Naturally, Nathan wanted to take Bella into town to a proper doctor, but as expected, Bella refused. It was part of being a woman, she’d argued. Menstruation happened. Sometimes (or always, lately) it was painful and heavy. She thought she’d finally convinced Nathan that she was fine, but he wasn’t giving up. As Bella retired from working one afternoon, Nathan was waiting in the living room for her. The rest of the house was quiet, and Bella could tell from Nathan’s face that he was in a serious mood. “I’m taking you to the doctor tomorrow morning,” he told her. “No arguing…” His look was enough to keep Bella from trying to argue anyway. She sighed. “Nathan--” “Nope, no arguing,” he said. He took her hand gently and led her to the couch, sitting her down. “I’m worried about you. Better we get you checked out than let you suffer. You shouldn’t have to keep going through this. Just let the doctor see you? I arranged for the kids to be taken care of tomorrow, and classes will be covered. Ulwazi will manage the place for the few hours that we’re gone. It’ll be fine.” Bella nodded. After all, there was no point in arguing. He’d taken care of everything. As much as Bella hated hospitals, she tried to be a good patient. She was cooperative and let the medical staff draw as much blood as needed. She remained still through the scans of her abdomen, and she’d even endured a pelvic examination. With all of the testing that needed to be done, the visit took longer than expected. After hours, Bella and Nathan sat in a consultation room with the doctor. He spurted out medical jargon like endometriosis, anemia, fibroids and uterine scarring. Then came the scariest word of all: surgery.
“No,” Bella said firmly. “There has to be another way.” “Surgery is the best option, but there are other ways,” the doctor said. “We can give you blood transfusions or IV infusions of iron to get your hemoglobin back up. I can also prescribe you a strong contraception to stop your menstruation completely, and it may help. Or we can do a small procedure to cauterize the blood vessels feeding the fibroids, but that won’t fix the endometriosis. I’d suggest starting with a D and C. That’s basically scraping…” “I know,” said Bella, cutting him off. “Scraping the lining of my uterus. I’ve had it done before. After the miscarriage” “Right, so are you willing to do any of these alternatives?” Bella didn’t want to look at Nathan, knowing he’d probably prefer that she took one of the options. For a moment, she stared down at the floor and thought about it. But when she looked up at the doctor again, her answer was clear. “No.”
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Isabella Kaylee DwyerWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2017
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