Change of Course

W i s h

Dr. Yun Jie An, MD

A golden plaque whose engraved name I was too familiar with. She stared at me with her narrow eyes and sharp jawline, making me fewl ten time smaller with her calculating look.

My doctor since I was a child.

For me, she was like the female version of Hermes, the messenger god. She always delivered me news. The good, the bad, and the heart-wrenching ones.

She sighed. "Look, Elena...."

"Uh-oh... I wish no one ever started a discussion with that phrase ever again... It always means something terrible." I joked, trying to lighten the mood.

My mother shot me a look as my father chuckled softly, appreciating the effort because they, in all honesty, looked absolutely awful.

"The arteriotemy will be performed next week." Her voice was like ice and I froze for a moment, processing what she just said. After I recovered from my moment, I abrupty stood up and slammed my palms on the desk, stumbling slightly.

"That's not fair! You told me I had a year!"

My mother grabbed my arn, pleading me to sit and I looked at her tear-stained face. Dr. An stayed calm, her expression unwavering.

"I know what I said..." Her voice cracked and I saw beneath her tough exterior the woman I nearly considered family.

"There's just too much blood, Ellie..."

The problem with me was that my heart pumps or produces too much blood. This in turn, causes my artery to clog up. Apparently, that sort of stuff can endanger human life.

Any second now, my heart could break from the pressure and collapse.

The operation to fix this only had a 50-50 chance of survival, like all operations. And I hated that I only had two options:

Die early from heart failure or die due to the operation to fix my heart (If it wouldn't succed).

I ran out of the room to somewhere else. Anywhere.