Growing Pains…

by yalocalseaweedbrain

Summary:

Since Kai could remember he has always had these random sharp and achey pains that shot up and down his legs and arms. He thought it was growing pains until one day while everyone else is gone he was in so much pain he couldn’t walk. And then it hit him, he hasn’t grown in four years.

 

Or: Author has Neuropathy and is about to have to go through a bunch of crap because of it and decided to take it out on her favorite lego character from her favorite (and only) lego show 👍 I’ll let u decide

Notes:

Neuropathy:

Weakness, numbness, and pain from nerve damage, usually in the hands and feet.
A common cause of peripheral neuropathy is diabetes, but it can also result from injuries, infections, and exposure to toxins or having too much vitamin B6.

 

Also these are all my experiences, basically my story with it but with Kai cuz I need some way of coping

Chapter 1

Since Kai could remember he’d always have these random sharp pains shoot up and down his legs and occasionally his arms. Whenever this happened it would be hard for him to walk and use whatever leg or arm was having the issue. When he was little and his mom was still around, he had mentioned it to her, but she had told him it must’ve been growing pains. Since then he never gave it another thought. It was just growing pains, something everyone had. Right?

That’s what he thought at least.

One day he woke up and groaned as his leg felt like it had smashed with a large block of ice. “Growing pains.” He mumbled, rubbing his face to help him wake up. He was used to it by now. He was used to waking up to some leg or arm hurting, so he could mentally numb it out most of the time. That’s what he did.

He stood up like nothing was the matter and made his way out of his room to the kitchen where the other ninja were having breakfast. “Good morning Kai,” Zane greeted him, “ would you like a pancake?” He was standing over a hot stove with a stack of pancakes on the counter next to him. Cole had already stolen like half of the stack, trying to be sneaky but Zane had spotted him anyways. “I’m good, thanks Zane.” He yawned, sitting himself at the table where Jay, Nya, and Lloyd were eating and chatting.

“Good morning sleepy.” Jay joked. Kai ignored him, surprisingly, rubbing his face. “Kai you look.. dead, how much sleep did you get last night?” Nya asked, looking concerned for her brother. It was her job to be concerned, right? She was his sister. “Yeah i got enough sleep, I guess I just didn’t sleep well.” Kai responded. In truth, he hadn’t gone to sleep till 2am. Why? His legs were killing him last night! He found it hard to sleep when his legs were acting up. But hey, it was just growing pains. The others must understand him. “Guess I’m a little sore.” He shrugged. The others took it as he was tired from trading the day prior.

“Cole, i need your help at the store today.” Zane said, turning off the stove and ditching his apron. “Aw! Why can’t Jay do it?!” Cole complained, meaning none of it. “‘Cos Nya and I have a dance class.” Cole rolled his eyes, “fine I’ll go.”

“Looks like it’s just going to be you and me green machine.” Kai grinned at his little brother. “Actually just you,” Lloyd corrected, “ the commissioner asked me down to the station today to help him catch this car thief.” Kai nodded, “alright, a day to myself then.” Good, he thought. He could have his time to catch up on much needed rest. His leg was still hurting, sure, but this pain was ignorable enough to get a couple hours of sleep.

Within the next hour, the other five had left, leaving Kai alone. Master Wu was helping Misako with her work at her explorers club and Pixal was spending the week with Cyrus Borg, helping him make new updates on the Borgpad, so he was completely alone.

Kai then stumbled into his room, his leg feeling week. He barely made it to his bed, crashing down oh his pillows and blankets. “Dang.” He brought his hand to his ankle. His skin felt normal, but internally, his foot was on ice. Why did the pain escalate like that? It’s never done that before! Well.. actually it had…

When he was little and Nya was born, he was having terrible leg pains that it caused him to scream and cry in bed all night. His parents never came to his side though, they had figured it was Nya, the new born baby. Since that night, Kai gave up on crying. It didn’t do anything to help with this. It was just growing pains, he reminded himself.

This however, felt worse than that night. Thanks to his powers, he heated up his hands and clasped them onto his foot. He gripped it tight, hoping to warm up his foot and make it stop. After a while it wasn’t as bad, so he let go and shoved his foot under his blankets.

That’s what he normally did. At night he would take all the blankets he had and piled them ontop of his foot. The problem was, he was the master of fire. While his foot was freezing, the rest of him was burning. He could never rest normally.

