Part – 11

Sridhar rushes to the ER reception area & asks for the details to the receptionist who guides them to go to the OR on the second floor.

God, please let him be okay... let him be okay... please save my Gautham. Sanjana chants a prayer, fighting hard to keep her tears in bay.

"Can I help you?" asks a nurse.

"My husband, Gautham. He's been admitted here. He's in OR" she chokes.

"Oh, yes, he's been admitted an hour before. If you'd like to wait, I'll let the doctors know that his family is here. The waiting room is over there" she points to a large room, labeled 'waiting room' on the door.

"Is he okay?" she asks, trying to keep her voice steady.

"You'll have to wait for one of the attending Doctors to brief you ma'am" the nurse says politely.

"Thank you" she mutters but her voice was not at all audible.

"Mom, Dad, they asked us to wait in that room"

"How is Gautham?" Radhika asks through her teary eyes.

"I don't know Mom. He will be fine" She consoles her but inside she is shit scared.

"Dad, did you talk to Bittu? How this accident happened huh?" Sanjana asks Sridhar in a weak voice.

"Sanjana, I talked to him. You don't worry. You go in & sit with your Mom" Sridhar gently tells her.

"No, you are hiding something. I want to know what happened to Gautham" she insists.

"I'm not hiding anything. You go dear."

"Dad, please" she begs wanting to know what has happened to her husband.

"Scaffolding fall accident huh... he was in there & a iron rod fell on his head, Bittuji says he was unconscious while bringing him to the hospital as he had lost a lot of blood" Sanjana gasps & cups her mouth to muffle her sob. Panic swamps her limbic system. She shudders as chill runs down her spine. She keeps looking at the OR light to go off & waits for the doctor to come to her & say 'her husband is fine'.

"Sanjana, did you inform your parents?" Sridhar asks her realizing that she might need her parents for support.

"No. Papa is out of town. He will come only this evening. I didn't tell Maa, she can't handle the situation" Sanjana says. She starts shaking. "Don't worry I'll inform Sundar & ask him to come directly to the hospital" Sridhar assures her.

"Shit! You are freezing." Sridhar says when he takes Sanjana's hand to lead her back to the waiting room. She nods. "You should stay strong. Sit with your mom; I will get tea/ coffee for you both"

"Radhika, stop crying. Take care of Sanjana" Sridhar chides worrying her wife & daughter in law will flood the whole waiting room with their tears.

They waited for what felt like eternity in gut wrenching fear as there was no news.

Suddenly, the door opens & a young doctor enters. He looks exhausted & harrowed.

All the blood seems to disappear from her head as Sanjana stumbles to her feet. Sridhar & Radhika follows her.

"Gautham... How is he?" Sanjana whispers clutching her shawl tightly.

"You are his...?" the doctor asks.

"Wife. I'm Sanjana Gautham" she says quickly wanting to know about Gautham's condition. "My husband is fine right, Doctor?" she asks hopefully.

"Mrs. Gautham, your husband is in critical stage." Sanjana's eyes welled up again with tears hearing that feeling her hope crashing down. She feels suffocated & weak on her knees. She could see the room spinning; she holds her head & takes a deep breath.

"Mrs. Gautham, you okay?" The doctor asks. She nods unable to speak.

"He suffered severe contusions to the head, and the MRI shows that he has swelling in his brain. We have induced a coma to keep him quite & still while we monitor the brain swelling." He explains.

"Brain damage" Radhika gasps out loud & cries hugging her husband.

"What's the prognosis?" Sridhar asks calmly. He is anything but calm. He couldn't show his fear as he doesn't want to worry the ladies more.

"It's difficult to say at the moment. It's possible he could make a complete recovery, but that's in God's hand now"

"How... how long will you keep him in a coma?" Sanjana asks worriedly.

"That depends on how his brain response"

"Can we see him?" Sanjana asks in a whisper.

"Sure. He's been taken to the ICU on the fourth floor, you can see him there."

"Thank you, Doctor" Sanjana says. Doctor nods & leaves the room.

"Sanjana, you didn't eat anything since morning, you go with your Dad & have something" Radhika gently tells.

"No, Mom. I want to see Gautham first"

"Sanjana, you are not alone now. You have to take care of the life growing in you" Radhika caresses her head lovingly. Sanjana burst into tears hearing about her baby & hugs Radhika.

"I want my Gautham, Mom" she cries inconsolably.

--0--

The ICU in the fourth floor is a stark, sterile, ward with bleeping machinery. Sanjana's eyes stung with tears seeing her love lying on the bed listlessly, surrounded by all med equipments. There is a tube in his mouth, which leads to the ventilator and various lines pass through drips into a needle in each hand. Gautham's head is covered with a large bandage. A monitor keeps in a stand beside his bed displays his heart rate. It is beating strong & steady & that's a relief for Sanjana. Taking quick stalk of the room, Sanjana tentatively walks close to him & traces her hand on his bare chest minding not to mess with the tubes. His rock hard chest is rising slowly up & down beneath her palm.

"Oh Gautham" Sanjana softly weeps placing his hand on her cheeks.

"Gautham? You hear me? Do you remember your vows you gave me on our engagement? If not I will remind you..."With this ring, I give you my heart, my soul, my very life, I belong to you & only you. I'll make my life's mission to keep you happy & safe" ... You belong to me, you are mine, even you can't take yourself away from me, so don't dare to do that" She warns him in a whispers, dashing away her tears which refused to stop.

"See, I m not happy. Not at all, I miss you. I want you to keep me happy & safe. I'm scared now, I want you to hold me in your arms, shelter me in it, promising that you won't leave me ever & assure me that everything will be alright. You will right?" she asks him but there's no reply from his side. His eyes are tightly shut. She kisses his palm which surprisingly feels warm in her cold hands.

"Gautham, I know you hate to see me in tears but I can't help it. I'm dying from inside seeing you like this, this is my worst fear realizing ever. You know I can't live without you not even for a second, so please don't punish me, please come back to me love, I want you to wipe my tears, and I want you to kiss me & hug me tight till it hurts me." She says feeling hard to breathe & she grips the edge of the bed with one hand to steady herself.

"This is not how I envisaged to spend the day, it was supposed to be our happiest day of our life, but here you are fighting for your life & I am desperately waiting for you to open your eyes & speak to me, say you are fine, say you love me & I want to tell you something which I am holding for a long now. I want to see how happy you feel when you hear..." she squeezes his hand tightly; scrunching her eyes tightly & bites her lip to stop her cry of pain.

"Gautham..." she screams dropping his hand on the bed.

... To be continued!

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