❤︎ Anjali ❤︎
The warm sun from the window wakes me up, and I slowly open my eyes to check if I am still alive. I see the white wall all around me with the blue sky through a large window.
I think I am still alive because my chest moves whenever I breathe the air into my lung. I feel the strong heartbeats pumping the blood into the rest of my body. I can breathe now without much difficulty, even though a resuscitation device connects to my nostrils. I can breathe better and stronger.
When I became aware of this reality, tears fall from my eyes. I am so happy to be alive. That's all I need. Happiness and gratitude fill my heart.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you."
This overwhelming emotion of joy takes over me. I am so grateful to get this precious second chance of my life. While enjoying this emotional feeling of happiness, my parents walk into the room. As soon as they see my smile, my mother screams with joy.
"Oh, my Baby! You are smiling. I am so happy to see you."
"I talked with your doctor, and she said your heart surgery was very successful, and everything is going as planned."
She is almost in tears.
"She said you would stay at the intensive care unit for a few days and will be moved to a cardiac step-down floor until you leave the hospital. It will take another two to four weeks until you can go home."
While she is talking to me, my father stares at me joyfully without saying a word. In our house, my mother is the one who mostly talks, while my father keeps quiet. But I can feel his love for me from the way he looks at me.
I still don't have enough strength to respond to my mother, so I keep smiling.
They come to see me almost every day around 2 p.m. before my father has to bring back his rented cab to the taxi garage in Flushing, Queens, at 4 p.m. That is why you can hardly find an empty cab around that time in Manhattan.
My physical situation improves every day, and, luckily, there is no sign of my body rejecting the new heart. I can slowly get up on the bed and turn my body toward the entrance before my parents arrive.
My mother is so happy to see me, and she almost cries. She is so emotional as many Indian women are. There is a reason why Bollywood was born in India. We are very passionate people.
Everything is going as it should be. Thanks to my new heart, I am gaining my strength daily. After three weeks in the hospital, I have never felt this strong in my entire life.
Today is my big day to return home. I want to thank my doctor again before leaving, so I ask one of the nurses to contact the doctor. Dr. Waxman comes to the room shortly after and wants to know how I am.
"I feel good. I am going home today, and my parents should be arriving soon."
"I just wanted to see you before I leave. Dr. Waxman, I can't thank you enough for saving my life. I feel as if you have given me a new life, and I promise you that I will cherish it every single day."
"I don't know what I am going to do yet, but I will use it to help someone who is in need, just like what you have done for me."
Then I hold her hand very firmly with both hands. She is taken aback by my words and almost starts to cry.
"Anjali, I am so glad you feel this way. I am certain that you will eventually find what you want to dedicate your life to. I am very confident about you."
YOU ARE READING
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS
Romansa"Remember me." "When I come back to you, please remember me." While Leo is waiting for his bride at the altar, Beth has a car accident on the way to the church and dies whispering some mysterious words. They just graduated from high school in Weath...