He sighed, setting his head in his pillows, closing his eyes. He needed sleep.

He did manage to get an hour of sleep, but he woke to the pain that once sat at the plan of his foot, spreading to his hip. “Ahh..” he hissed, bolting his torso up. He was gasping for air, his leg in imaginable pain. Even though he was a ninja and getting hurt was apart of the job, he had never felt anything like this before.

He decided that he needed some pain killers. That would settle this a bit. He’s taken pain killers before, but they never fully get rid of the pain, but he would do anything to have this be at least a little less painful than what it was now. He sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of his bed. He then stood on his good leg, then his bad.

That’s when he collapsed on the ground.

His leg was hurting so bad he couldn’t even walk.

It hd felt like he had stepped on an ice cold knife, something that had been in a freezer for thousands of years. It felt like he had stepped on it and the once pain was stabbing at him while climbing up and down his leg non stop.

He had to crawl for it.

He pulled himself up to his elbows and started to drag himself out of his room. He knew that the pain killers were in the bathroom, he just had to make it there.

He didn’t succeed.

He had found himself laying in the hallway, crying his eyes out.

Thank the first spinjitzu master when about ten minutes later, Cole and Zane had made it back from the store. “Kai?” Cole called out from another room. When Kai didn’t answer, Zane had Cole go look for him while he finished bringing in their groceries.

Cole found Kai laying in the hallway, his face tear stained, but now he was silent, scared to move. “Kai!?” Cole yelled, kneeling to his side, “Kai are you okay?” Kai turned his head to see his friend, “huh? Oh. Yeah no I’m good. I was just having some growing pains. You know how those feel.”
Cole furrowed his eyebrows, “Kai what are you talking about? You haven’t grown in four years! What even is growing pains?”

Kai’s she’s widened, “yo-you know. Thoese shots of pain up and down your arms and legs? The ones that make you feel cold.” He explained, thinking Come would understand. Cole had no idea what the fire ninja was talking about. “Kai.. that’s not growing pains..”

“Oh…” Kai whispered, “I think there something wrong with me then…” Cole got back to his feet, “wait right there, I’ll go get Zane.”

Wait right there? Where else would Kai go?

Cole had come back with Zane. He asked Cole to grab Kai and take him into the Med bay. Cole did as the nindriod asked, scooping Kai up and placing him on the cot in the Med bay. “Kai im going to scan you. I want you to tell me how long you’ve been feeling this pain.” Zane ordered, scanning Kai, who was fill too afraid to move. “Uh.. how old am I?” Kai asked. “You’ve felt this pain for twenty years?” Cole asked in shock, “and you’ve never said anything?”

“I… I thought it was growing pains..” Kai whispered, starting to realize what was going on. “Kai you shouldn’t still be growing at twenty.” Cole pointed out. Oh, Kai thought, that was something he should have noticed a while ago.

“ my scans say this isn’t some kind of poison. I’m guessing it’s a chemical thing. Maybe we should take him to get his blood drawn, some doctors could tell us more.” Zane said, looking at Kai, “why were you on the floor though?”

“ I couldn’t walk…”

 

<3

 

Zane and Cole took Kai to the rapid Med who did draw blood, making Kai very uncomfortable. He hates needles. Hated them. Hated them. Hated them. But when the doctor gave him a pillow to squeeze, he finally allowed them to prick him.

Thanks to Borg research, they could get information back in a matter of a couple minutes. Kai sat on the bed in the room, his leg not hurting any more, but he was still scared to move. He was staring out of the window, Cole and Zane not saying anything, thinking Kai needed peace for now.

The doctor came back in and sat on his stool, “so we do have some news. You have very high levels of B6.” He said as if Kai was supposed to know what that means.

“What does that do?” Cole asked, knowing in his current state, Kai would probably just nod. “Basically it causes anxiety and depression, but it can also cause peripheral neuropathy, which would be that pain you’ve been feeling. See, my B6 is at 80, which is normal, but Kai has it at 400.”

Kai was turned to stone. Frozen in place. No matter how you put it, he wouldn’t respond. 400 when the normal was meant to be 80? That wasn’t good. And all this time he thought it was growing pains.

