“There is one blockage in NAD, that is one of the major arteries supplying blood to a big portion of your heart muscle. Everything else is clean. Your blocks from the previous attack are stable and shrinking. We are not touching them. One stent will go in and open the LAD up nicely.”
“Ok.”
“Stent next. Size 2.75… Mr. Patel, you might feel a flutter in your chest or skip a beat now. Relax,” she cued.
He had never felt relief this bad. Like something in his chest was ballooning. Wait, was that the balloon she was blowing inside his heart? It felt uncomfortable but not painful. Pressure bloomed in his chest.
“Set, and… all clear.”
He eyed her and her eyes were on the screen. “One clean pipeline. You’ll complain less now.”
“I was complaining?”
“Constantly. Now you’ll live long enough to irritate people properly.”
The nursing staff chuckled, and Nilay felt Dr. Shravan’s hand pat his free hand. “You did great, Mr. Patel.”
They started winding up then, but he did not care anymore. Things were opened up, whatever they were. Ritu was here. And his faith in her was reiterated. As long as she was here, he was safe. He felt the pressure release from his wrist and then a whole new pressure clamped it. He turned his head and this time caught sight of a band being taped around his wrist.
“All opened up,” Ritu stepped back to let the nurse work on him. “Keep the plumbing clean now, Mr. Patel.”
Nilay glanced at her. He couldn’t help the smile that split his face. It was part relief, part realisation.
“I will see you in your room in a few hours. Keep your wrist stabilised. The nursing staff will help you set it up. We are keeping you in the hospital for the next 48 hours. After we see how your heart stabilises, run enzyme checks and ECGs, we will release you with a new set of meds and rules.”
“More lifestyle changes.” He grinned.
“Your poor assistant.”
He held her gaze — “My poor assistant.”
18. Koi Ladki Hai, Jab Woh Hasti Hai
— NILAY —
For the next forty-eight hours, she did not come to him outside of her routine rounds with Dr. Shravan and his team. She led his check-ups, read his reports, informed him about his progress and went away. Nilay thought of leaving her texts or calling her late into the night. But she had been clear when she had accepted to perform his procedure — it couldn’t be a conflict of interest. He understood what that must be like for her professional standing. And so, despite every part of him screaming her name in his idle moments, he did not touch his phone.
He did not have many idle moments, though. Nilay had laughed the first night after the last visitor had left. And no, they hadn’t been his staff. Gautam and Maya had been outside the Cath Lab all through his angiography and then angioplasty. They had been there when he had been transferred back to his room. Rajiv and Meena bhabhi had come then, bearing home-cooked food. Rajiv had stayed to ‘chill.’ Kedar had come next and brought in work updates. The news of his episode had been confined to the building. His CEO was working with his publicist and wanted to meet him. Nilay, thinking about what Ritu would say about him conducting meetings the evening of his angioplasty, had denied.
He had thought he would be alone. But even without Ritu, these few people had stayed. And stayed for nothing but him.
“Ready?” Gautam strode in on Day 3. Nilay finished buttoning up his shirt. He did not feel any different in the body except the bandage around his wrist. His medicines were slightly altered, but that was it. He could have gone home on his own.
“Maya didn't come today?”
“There was nobody to keep MM.”
“Oh… Is Ritu… coming?”
“She signed your discharge papers. She is downstairs with Dr. Shravan.”
His heartbeat picked up. She was coming home with him. She was taking him home. His feet bounced as he finished dressing. As a VIP patient, his discharge formalities were completed in his room, with Ritu having taken care of everything else on the backend. Nilay waited, waited, waited. She did not come.
“Call her, where is she?”
“She left after finishing your paperwork.”
Nilay wanted to ask why. Did not. Because the nurses walked in to let him go.
