL of the tests came back negative?”
He nodded, indicating my assumption was correct. “Besides the genital warts we treated the last time he was here, your son seems to have picked up a case of Chlamydia too.”
“What’s that?” Nick asked, while not even attempting to try to pronounce it.
“Chlamydia is another sexually transmitted disease and appears quite frequently in those under twenty-five years of age. It is caused by a bacterium, chlamydia trachomatis and is often called a ‘silent’ disease, because seventy-five percent of infected females and fifty percent of infected males show only mild or no symptoms at all.”
“Is it dangerous?” Nick wanted to know, his concerned look told me he was worried about what this might mean for him.
“If left untreated in women,” the doctor informed him, “it can cause permanent damage to the fallopian tubes, uterus and other surrounding tissues. This can lead to pelvic pain, infertility and potentially fatal ectopic pregnancies, which is a pregnancy outside of the uterus. It also increases the risks of contracting the HIV virus.
“Complications in men are much rarer,” the physician continued, “but would include infections to the epididymis, which is the tube that carries sperm from the testis. This infection can cause pain, fever and sterility, although that is very rare. In certain cases, it may also cause an arthritic condition that can be accompanied by skin lesions and inflammation of the eye and urethra. That condition is called Reiter’s syndrome and doesn’t occur very frequently.”
I concluded the doctor had offered all of that information to scare Nick a little, and rightfully so. It was obvious Nick had engaged in some risky sex, even though he thought he had been mostly cautious, so I was glad he was learning the potential danger from such behavior.
“Is there a cure for this, doctor?” I asked, after a brief moment of awkward silence. Nick hadn’t said anything because he was still digesting what this news might mean for him.
“Yes, there is,” the doctor confirmed. “It can be easily treated and cured with antibiotics, and we have a couple of choices here. I can give him a single dose of azithromycin or a week’s worth of doxycycline, which would have to be taken twice daily.”
“So which of those are you going to use for Nick?” I asked, curious as to which option he might choose.
“I thought I would try the single dose of azithromycin with him,” he informed us.
“Is that all there is to it?” I followed.
“No, he will have to abstain from sexual contact until he is cured,” the doctor announced and I saw Nick cringe. “He must also advise all of his sexual partners that they have been exposed to chlamydia and recommend they get tested and seek treatment too.”
I looked over at Nick, to see his reaction, and he was just sitting there, as if he were in a trance.
“Did you hear what the doctor said?” I asked Nick.
“Yeah, he said NO sex, but for how long?” he whined, possibly missing the fact that he had other responsibilities to carry out as well.
“To be safe, I’d say one month,” the physician told him, very matter-of-factly, but his comment drew an immediate response from Nick.
“Another month!” he said quite loudly, which drew a harsh look from both the doctor and me.
“Yes,” I emphasized, “and we have to make some phone calls, so you can warn those you’ve had sexual contact with, while you were away.” Nick slumped in his chair, looking totally lost and dejected.
“Hey, you have no one to blame for this, but yourself,” I advised him. “I warned you having sex while you were in Brazil would be very risky, so it would be best to abstain. I also told you to use protection if you couldn’t and you would only have had to wait a few days at most to get your new supplies, but you didn’t. You’ve already gone a week without sex and now you will HAVE to go a month longer without being intimate. If you could have controlled your insatiable urges and that randy dick of yours, you wouldn’t be in this fix right now.”
I knew I was being a little rough on him in front of the doctor, but I felt this time he needed less sympathy and more realism. The doctor just nodded as I spoke and then got up to leave. He told us he’d be right back and returned a short time later, carrying a syringe. He gave Nick a shot and told him it should take care of his problem. He also warned us about possible side effects and allergic reactions to the drug, so we’d be aware to contact him, should we notice any of those symptoms. After he finished going over all of that information, he turned toward Nick and spoke again.
“Just because your HIV test came back negative doesn’t mean you’re out of the woods yet,” he explained. “Sometimes, a positive test does not show up for months, or even years. That’s why I want you to come in for an AIDS test every six months, until I notify you differently.”
Nick just nodded his head and resigned himself to having to go through this over and over again for a while. After giving him some time to consider the errors of his way, we got up and headed to the front desk. After we were given the date for his next appointment, I paid the co-payment and we left.
Once we were in the van, Nick turned to me and spoke. “Damn, I really blew it worse than I thought, didn’t I?” he moaned.
“I think I would have to agree with that observation,” I told him.
“Man, what am I going to do now?” he asked, most likely rhetorically, but I thought I’d answer him anyway.
“Well, first of all I hope you’ve learned from this and your future activities won’t be quite so reckless,” I suggested. “It is important for you to follow the doctor’s orders too and that means no sexual contact for at least another month. We also have to go home and make a few phone calls to Brazil.”
Nick was looking at the floorboard of the van now, rather than at me. I knew having to tell his host-brothers and friends in Brazil would not only embarrass him further, but he would also feel guilty for putting them through such an equally embarrassing situation with their parents.
“I’m really sorry, Pop,” he told me. “I really thought I had been safe and I didn’t think I could pick up this shit just doing it a few times without protection,” he admitted.
“Unfortunately, too many young people think that way and don’t realize it only takes ONCE for something bad to happen.”
“I know that now,” he explained, “and I’m really sorry about this.”
I could tell that Nick not only felt badly about everything he had done, but he also seemed to be extremely sincere about it as well. However, I felt this wasn’t behind him yet and he was going to have more remorse to deal with later, after he dealt with Shannon and Jake and made his phone calls to Brazil. I wondered how the people in Brazil were going to react towards him, once they discovered what they had to go through.