“What’s neuropathy?” Cole asked. “It’s nerve damage. It’s common in diabetics, but Kai doesn’t have diabetes. Don’t worry, you can have it and not have diabetes. But long story short, it causes pains in the arms in legs and can also cause tingling, numbness, basically chronic pain.” The doctor summed up.

“Is there a cure?” Zane asked, knowing Kai would take a cure, no matter what. “Uh, there is treatments, but no. Sadly there is no cure to neuropathy. It’s chronic.” The doctor eyed Kai.

Kai was still looking out the window, wishing he didn’t have to hear this. Growing pains. Why couldn’t it be growing pains…

 

<3

 

The doctor had suggested Kai see an endocrinologist, but Kai just wanted to go home.

When he got home, Nya had pulled him into the biggest hug he’d ever had in his life. Cole had texted the others while at the doctor. Kai hugged Nya back, his sister crying. “Kai, you should have told us you were in pain.” She said.

“I didn’t know it was that..” Kai mumbled.

Growing pains.

When she let go, she rubbed her eyes, “well, now that we know we can help you.” She declared. Kai gave her a sad smile, “thanks sis, but I’m tired. If it’s okay with you guys, I’m going to sleep for a bit.” He didn’t wait for an answer, he started to head to his room, hearing Zane say : “ high B6 can also cause Depression and Anxiety.” Kai shut his door and plopped on his bed, facing the wall as he hugged his pillow to his gut.

A couple minutes later, his door opened. “Kai?” Someone asked. Kai knew who it was, “Yeah?” Lloyd walked I got the room, shutting the door behind him. He walked up to Kais bed and sat down next to the master of fire. It was something Kia had done to Lloyd whenever he was having a break down, so Lloyd decided to return the favor.

“How are you feeling?” Lloyd asked. “Honestly… I don’t know,” Kai answered, “it’s not like I’m going to change, I’m just aware of what it is now.” He said, picking at the bandaid at his arm from where they had taken blood earlier.

Lloyd then saw a burn mark on both of Kai’s ankles. It wasn’t.. he wouldn’t… “Kai.. what’s on your ankles?” Lloyd asked, his voice shakes even though he tried to stay calm. “Hm?” Kai glanced at his ankles, “oh.. burn marks.. whenever the pain flares up it feels like ice. So heat helps it.” He explained. Lloyd sighed of relief. Kai wasn’t hurting himself. Well… he was.. but not in that kind of way.

“You shouldn’t do that,” Lloyd stated, “why not get a heated blanket?” Kai rolled over to look at his little brother watching him, “that’s actually smart greenie.” He smiled. Lloyd snickered, “thanks.”

Kai sat up, “ you know, this may be a pain… but, I’ll be fine. That doctor suggested I go to an.. uh.. I’m not sure, some other doctor. Zane knows it. Maybe I should go. Maybe they will help make this more manageable.” Lloyd smiled, “ that’s the spirit. And if you are ever having days where you can’t walk or it hurts too much, just let us know. It’s not like we’ll force you to come on missions.”

Kai returned the smile, “thanks green bean,” he ruffled the blondes hair, “you know, you’re a good brother.” Lloyd pushed Kai’s hand off of his head, “well, I did learn from the best.”

“Come on,” Kai stood up, “let’s go throw out all our food with B6. I got a diet to start.”

Kai was aware of the journey he was about to start. He want sure how many doctor appointments or how many times he was going to be pricked by those needles. But he did know that no matter what, he had his family and friends to be at his side. No matter if he could run or not.

He wasn’t having growing pains. He should’ve known. He had grown a long time ago.

Chapter 2: The doctors appointment

Summary:

I went to the doctor… yay…

Btw I also have Kai Hypophosphatasia/ hpp, google it before reading if u wanna

 

“Im fine! 😆”
-Wanda Maximoff

They weighed him, checked his height, and checked his blood pressure. Now all that they needed was for the doctor to come in and give it to him straight. Nya had tagged along for moral support, also because she was the only blood relative near by to answer any questions.

Kai sat on the bed, the paper crinkling under him. He picked at his fingers, knowing what was coming. A blood drawn. Sure, since he has found out he had neuropathy and HPP he had gotten plenty! he should be used to them by now but he wasn’t. He was now absolutely terrified of needles.

