Lela woke up, and noticed that she was not at the village's hospital, but rather in the hospital in the capital of Gladys, in her home country of Bellring. She had been here on occasion when she was charged with escorting villagers who needed healing that was beyond the ability of the local hospital. She sat up slowly and looked around.
The room was bright, but not overwhelmingly so, it had soft colors and a window letting in plenty of sunlight with sheer whit curtains filtering the light. The bedding was soft and cozy and there was a chair next to the bed. There was also a chest of drawers with a bouquet of dried flowers.
She moved the covers to look down below. She was no longer in pain but her abdomen was covered in dark black splotches. Her heart sank in despair. She had been cursed.
One of the assistant healers came in and was startled to see that she was awake.
"Oh my! I didn't think you would be up this soon! Let me get Healer Gemna, she will be able to explain your diagnosis to you." And with that she promptly left.
****
Somehow, I fell asleep. I don't remember much but when I woke up, I felt almost normal until the events of the previous day came crashing back.
I had spoken with my parents who did their best to console me. My father promised to help any way he could and my mother tried to console me.
I laid on my couch, just staring at the ceiling. I was 42 and the only thing I craved was to be hugged by my mother and father and have them tell me everything was going to be okay. Sometimes I wish I could go back to being a child.
My boss called, she wanted to know if it was ok to tell my coworkers about my diagnosis. I said sure, I knew they were going to find out anyway. That's the draw back of being a patient where you work. I laid there again, and my phone rang again. This time it was my doctor, Dr Warden. She was the one who did the biopsies. Because she was on call she wasn't able to tell me personally, which is why Dr Ahd was the one that broke the news.
"Hi Shawn, are you doing ok?" She asked after I answered.
"Yeah, I'm doing as well as can be expected."
"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry I wasn't able to be the one to tell you."
"It's ok, sometimes stuff just happens that way," I said with my eyes beginning to tear up.
She sighed, as if the weight of the world was on her. "The good news is that this is treatable, but…" she hesitated before continuing. "…usually the treatment is a hysterectomy."
I felt a lump in my throat. Now I understood why she hesitated. At my last well woman's visit I asked for a referral to a fertility clinic to see what my chances would be for pregnancy. I just had $1000 worth of labs drawn because my insurance would not cover anything related to fertility. I was supposed to go back in a few weeks to review the results and it was all for nothing.
"Ah," I said, my voice breaking and the tears were beginning to fall. "I guess it wasn't in the cards," I said trying and failing to be strong.
"Thank you for everything you've done for me, Dr Warden"
After that, we hung up at some point. And all I could do was cry. Luckily, I remembered that I had an appointment with my therapist later that day.
***
Healer Gemna walked in, her face kind and her stride purposeful. She looked at Lela and held out a hand.
"Healer Gemna, it's nice to meet you, Lela."
Lela took her hand and shook it. "Thank you for healing me," Lela said gratefully .
Healer Gemna gave a small smile but had a serious expression.
"I did what I could, but I was only able to stabilize you. Unfortunately, because it was hours after finding you, the demon's cursed venom took root in your womb. There is no treatment, but if we remove your womb, you will survive. However, you will be unable to bear children ."
Lela sat there in shock , and unbidden tears began to fall. She could feel her heart shatter like glass on a hard floor.
"When…" was all Lela could manage.
"In a week's time," replied Healer Gemna. "We needed you to wake up and recover some strength."
Lela nodded silently and laid down, facing the wall.
****
My therapist greeted me with a smile and a quick hug.
"How are you today?" She asked, leading me into her office.
I sat down on her comfortable plush couch and the composure I had while in the waiting room crumbled.
I started to cry, and she looked at me worriedly.
"So I found out yesterday I have endometrial cancer. The only way to treat it is with a hysterectomy…" I began to cry again. She took my hand and held it, and I just sobbed.