"I'd even gotten you the pointe shoes, and everything," Jamie said around an egg roll. He really was still paying attention, but he was still hungry, too. "So, little things that get progressively worse?" he asked. "And I hope you don't either."

Jamie felt touched that his father would ask him to take on such a huge part of his medical care, but a bit scared, too. "No, Dad, I can do it," he said, after the silence had stretched between them. "I mean, as long as the doctors can explain to me what needs to be done, and stuff like that."