A knock came at the door and the doctor entered, “hey,” she smiled, sitting on her stool, “how are you guys?” Kai gave her a smile. “Good.” Nya answered for him. “Okay, so what’s going on?” She asked, pulling out her laptop. Nya eyed Kai, basically telling him he had to be the one to speak, she couldn’t do all the talking for him. “Uhm, the neuropathy has been more frequent.. like almost every day now.” Kai explained.

“And it’s mainly in your legs right?” The doctor asked. Kai nodded, “ yeah, but it’s been in my arms before too.” The doctor hummed, typing on her keyboard, “ i see. Well, Kai you do know there is no cure for neuropathy or HPP, but there is a medication that I think you should try.”

Nope nope nope! Kai knew about the shots, no way was he taking them. Just the thought of needles freaked him out. Heck, this guy has been through more than being poked by a needle, so why does it freak him out.

“ and,” the doctor carried on, “you know, you are young. We don’t want to see you in a wheelchair just yet, we want to see you enjoy your youth and be more like a normal teen.”

Wheelchair? Did she just say wheelchair? Kai knew he didn’t have the best legs in the world, but he wasn’t expecting a wheelchair! Sure, he had one when they went to mega monster amusement park last because his legs were hurting and he couldn’t walk, but…

“Have you thought of therapy?” The doctor asked, “see high B6 can interfere with your happy chemicals causing anxiety and depression.” Kai picked at his fingers more, bouncing his leg. He tried to hold in his tears. He was definitely going to start crying the second that doctor left the room, but he was too old to cry in front of the doctor. He had to hold it in.

“How about we do the blood test, and I’ll give you a couple weeks to think about the medicine. I seriously think it will help.” Nya and the doctor talked back in forth for a while. Kai just nodded every once in a while, trying to convince himself not to cry.

Eventually the doctor left, the nurse doing the drawn would be in soon. Nya got up, “oh..” she grabbed two tissues and handed one to Kai. Kai took it and watched his sister say down, dabbing her eyes, “I’m crying now.”

Kai nodded, allowing a few tears to fall from his eyes, catching them before they could stain his face. “Where’s Jay for comic relief when you need him?” Nya chuckled drying. That got a slight smirk from Kai. He threw away his tissue, stopping himself from crying, only to be crying a few minutes later when the nurse came in with the needle and tubes.

Kai was basically kicking off his crocks while fidgeting while the nurse tied the band around his upper arm and cleaning it with the alcohol wipe. Nya came to his side and held our her hand. He took it in his and squeezed the living day lights out of it. 1…2…3…

He relaxed his arm for the nurse to get him.

He was done before he could blink, but that didn’t change how much he hated it.

Why couldn’t he just be normal?

Chapter 3: the numbness

Notes:

oh no, did author have a traumatic moment bc of her neuropathy and it’s only going to affect her life even more????

yes.

so kai also has to deal with it. that’s how this works.

enjoy

“what a day.” kai sighed, taking his shoes off. he changed into his pajamas, laying on his bed. he allowed his body to relax, taking in a deep breath. he was going to just close his eyes, but then an odd feeling came about in his left leg.

the fire ninja sat up, feeling around for what was going on. he decided that maybe he just needed to stretch out his leg, so he did. that was when he realized he could not move his toes. his heart skipped a beat, he brought his foot closer to him. his leg started to throb in pain. “not good… i need nya..”

he got out of bed, only for it to feel worse. he held onto his leg, limping all the way to the kitchen where nya was. “what’s wrong?”

“i don’t know…” kai hissed through his teeth, taking a seat, “it hurts bad.”

“do you want some pain killers?” she asked.

kai only shook his head, “they don’t take away the pain, remember.”

nya then started to grab some stuff, “i saw this drink that helps with inflammation. let me try to make that for you.” she said.

kia nodded his head.

that’s when it happened.

he couldn’t feel his legs. he started to move them frantically, only to still feel a sharp pain. how could he not feel them but they still hurt? he started to use his hand to make sure they were still warm. “kai?” nya looked over, “what’s going on?”

“i… i can’t feel my legs.” tears started to well up, one falling from his face, “this.. this is scary nya..”

eventually he made his way back to his bed, but he still could not feel his legs, and they still some how hurt. he cried some more, not sure what to do.

“it’s the neuropathy,” nya said, “i’m sure this will go away.”

“yeah.. i’m sure.”