When we got home, I immediately made Nick make his phone calls to warn his host-brothers and other partners that they needed to see a doctor and get checked out. Although this conversation took place in Portuguese, I could tell the brothers had some concerns, probably about how they were going to inform their parents as to why they needed to be tested.
Nick explained later that he also asked them to inform the boys from their school, the ones he had been intimate with, and tell them they needed to do the same thing. This caused a bit of an uproar, as his host-brothers didn’t want to be the ones who would have to face the concerns and wrath of their friends. At first, they suggested they could get everyone’s telephone numbers and give them to Nick, so he could call and tell them himself. However, after much discussion, they eventually gave in and told Nick they would do it for him, much to Nick’s relief.
Once his telephone call ended, Nick informed me there were a few guys, the ones he met on his trips, that he’d have no way of getting in touch with, so he didn’t know what to do about them. After thinking about it briefly, I told him we just had to pray they either didn’t contract it from him or they would develop symptoms, so they could get treated for it before it got too severe. He agreed, but I could tell this bothered him greatly.
After making his phone call, Nick went to inform Shannon about his problem, while I went to tell Jake about what we found out. As I was sharing this information, I could tell this only reinforced Jake’s negative image of his son’s boyfriend and he was even more upset than he had been when he found out about the genital warts. He excused himself and went outside, and when I looked to see what he was up to, I saw him going for a walk up the road. Obviously, he needed some time alone to think about his feelings and cope with the reality of the situation.
Once he returned, he cleaned up and changed and we went to the early evening Good Friday service at church. Jake seemed a little aloof and extremely quiet since he returned from his walk, and this didn’t change at church. I could only imagine what types of thoughts were going through his mind and I could tell he wasn’t really aware of what was happening during the service. He wasn’t participating, as he normally did, but he kept glancing over at Shannon and Nick instead. They were sitting on the other side of him, but seemed to be wrapped up in each other and oblivious to what Jake was doing. Of course, my attention was split between observing Jake and the service, so I missed much of what was happening too. However, we did manage to get through it without looking as if we had fallen asleep in the pew.
When we got home, Jake and I started putting the finishing touches on dinner. While we were doing that, the doorbell rang and several boys went rushing to see who was there. Fortunately, at least one of the boys recognized who was standing on our doorstep.
“Duck,” Kevin said, “I’m glad you decided to join us. Come on in.” Duck looked relieved that Kevin was pleased to see him.
“I was hoping this would be okay and wouldn’t create any problems,” Duck answered, while remaining outside.
I was actually surprised to see him this early, since Mark had only arrived home from work just before we got back.
“Duck, come on in and I’ll introduce you to the guys you haven’t met yet,” I told him. Duck shyly walked into the foyer, but he had something else to say first.
“I hope I haven’t shown up too early,” he offered. “I took a half-day off from work, seeing things were on the slow side this morning.”
“Wow, you were that eager to get here?” I teased, but Duck took it the wrong way.
“If it’s too early, I can come back later,” he suggested, apologetically.
“Nonsense, you could never be too early,” I explained. “Get in here, so you can meet the others.”
Duck followed me and I began introducing him to the college boys, whom he hadn’t met yet. Since they weren’t all downstairs, I asked Cole to round the others up, so I could introduce them too. It wasn’t long before Duck had met everyone.
“We don’t expect you to remember everyone’s name right away,” I informed him, and Duck looked relieved. “However, I do suspect you will have their names down, by the time you leave.” Duck smiled.
“I’m really glad you’re allowing me to visit and stay here for the holiday,” he announced. “I’m really looking forward to this.”
“So are we,” Danny replied, as he and Brandon were busy checking Duck out. Before long, they were dragging Duck into the family room, so they could all get acquainted. When they did that, Jake and I went back to make sure the meal hadn’t burn and finish up the last of the minor duties.
Mark changed and came downstairs a short time later, and by then everything was ready. After Mark and Duck greeted each other, I called everyone in to eat. I think Duck was a bit overwhelmed when he saw the size of the table and the number of chairs around it.
“Wow, this is like eating in the dining hall at college,” he muttered.
“Close, but not quite,” Danny agreed. “The difference is, here the food tastes much better and you don’t have to worry about a food fight breaking out, at least not during a holiday meal.” The others began to laugh when he said this, after thinking back upon the few times this had happened.
“I take it he’s not joking then?” Duck asked, after seeing their reaction.
“It has happened a couple of times,” I admitted, “but we nipped it in the bud quite quickly.” Duck seemed surprised by this admission, but didn’t pursue it.
During the meal, the college boys quizzed Duck about himself and shared some information about their backgrounds. I think they did this so Duck would feel more comfortable being with them. It seemed to work, since Duck was actively shared tidbits of his past with them too. It was all done in a very casual and low-key manner, and no one exposed more about himself than he felt comfortable with.
By the time we were finishing up, everyone was acting like old friends and Duck seemed pleased to be here. He confirmed that feeling, the very next time he spoke.
“I can’t tell you how good it is to be here,” he told us. “I already feel like I’m part of the family and not an outsider. Thank you, so much, for making this happen. You don’t know how good it feels to be accepted and part of this wonderful and loving group.”
“Believe me, we all know what you’re feeling,” Danny responded, “since we’ve all been there and done that.”
Duck merely smiled at him, before doing the same to the rest of us. At that point, I suggested we go into the family room and relax for a few minutes. However, some of the good mood ended a few seconds later, when Jake spoke.
“Shannon and Nick, I’d like to speak with both of you before you go off with the others,” he stated, which caused a panicked look to cross both of their faces. The other boys suspected what this was about, so their mood changed as well. The only one in the dark about this was Duck.
“Josh, I think maybe you should join us too,” Jake added, while looking in my direction. I had a feeling I also knew what he was going to do, but I hoped it wasn’t going to go as badly as I feared it might.