'Insensitive : showing or feeling no concern for others' feelings'
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"Mr. Joshi, what has she eaten since morning?" Dr. Jaggesh questioned.
"Ummm, doctor actually..... I have no idea. I think paasta.... Like maybe a few morsels" Supreeth answered honestly remembering the plateful of pasta lying on the table uneaten.
"Uh, okay. She is unconscious due to less glucose or simply not eating. This has eventually led to fever. Looking at her condition, she isn't unconscious since minutes.... It's been more time, probably hours. Her BP is really low. It's 95 to 60 while the normal should be 120 to 80. You should have taken care of her. The electrolytes in her body is really low. I think we need to keep her until next morning or a whole day tomorrow. We have given her a dextrose dose which will need another two hours to finish. She may regain her consciousness after that. We have also made sure that her BP is normal. But does she have any medical problems?" Dr.Jaggesh questioned her.
"Uh, not really. Actually you guys have missed something. She's bleeding. I mean periods maybe" Supreeth hesitated.
"Oh! Does this happen every month to her? Extreme cramps, like she doesn't feel like eating at all during those days or eat throughout the day? Like are her mood swings high?" the doctor asked.
"Uh, I don't know" Supreeth bit his inner cheeks, surprising the doctor.
"I just wanted to check if she had an hormonal imbalance. Nevertheless, I'll ask the gynaecologist to check her before she leaves", Dr.Jaggesh informed.
"Um, sure doctor but I have a request. Can you please ask the nurse to change Avya's outfit? I mean I have bought them. When I returned home, she had fainted and I couldn't you know", Supreeth hesitated while the doctor's judgemental looks embarrassed him more.
"Um, okay. You can tell them directly infact. I'll ask Dr. Shalini to speak to you. She's the gynaecologist here" Dr.Jaggesh smiled ringing the bell so that next patient could enter. Supreeth left the cabin with so many doubts.
"Damn. I should have bought a female with me too. Should I call and inform Amma?" Supreeth thought to himself while a nurse led him to the gynaecologist chamber. There were none sitting outside the chamber that was in the corner, which led to a corridor. She was probably attending the last patient.
Supreeth's mind was full. He was alone speaking to the doctor while Shreyas had offered to sit near Avya until he returned. She was injected with a IV kit on her right hand. Her reports were terrible. Supreeth didn't know anything about her. He was way too shy or even feared asking her or his family about it.
The medical field has proceeded so well. Was it difficult for them to know a patient's history? Maybe linking the aadhar number to one's treatment would do it all. Just an e file opened with the aadhar number or phone number. This will help many, he thought.
As he thought of all this, he decided to stroll over the corridor on the other side of the cabin. With his hands in his pockets, he walked around. The hospital was silent. No much noise. His wife was in the emergency room in the ground floor while he was here in the first floor, waiting to talk to the gynaecologist. He didn't understand why talking to him was what they felt better than going and checking the patient. In his hometown, doctors would diagonise just by checking the pulse of the patient while here in Bengaluru doctors didn't even bother to touch. Let alone touching, just for a headache due to cold weather they wrote a prescription for MRI. It was just an industry here while in rural places doctors helped people, cured people.
"Oh yes Rashi, you can definitely work. People even work until the gestation. Infact working will keep you healthy. Our ancestors never quit work for this. So we shouldn't too" Supreeth heard a voice as he was about to go into the corridor where the door of the gynaecologist chamber was. He saw three people coming out.
One, which he was sure was the doctor who came out first. She had her apron and the stethoscope around her neck. A man followed her who was almost 5.7. His face seemed somewhat familiar. His ears straightened at their conversation. Not wanting to disturb their conversation, he stood in the same place and watched them. Behind him, a woman appeared wearing a blue top with a black legging. He took no time recognise that face. The time stopped as recognised her. It was the same face with whom he had planned his whole future with. It was the same face that haunted him every night. It was the same face who had asked him to cut all the ties as now she was getting married to another person. That was the same face he was in love with. Rashi! He had vowed to never see that face again after she denied knowing him infront of her family. She was a cheat. But here she was right in front of him. The same day when his heart had softened for his wife, he had to meet her. Wow!
"But the stress levels these days are too high. What if her work stress harm the baby?" the man questioned.
Oh this man! The man who was in Rashi's profile picture which Shreyas had shown him. Rashi had blocked Supreeth from all the accounts possible. But she had forgotten Shreyas. It was the day he broke down in the office that Shreyas had showed him the picture so that even Supreeth was motivated to move on. That was the same day Supreeth had agreed to marry Avya over the call with his mother. Such an impulsive decision it was!
"Oh. Nothing to worry. If you feel the stress is too much for her to handle, either contact me or her office. We can figure a way out. But no compromise on career due to the pregnancy" Dr. Shalini smiled.
"Exactly. Nothing I can't handle Rishi. He's not letting me do a single work since I told him the kits showed positive results. Not even lift the water glass" Rashi chuckled.
