The fall

I felt the pain on the left side as I twisted in bed to switch off the alarm.
It was 8 am; the house calm, except for the sound of running water from bathroom. My wife gets ready for work.

I am 63, enjoying my retired life after 35 years of administrative service in the transport department. I love books and relish company of friends. I am healthy, watch my weight, go for walks regularly and have taken up gardening seriously post retirement.

My kids are grown up and away on jobs. I don’t admit that I miss them.

I felt the area with a slight swelling below the left ribs with my right hand. I just slipped yesterday night and hit my ribs on the bed side table. “It’s nothing.” I told myself and got up.

“Uh…oh” my cry made Susan turn as she came out from bathroom.
“What Happened?”
“It hurts here.” I pointed.
She came near and examined “I don’t think you broke a bone, otherwise the swelling would have been much more.”
“Don’t even mention it.”
“Why don’t you go meet Graham?”
“No, it is fine.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
Dr. Graham is my childhood friend, running a clinic in our locality.

Once Susan left and the house turned quite, I started watering the plants but soon stopped. Pulling at the hose really does hurt; the pain was minor but insistent even while browsing through the news paper. I decided to pay Graham a visit.

“What happened, buddy, were you into rock climbing?” he joked.
“How old are you? 63? Can’t bear the pain from a small swelling? I won’t give you pain killers for sure.”

He ran his fingers over my lower rib with some concern on his face. “I don’t understand. Your lower rib appears to have bent slightly; though I would have expected a fracture, if the impact was indeed high.”

“A bent bone is better than a broken bone.” I tried to joke but he did not laugh.

“I will refer you to the city hospital. We need further examination of your rib.”

“Hey leave it, man, just give me some pain killers and let it heal by itself. I really don’t mind a slight bend in the rib if it is not painful.”

“No, you must go. I would have come with you myself, but I have two more appointments in the afternoon. Just call me if you need anything.”

It took twenty minutes of driving and I was ushered to the doctor after an hour of waiting in the crowded reception. “Thank you, god, for the good health”, I thought. “This place makes me sick.”

The elderly gentleman with thick glasses went through Graham’s note describing my bent bone and started a series of questions. His voice was calm and eyes kind.

“Do you feel tired, often?”
“Not particularly.”
“Getting thirsty frequently or have an urge to urinate frequently?”
“I don’t think so.”

What these all have to do with the bent bone, I did not understand. I thought he would do something to make it straight.

“Please have these blood tests done”, he said, and a nurse guided me to the labs. Some waiting, questions by the doctor after receiving the results, an X-ray, more waiting and back to the doctor. I was exhausted and started suspecting whether I have the symptoms he mentioned earlier.

“It is multiple Myeloma” He said.
What he said did not make sense to me at all.

‘Pardon me?” I said, feeling again the small swelling near my left rib with my right hand.

He looked at me, and took a moment before answering. “It is a type of cancer.”

“Cancer?” he scared my wits out of me. “It must be a mistake. I just slipped and hit the bed side table yesterday”.

“This type of cancer sometimes does not have any symptoms in the beginning. Your bones are getting thinner and weaker; it is in the stage two now.”

“Can it be cured?”
“It cannot be cured, but it can be treated.” I wouldn’t understand. Faces of my wife and two children flashed before my eyes. A wave of dizziness overwhelmed me and I clutched the armrests of my chair tight.

In the awkward silence that followed, staring at my x-ray report, I realised that my life is changing…forever.

(Word count: 726)