Our messed up lives

19. Pathology of tragedies

**A/N- I am not from a medical background and have no idea about the work ethics of this field. So whatever happens next in this chapter, please don't take it otherwise and read it like a story only. Thank you.**
____________________________________

"Symptoms of hypersentitivity." Senior physiologist Dr. Anaita Gupta, said to us while checking Nirvana's blood pressure on her sphygmomanometer.

This piece of information regarding his daughter's medical condition, was just enough for Dev to spring up with impatience and ask back -"What for are you waiting then? Just start the medication na!!"

Dr. Anaita took a deep breath. She then looked up at Dev and calmly answered- "We have got a loophole here, Dr. Bose."

Loopwhole? My eyebrows coaxed up in confusion and fear.

And just then, Dev questioned the same.

-"Loophole?"

"Yes. Loophole... And that loophole is the fact that I need to consult a 'child specialist' for applying the correct dosage of medicine."

-"Child specialist? Haa so.." Dev pressed his lips and turned towards Kshitiz. With his eyes gleaming with a hazy ray of hope, his lips parted to ask "Kshitiz? Child specialist??"

"Dr. Shivesh Bhadouria couldn't join us, Dev." Came Kshitiz's reply after a moment of silence. His face almost dropped at his own answer while Dev's eyes lost all their shine.

However, he collected himself up immediately and asked -"So what if Dr. Shivesh isn't there? There must be some child specialists with us right?"

To which, Kshitiz just shook his head in negative.

-"What nonsense? Dr. Martha, Dr. Parikshit... you didn't invite them to your wedding??" Dev hissed up in disbelief.

"I don't know them Dev! And besides that, I wasn't to supposed to invite the whole hospital either!!" Kshitiz hissed equally louder. But quite unlike Dev, his voice didn't hold anything other than despair and helplessness.

Dev stopped at this. Perhaps he had understood that he was blabbing the insanest thing at this hour of acting sane. He needed to be calm, composed, more rigid and less vulnerable. He needed to do this for his daughter... for his best friends.... and ofcourse for me, his wife.

Yet, he ended up saying something which not only crippled everyone's hearts but it broke mine, as if he wasn't even bothered about it.

-"How will my Princess survive, Kshitiz?" Was what he said.

A prolonged silence crept into the room after that.

The silence broke with Dr. Anainta's straight forward comment, sometime later. She had got up from her chair and walked upto Dev. With her right palm resting upon Dev's shoulder, she nodded slightly and said- "If we do not get the paediatric right now, then your daughter's life will seriously get at stake.... we have wasted enough time already."

Dr. Anaita's words struck my heart like a pointed sword. As such it was already bleeding bad, the new hurt just deepend the wound further and fresh blood oozed out of it to numb the rest of my body. The effect of this hit&trial went so bad that darkness dawned upon my eyes within no time. A constant dizziness inside the head and a rapid fall of body temperature, I knew I was going to faint again. Too soon, if I may add. But then this was also true that I knew that I had to be in my senses... I had to hold back my consious... if not for anybody else then for my daughter's sake who was fighting her demons, literally with no armour in those tiny hands of her!

More tears rushed down my half closed, puffed away eyes as I looked at my baby sleeping near me. Her head had been there in the crevise of my lap while the rest of her body laid lifeless over the stretcher bed. Her skin, almost as cold as mine, was swollen up with enlarged, red rashes. Such rashes were there on and inside her nose too. As a result of it, she had to take breathes through her open mouth, which we all could see, was getting painful for her by every damn second. Her chest rose and fell under this stress, the nerves of her neck popped out as she struggled to breath..to live... and to hold onto life with whatever little strength her body contained. Her limbs crippled, her spine turned rigid and the lapels of her lips went blue...... all indicating towards the fact that she had been loosing her battle.. Slowly, steadily, evidently..