Connected: A YHM Story ✔️

Chapter 1 - The One With Ishita's Surgery

Hospital room - The next day, 12 pm

"Dr. Iyer, can you hear me? Dr. Ishita... please wake up." 

Ishita groggily opened her eyes as the voice calling out to her refused to stop. It took her at least a few minutes to regain consciousness and become fully alert to understand that she was lying in a hospital bed with a middle-aged lady doctor at the edge of her bed by her head, her parents and cousin on one side, and Vandu, Bala, and Subbu on another side.

"What happened doctor?" Ishita asked.

"Dr. Iyer, my name is Dr. Anjali Awasthi. How are you feeling? Any pain?"

"Just a little over here," Ishita replied while tenderly touching her lower belly.

"Do you remember how you came here?"

Ishita shook her head. All she could remember was getting ready to watch a comedy series with Mihika last night. How she ended up in the hospital was beyond her.

"Your parents and cousin brought you in last night after you collapsed from severe abdominal pain. After an emergency CT scan, we found two tumors. One was in your right ovary and another had ruptured your left fallopian tube. We had to perform emergency laparoscopic surgery to remove the tumors and stop the bleeding. But your vitals now look good and you're out of danger. We'll just have to keep you here for a few days under post-op observation. Fortunately, the biopsy results on the tumor cells revealed that they were benign tumors. So we don't have to worry about cancer," Dr. Awasthi explained.

Doctors really did make the worst patients, Ishita thought. This pain had been nagging her for a while now but she didn't have it checked out. The tumor must have been of a good size for it to rupture her oviduct.

"Thanks doctor," Ishita said as she sat up. Vandu rushed to her side and tenderly held her sister as she adjusted herself against the pillows. "Akka, I'm fine."

"Not at all, Ishu. Tum jaanti ho hum kitna pareshaan ho gaye the? Agar kuch ho jaata to? Ab se jab tak tum puri tarah thik nahi ho jaati tab tak tum koi kaam nahi karogi. Naa hi clinic ka kaam aur naa hi ghar ka kaam." Vandu now had tears streaming down her face even as she maintained an angry facade. She had hardly ever seen her sister this pale and weak. 

[Do you know how worried we were? What if something happened? From now on, you won't do any work until you aren't fully recovered. Not in the clinic and not around the house.]

"Vandu bilkul sahi keh rahi hai Ishu. Aiyyo, tum apna bilkul khayaal nahi rakhti. Ab se no work, only rest," Amma ordered even as Appa and Mihika made her sit on a chair nearby. She had only just had a moment of relief upon seeing her daughter conscious. 

[Vandu is right, Ishu. You don't take care of yourself at all. From now on, no work, only rest.]

Dr. Awasthi finished her check up and went to update Ishita's chart and order her post-op tests. Before leaving, she had one last glance at her patient and her family fussing around her. "Make sure you let Ishita rest now," she instructed them. "She should have complete bed rest for at least two weeks and no heavy lifting or physical activity for two to three months." She left after seeing agreement in the Iyers' faces and gestures.

Ishita looked around and saw the love in her family's eyes and voices and tried to pull together words to tell them that she was fine. But amongst them, there was one voice of dissent. Subbu. "Lekin agle hafte to hamari sagai hai. Uska kya hoga? Main Amma ko kya jawaab doon? Woh kab se meri shaadi ko leke sapne dekh rahi hain." 

[But next week is our engagement. What about that? What answer should I give Amma? She's been looking forward to my wedding.]

Bala, who had kept quiet as to not overwhelm Ishu, found it hard to keep mum now. "Tum paagal ho kya Subbu? Sagaai or shaadi ko obviously postpone karna hoga na. Ishu needs complete rest for at least three months now. Suna nahi doctor ne kya kaha?"