Shivanand – Hyderabad, 2011
It was mid March of 2009, when I was browsing through the Matrimony site and came across Ratika’s Profile. Within no time I gave a call. To my surprise it was her brother who picked the call and then passed it on to his mother. I was granted access to Ratika only after an initial screening by her mom ! We met after a few days of conversation over the phone. The day we met, I thought to myself, Yes! she is the one for me!
CML ??
One fine evening Ratika disclosed her CML diagnosis to me over the phone. For a second I thought did I hear it right or are my ears ringing? As soon as I realised that it was true I took a pause and said “Ratika I want to marry you”. I didn’t take that decision in a hurry, I believed what I was doing was correct and the right thing to do.
A few days after that both of us decided to meet Dr. Senthil Rajappa, Ratika’s doctor to discuss this and seek his valuable advice on proceeding with the proposal. We spoke to him for about an hour or so and I was relieved that CML has no ill effect on the marital life, be it any aspect. Considering all the pros and cons post the discussion I was confident of marrying Ratika and having kids too. And moreover one couldn’t just make out by simply looking at Ratika that she is living with any health issue.
The Lovely moments..
We started dating, of course with the permission of the parents !! While enjoying the courtship period we both were trying to understand each other and accept the way we were. Most importantly I never ever wanted to make her feel that she has suffered so much, or show any kind of sympathy towards her .We rarely spoke about CML except that I kept reminding her to never forget to have her dose of Glivec every day.
The “D day”..
I was excited to go through the most fantastic day of my life, getting married to my soul mate. At the end of the day it turned out to be the most colourful and unforgettable day of my life
Life moves on..
Like any other couple we too started building our family, planning for our life ahead together. It was almost a year and I discussed with Ratika about planning for children. We had already taken advice of Dr.Senthil , so keeping all medical situations/challenges in mind that we might come across later we decided to go for it. And before we could realise she gave me the good news that she had conceived. I was on Cloud 9 !! On discussion with the doctor we took the call to keep the medication on hold for few months . Thankfully her counts were within range and the BCR-ABL reports continued to remain negative.
The wait is over..
I was in the Operation theatre, witnessing the surgery while holding her hand and I heard my baby ‘s first cry. I went numb and cold, didn’t know how to react, except for having a big smile on my face The drug is indeed a miracle that we all have experienced. I am thankful to the Max Foundation, Novartis and the Friends of Max family for accepting me and making me a part of this network of wonderful people. For all those lovely couples who want to get married or those waiting for their soul mate, I can tell you for sure that life is going to be an amazing experience as long as you want it to be. After all we are blessed to be born as human beings and we have every right to live the life as we want to and With whom we want to… !!
Relationships go beyond Blood my dear …they touch the Souls
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