PART 11
Shilpa rubbed the side of her neck lightly as she walked out of the cabin. Her OPD duty was over. A wardboy came rushing to the cabin and switched the name plates on the door. She slowly walked towards the water cooler, filled her glass with water and shut her eyes. Mrs. Varshney's hysteria and panic still flashed in her mind again and again. The woman looked so broken, so disheartened, so...defeated. It was almost as if Shilpa had let her down. As if she was expecting Shilpa to give her a positive feedback.
She suddenly noticed that her glass was empty. After throwing it in the bin, she started making her way towards the locker room. On her way, she came across Armaan standing with a nurse and explaining some medication to her. She decided to take his opinion on something that had been bothering her.
'Dr. Armaan, can I speak to you for a moment?', she stood beside him and asked in a professional tone.
Armaan looked at her and couldn't help but smile. Her face brought back last night's memories, and surprisingly, he felt no pain as he recalled his breakdown.
'Sure, Dr. Shilpa', he excused himself from the nurse, postponing the work for later, and started walking with Shilpa.
'So, what's the matter?', he asked. Shilpa hesitated before answering, 'There is a new case that I'm handling, doctor. The woman has breast cancer, and it has not reached the extreme level where mastectomy or lumpectomy would be required. Chemotherapy is very degenerative. The other option is hormonal therapy but we don't know whether the cancer is hormone-receptor-positive or negative. I wanted your opinion on this. Which therapy should we opt for?', she finished after explaining each aspect to him.
Armaan was thoughtful for a while. He considered each option in mind before answering, 'Doctor, I think you should admit the patient now, get some more tests done and figure out whether the cancer is hormone-receptor-positive or negative. If it's positive, then very well, go for hormonal therapy. If not, then I guess we have no option but to do chemotherapy on the patient'
Shilpa thought about it for a while and then nodded, 'You're right. I've told her family members to get her admitted by evening already, and I'll talk to her about the tests today itself', she paused a moment, 'Thankyou Dr. Armaan'
Armaan looked at her and nodded, 'No problem. Is your duty in the OPD over?'
'Yeah. Just came out. There's a 20 minute break and then I'm scheduled for a surgery', she replied, exhaustion evident in her voice. Armaan nodded empathetically, 'I know how it is', he checked his watch and said, 'I'll catch you later, okay? I have a duty in the emergency ward right now'
Shilpa smiled and nodded, 'Okay'
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'Ridhima, are you free right now?', asked Sid as he entered her cabin. Ridhima looked up from the paperwork she was doing and said, 'Sid, what are you doing here? Aern't you supposed to be on duty?'
Sid took a seat without asking and nodded, 'I am. But I had something to say and it's more important that anything else right now'
Ridhima sighed and said, 'What is it?'
Sid took a deep breath. This was important, 'Why don't you ever talk about the relationship between you and Armaan?'
Ridhima froze at his words. She had not seen that coming. She sat still for a while before saying, 'Sid, what are you-'
'Please Ridhima. The cat and mouse game ends now. If we have to start a relationship together, then nothing from the past should remain unsaid. Tell me, why have you always been silent about Armaan? about your relationship?', he said in a firm and demanding tone.
She opened her mouth to say something, but somehow the right words escaped her. What would she say? This was one topic she always tried to avoid. It would be like tearing up old wounds. She tried to escape the conversation by trying to act professional, 'You should be on duty now, Sid. We'll talk at home', atleast that'll buy her some time to think and come up with something to dodge the situation.
Sid wasn't buying it. He shook his head and leaned forward in a fierce manner, 'I'm not going anywhere until you answer my-'
'Damnit Sid, what's wrong with you?', snapped Ridhima. She had had enough, 'Why are you questioning me suddenly? Everything was fine-'
'Nothing was ever fine, Ridhima!', exclaimed Sid, as he too, had lost his cool, 'There was always a certain barrier between us and we both know what that barrier is. It's high time that you come out of your denial mode and co-operate with me. Stop resisting me Ridhima. Just stop it'
Silence fell in the room as both Sid and Ridhima stared at each other. Time seemed to stop between them before Ridhima took a deep breath and crossed her arms across her chest, 'Look Sid, I'll answer all your questions, but not right now. This is neither the place nor the time', she paused and looked into his eyes, pleading him to understand, 'Please'
Sid realized that it was no point fighting with her at this moment. She wouldn't budge. He roughly got up from the chair and walked towards the door without saying anything. Before he walked out, he turned around and said, 'Good day, DOCTOR', saying the last word with heavy sarcasm.
Ridhima watched him walk out angrily. She knew she was putting him through alot of misery, but what could she do? she was also fighting inner battles of her own. Leaning back, she put her head against her chair and closed her eyes. Each time she looked at Armaan's face, a certain sense of guilt never failed to hit her. And each time she looked at Sid, she felt even more guilty - for being the one to put him through so much, and his goodness and decency only made her guilt worse.
Before she could help it, a lone tear escaped her eye.
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'Yes, Mr. Ajay, all the formalities have been cleared. We have recieved an advance payment of ninety thousand in cheque, and the rest of the bills can be cleared as per their standing in the future', explained Shilpa to Ajay, Sunita's son.
He nodded and then hesitated before speaking, 'Doctor, my mother is going to be alright, right?' he worded the question with so much hope that it almost made Shilpa uncomfortable. She maintained her composure and patiently answered, 'We will try our best, Mr. Ajay. I can assure that our team here will leave no stone unturned in making your mother absolutely okay again. That's what we're here for', and then tried to give him a sympathetic smile.
He nodded again, this time trying to convince himself to trust the hospital with his mother. He had no option. He looked up and said, 'When can I come to meet my mother?'
'Well, you can come during the visiting hours ofcourse, apart from that, if you wish to stay the night, you will have to get a special access card from the reception. I can write an application for you if you want'
'No, no, that won't be necessary', he said, looking down, 'I can trust Sanjeevani'
Shilpa nodded, 'Okay, Mr. Ajay, then I guess I should take you to meet your mother before you leave'
They got up and walked out of the cabin to the Cancer ward. Sunita Varshney would be kept there until some more tests were conducted and it became clear as to which therapy would be used for her. She would then be alloted a private room.
Ajay walked into the ward and his eyes instantly darted towards his mother, who had now changed into hospital clothing and looked so melancholic that Ajay almost choked. Shilpa turned to look at the man beside her. She guessed he wasn't more than 25 years of age, more or less equal to her, but right now he looked like he might have aged atleast 20 years. His eyes held a silent suffering, a helpless effort to free his mother from this misery.
And then she looked at Sunita. She seemed to have lost weight over a period of 2 days. It was as if her terminal illness had started to affect her emotionally already, if not physically. Both these people were going through what could be their hardest phase. And once again, Shilpa felt nothing.
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More of a medical part. but more of ArSh coming up in the next, I promise! I hope you liked this part, please comment. I personally feel it's an important part in terms of character development π
P.S - all medicine related people, let me know if I've made a mistake somewhere! thanks :)
Vid dedicated to this part:
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DHkqZ-MTXw[/YOUTUBE]
Edited by CZ.. - 15 years ago
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