For Him

28

"Treatment will harm my baby." I said.

"You're about six months along. By you not getting treatment was enough harm for your baby as it is. As for the treatment harming your baby, what I suggest is that we start with mild treat and we deliver the baby early. Say in about 2 months. By then you'll be 8 months along. It's perfectly normal. After the baby is delivered, we'll start you on intensive treatment." She explained. "It's a long shot but it's your only shot."

I sighed and leaned back on the couch closing my eyes.

"And for any of this to happen, I would have to tell Neymar. And my family?"

"Of course. In a time like this, you will need the support." She said. "Look. I understand where you're coming from. I know how bad you want to lose hope but you can't. There is hope for you. Don't lose it now."

I shook my head and opened my eyes to look at her. "He's going to be very upset with me."

"It's natural. He will. But he loves you. You need him and your family the most right now." She smiled. "So what I need you to do is that when Neymar comes back, I want you to tell him everything. Then, first thing tomorrow, you're going to show up to the hospital I work at and we're going to get your treatment started."

I pursed my lips. Could I do that? Will I be able to do that? How will he react? Will he hate me? A series of questions of my worries ran through my head. Telling Neymar was never something I considered. It never crossed my mind to tell him about my condition. And now I was put in a place where the only option was to tell him. Could I do it?

"I know you're scared to tell him but you must." She spoke.

I have to.

...

It was the evening now and I had dressed for bed while Neymar put Davi to sleep. I was on the bed, rested against the backboard with my reports in a file that rested in my lap. I was going to tell him.

"Hey sweetheart." Neymar said walking into our room. He made his way over to me and gave me quick kiss on the lips. "I just put Davi down. Little man was super hyper today. But he knocked immediately when I tucked him in. Took only one bedtime story." He laughed.

I suppressed a tight smile and nodded. Neymar eyed me weirdly before his gaze landed on the file in my lap.

"Are you reading another report again?" He sighed. "Gabi I thought we agreed that those reports you read are morbid and make you develop bad thoughts. We came to an agreement that you'd only do that during the day."

"I know." I said. I patted the empty side of the bed that belonged to him. "Come sit beside me."

"Is everything okay?" He said suspiciously.

"Come sit." I said patting the spot again. I watched as he rounded the bed and got in bed beside me. He sat cross legged and looked at the file then back up at me. I opened the file and took out two picture. One of a healthy brain and another of a brain with brain cancer. My brain. "What do you see?"

"You know I'm not good at this, Gabi. Can we just put this away?" He whined.

"Please Neymar. Just do this. For me. Please." I said.

He sighed and looked at the pictures. He eyed them both for a few minutes before pointing at the huge mass that showed in my brain. "This one has this circle thing and the other doesn't. What is it? Is it a tumour?"

I smiled and nodded. "Yes. It's called a glioblastoma. Basically brain cancer that develops in star shaped cells in your brain and spinal cord."

"Can a person live long with this?" He asked.