Love from afar (Montecarlo Heir #1)

Kabanata 40

"You have leukemia, Ms. Manzano."

I froze as my mind immediately went blank. I also felt my heart almost stopped beating for seconds. I have.... a what?

I heard the doctor sighed "I know this is going to be tough for you, but I'm pleased that we were able to detect the abnormality ng mas maaga. Dahil kung tatagal pa.. baka mas may tyansang lumala ang condition mo. I'm afraid we can only do much if you reached the terminal stage. In which, sa kondisyon mo, ay marami kapang panahon bago umabot doon."

"Based on your experiences, it actually doesn't just triggers your anxiety disorder. But it's already the signs of cancer. Your body is showing you symptoms of your condition. You said here that there are times that you were sweating excessively at night, mabilis ka ding nagkakapasa, you are losing weight without even trying, and you experience fever and weakness at times. At itong recent nga, nahimatay ka because of over-fatigue. Ilan lang iyan sa mga symptoms ng sakit mo. Maaaring normal na flu o panghihina kung titignan ito ng iba, maaaring maconfuse ka din na dahil lang ito sa nightmares that you have been experiencing that troubles you to sleep at night, but without proper tests and diagnosis? You will just think na nagsusuffer ka lang sa depression or anxiety. Hindi mo malalaman.. na cancer na pala ang kalaban mo Ms. Manzano."

Napatitig lang ako sa kamay kong may makinang na singsing. Paano na ako? Paano ko ito nakuha? Matutulad din ba ako... kay mama?

"You might have a lot of questions on your mind right now and I am more than willing to answer all of them. I want to help you with this, I can talk to Marina. I'm sure she can do something about it, may mga kakilala siya na maaaring tumulong."

"D-doc.. l-leukemia po? D-diba po.. cancer iyon?"

She pursed her lips before nodding at my question. "Yes. Leukemia is the term we commonly used for the cancer of the blood. There are many types of leukemia and there are certain parts that are usually affected. As I said, we found an abnormality with your white blood cells. White blood cells are helping your body to fight any infections, they normally grow and divide in an orderly way, as your body needs them. But in your case, or people.. with leukemia, your bone marrow produces an excessive amount of abnormal white blood cells.. or they are producing immature white blood cells, which don't function properly."

"I've checked your responses and your mother.. died of the same illness?" She said, weighing my reaction.

"O-opo.. d-doc."

She sighed "I see. Well, this kind of sickness are not usually hereditary, especially for this type of cancer. Wala pa masyadong matibay na pag-aaral ang mga eksperto. Pero kasi, if you have relatives who suffered from the same illness, may possibility na you will also be at risk. What we are looking at here is the genes that usually runs in the family, reason why there's a slight possibility of you getting this.. because of your mother."

Napasinghap ako sa sinabi ng doktor. Kung ganoon.. mamamatay din ako.. sa sakit ko?

Yumukod siya at hinagod ang braso ko kaya napaangat ang tingin ko sakanya. Tuliro ako at hindi ko alam kung ano ang gagawin.. o iisipin.. o sasabihin.

"Do you have other family members or close relative who you can reach out to for support?"

Family.. my mother died because of leukemia. The people from Angel Haven.. might not see me as a family anymore because of what happened. Sister Flora.. was brutally murdered by my father.. whom I no longer consider as family.

I swallowed the lump on my throat and tried to hold back the tears from falling "W-wala na po.."

She smiled but with a hint of pain in her eyes "Alright. Well I trust Marina will provide you mental and emotional support, I am also here to guide you with what you should do so you can be treated accordingly."