"Aww! That's cute Rishabh but make sure you don't make your wife lazy or too much dependent on you. Rashi, you are lucky to have such a nice husband. Just before you entered the general physician had called me about a case. The wife hasn't eaten since don't know when, her BP is low, temperature is high, she's lying unconscious for like hours and the husband doesn't know anything. She is probably on her menstruation and he doesn't know that either. You must thank your stars that you have such a nice husband" Dr. Shalini smiled patting Rashi's shoulder.
"Oh. I pity that girl. I don't believe such insensitive men exist" Rashi commented before bading a bye to the doctor.
Rashi just pitied his wife? Whom he ignored all this while because he was in love with Rashi! He hadn't even spoken to his four month old wife and she had moved on! Moved on with Rishi Rishabh or who so ever it was? The guy due to whom probably they had fought a couple of times before she had cut all ties from him. Here, he was immersed in immense guilt of not fighting for their love or probably not loving her enough when he lost his dad and was depressed for a while. He blamed himself for everything and treated his own wife like a maid who cooked, cleaned, served and organised his home and here all he heard was his ex pitying his wife. Wasn't she the root cause for all this? Wasn't she supposed to give a closure to him? Was she ever in love with him? And when he saw her after seven or eight months, she was pregnant. And there was boy next to her which place he fantasised every night. Did he deserve this? Was he overthinking all this while? Did he wait for to come back running to him?
She was happy. She had Rishi. She had her parents. She was pregnant. She was going to have a baby too on her side now. Why was he all depressed? Why was he even fighting with himself all this while? Why couldn't he move on? Why didn't he find his own wife attractive enough for him? Why didn't he acknowledge anything about her till today? Was it because he was returning the favour of being inconsiderate? Was he so affected by the fact that she chose to ignore him and not serve him like she did everyday? Wow! Now even he was doubting himself! The audacity of this lady to call him insensitive. He wasn't. He had observed his own wife. Yes, he never spoke to her, never loved or even liked her. But today, he didn't know why he had run to go get the keys just at the thought of her being unwell. He had climbed seven floors, carried an almost overweight women to the hospital. If he didn't love her or care for her why did he do that?
Humanity! Had there been anyone other than her, he would do the same. He was humane. Definitely not insensitive.
"Excuse me doctor Shalini?" Supreeth asked as he saw Rashi and Rishabh leave the corridor and Shalini waving at them.
"Yes. I'm Shalini" She replied with a smile.
"Uh, hello doctor. I'm Supreeth Joshi. Avya's husband. The hypoglycemia case reported recently, her husband" Supreeth introduced himself.
"Uh. Okay. I checked on your wife. Everything looked fine to me on the exterior. It's just the period right?" Shalini asked.
"Uh, I'm not sure. Actually I'm worried. Like the blood, it was too much. I mean like...." Supreeth hesitated. He didn't know what to ask. He had freaked out seeing the stains.
"Period is normal. But why do you think otherwise? Did she have any previous medical conditions?" Dr. Shalini asked calmly as if she never judged him before meeting him or bad mouthing him behind his back.
"Actually, a few months ago, probably four and half months ago, she just got her D&C done. So...." Supreeth spoke.
"Oh. Now I get it. How many weeks pregnancy did you guys terminate" the Doctor enquired.
"Uh... No no. Not pregnancy" Supreeth was flustered.
"Umm... Mr. Joshi, D&C is a process done to terminate a pregnancy. It usually doesn't cause any harm, unless very rare cases. They may actually result in future miscarriages or infertility too. You should have probably used contraceptive methods. If not, you had other ways to terminate the pregnancy" Dr. Shalini stated leaving Supreeth all flustered.
"Umm... Actually we were married just four months ago. I was just told D&C. I know nothing about it" Supreeth stated.
"Oh.... Do you have her reports? I think I can help you with that", Shalini smiled. She had probably judged him without even meeting she thought.
"Actually they are in our hometown. Would you mind if I show you a soft copy" Supreeth questioned.
"Anything will do Mr. Joshi. Make sure you get it soon. I'll be here for another hour. It's already 8pm" Dr. Shalini stated moving inside her chamber.
"Thank you doctor" Supreeth mouthed calling his mother. She was the only person he relied on. She knew everything about him. When he told her everything, she asked him to relax instead of shouting and freaking out. She was calm, and he loved this about her.
Sandhya, made sure she got the soft copy of the file which had the details of Avya's D&C. Hoping to get her daughter in law recovered soon, she wanted to be with them now. Her intentions got more stronger. She wanted to unite them at any cost.
Here after hearing the reason for the D&C, Supreeth was flabbergasted. He didn't knew Avya was in a relationship before. It didn't matter, as he was in one too. She was pregnant while in the relationship? Was this the reason her parents rushed the marriage? It was all making sense now. If she was pregnant, why wasn't he informed? After all, he had live with her. Did his mother know it? Even if she knew, why did she get her married to him? Shouldn't she be old fashioned? Shouldn't she talk about a woman's purity? His mother was progressive if she knew about Avya beforehand. But now that she knew, will she create problems for her? Will they be divorced? Will they be separated? This thought revolved around in his head until a beep of the message popped on his phone. It was an 100 page pdf sent by his mother. They were her reports. Without wasting a second, he rushed inside the doctor's cabin, unable to control his curiosity.
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