Whoever Leaves First || Renga

part 02: pulmonary fibrosis

"okay reki. are you ready?" ala asked as she knocked on the door. reki who was in his hospital gown and laying on his bed looked up.

"yup." reki said and looked at his mom who nodded. ala nodded back and the doctor came in.

"okay reki. how are you?" the doctor said and reki sat up straight in bed.

"eh. hanging in there i guess." reki said with a smile and the doctor laughed clicking his pen open.

"okay. on a scale of one to ten, what would you say the level of pain you're feeling right now is at?" the doctor asked and reki blinked his eyes.

"zero, just some discomfort but it doesn't hurt." reki admitted and the doctor looked at him with a raised brow.

"what a strong son you have here miss kyan." the doctor remarked and reki's mom smiled at reki who just laughed.

"this discomfort is where?" the doctor asked and reki placed his hand on his chest and rubbed it in a circle between his pecks.

"all around my chest." reki said and dropped his hand to the side when his doctor nodded and wrote away on a notepad.

"okay reki. so you have pulmonary fibrosis. do you know what it is?" the doctor said and reki leaned back in his bed looking at the ceiling.

"it's a lung disease that's killing me." reki bluntly let out and when it grew silent he rose his head and looked up. "oh sorry didn't mean to be straightforward there. um, besides that all i know is that there's no cure." reki added and the doctor nodded.

"you're correct, with both statements." the doctor said and reki nodded and then side eyed his mom and saw she wiped away a tear as she held onto her purse in her lap.

"since you are hooked up to oxygen and you are hospital bound, that means that you are around stage two approaching stage three of PF." the doctor said and reki froze internally for a second, his breathing stopping.

stage two; moderate. stage three; severe. reki is in between them. there's only four stages of PF so who knows how long he'll have. he just got diagnosed with it not so long ago and he's closer to stage four then he is stage one.

"the oxygen therapy you've been taking once a week will be changed to one hour everyday. meaning you will take your breathing treatment everyday in here and after, you will walk this hallway for ten minutes after." the doctor said and reki nodded his head.

"instead of taking the normal one pill you do, we will give you two pills every twelve hours. you can choose what time." the doctor said and reki nodded again coughing a bit.

"you okay?" his mom asked and reki nodded his head wiping his mouth.

"that's all for today, reki. you did great." the doctor said and gave the chart to ala who put it in a pouch that was hanging from a hook on the back of the door.

reki closed his mouth and breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth. a technique he was taught in therapy. he then laid his arm over his eyes.

"i already have enough trouble swallowing one pill." reki confessed and his mother sighed and got up and removed reki's arm from his face.

"i know baby. it's going to be fine." his mom reassured reki and reki nodded. a thought suddenly popped into his mind and he sat up straight and quickly got out of bed. the sudden action caused him to become dizzy and he wobbled and leaned against his bed.

"reki calm down." his mom assured and ala rushed over to him.

"sorry, sorry. i got up too fast." reki said and ala snickered and looked away as she walked to his bathroom and shut the door.