The love of my life

52. Nostalgia

Daman stirred in the hospital bed and looked at the fluids being pumped into her veins. She wondered what her young adult self would feel about intravenous rehydration after a night of partying as she focused her eyes and looked around where she was.

"Is this... My oncologist's..." She spoke turning to look Ekansh sitting by her side.

He nodded, with eyes full and ready to burst in tears, holding her right hand.

"Ekansh, what's wrong? I just... It must be the drinks and..."

"It's... back." He barely choked out trying his best to control his tears as she looks up at him.

"No, even the reports don't come this fast. I might have been out for what 2-3 hours and... That's... No... This isn't possible."

"Your blood report is here, not the FNAC and other labs, and it... Points towards... It's not alcohol." He says looking away, unable to meet her eye.

"Where's Tejas?" She asked looking around.

"Ambar picked him up."

"Please don't tell Samayra. This pregnancy is already a lot complicated. She needs to be emotionally strong." She said, as Ekansh frowned. How could she think of Samayra right now?

"Daman, breathe in. Right now, you are what matters. I know you love Tejas and Samayra but you need to focus on yourself, for them." He said bending down to kiss the back of her hand when a doctor walks in.

"Daman." The man in his early 60's enters as Daman nods with a smile.

"Dr. Bhaskar, how are you?" She says as his smile falters.

"Not good to see you here, Daman. Last time I kicked you out of the clinic after your five year check up and told you never to come back." He said, almost angry and defeated.

"It's bad?" She asked as he looks at his register and looks up again.

"Chances of relapse after five years of treatment are very less. It's almost rare. But people with Hodgkin's are predisposed to other types of cancer like non-Hodgkin's lymphoma or lung cancer, breast cancer due to the chemotherapy they've been through."

"What is it?" Daman asked, holding onto Ekansh's hand tightly as he squeezed back.

"Non Hodgkin's lymphoma. The symptoms and blood profile show it must be high grade which means spread is very agressive and I would consider it luck or... I don't know fate... That you came here for a simple fating episode after drinking. The biomarkers aren't tested yet, but we... We thinks it's burkitt's lymphoma based on the symptoms, Mr. Sandhu mentioned and the reports we have right now."

"Symptoms?" Daman asked confused.

"Night sweats, feeling cold so much could point to fever which you never let me check, lose of apetite and weight loss." He said, as Daman looked down at her belly. Wasn't she just eating healthy?

"It's rare and aggressive. This time the fight will be harder, Daman but I'm sure Tejas is worth fighting for." He says and thinks of something.

"You preserved his stem cells right?" He asks as Daman nods. "I'll keep that in mind, but let's hope we never have to go there. It's the last alternative."

"And the most painful." Daman adds, knowing all her healthy and cancerous cells of bone marrow will have to be killed by radiation before letting new ones in the stream.

"Dr." Ekansh says looking up as he looks at Daman. "Before... Before the treatment if we could... Freeze her eggs, if... I mean... sorry, I'm overstepping " he says looking at Daman and then quitens.