Today was the day of the operation to remove Carla's ovaries and womb. They'd been dreading this day for a eight days, ever since they knew surgery was needed.
Carla was petrified. Not necessarily for the surgery, she'd already had a kidney transplant so she knew what to expect. She was more scared about how final this is. After this operation, it was impossible to have children. That option will completely disappear. She felt bad for Peter; selfish that she couldn't give him something she knew he wants, even if he keeps saying no children is fine for him.
Ever since the previous miscarriage, a child was everything he ever wanted. The idea that that won't happen was so upsetting but he would prefer Carla to be healthy. This surgery was a good thing because it's going to get rid of the cancer, that's what he kept telling himself.
"Are you alright?" Peter asks, quietly.
They were in the hospital now, she had her gown on and lay in bed nervously awaiting the operation. Michelle was also in the room with the pair. Roy said he'd come after the surgery as he didn't want to intrude right now whilst it was so emotional. He was told a few days ago, he was shocked. After what he went through with Hayley, the thought that the same thing might happen with his 'daughter' was frightening however he had a positive outlook and promised he'd be there for her throughout the horrible experience.
"Mmm-Hmm." She nods, looking ahead with no expression shown in her face.
"When are you going under?" Michelle questions.
"Not long now." Peter replies, worry washing over him.
"Okay..." She nods, a silence then occurring for a while.
"Sarah said she'll be looking after the factory for the foreseeable." Peter says.
"Did you tell her?" Carla turns to look at him, the first time since they got to the hospital.
"No, I just said you're ill and won't be in for a while. She said get well soon."
"Pff...if only she knew what was really happening, getting a flamin' hysterectomy." Carla bites her lip.
"Love, stop putting your barriers up." He sighs, rubbing her arm softly.
"I'm not!" She snaps.
"Alright." Peter nods, defeated.
"Are you ready for the op now, Carla?" The nurse questions.
"Ready as ever." She sighs, looking up at Peter who looks like he's about to break down at any second.
"Have you got anymore questions about what will happen throughout the operation, things like that?" The nurse asks.
"Nope." Carla shakes her head, releasing a breath she didn't know she was holding.
"Right, I'm going to ask you to sign this. It's just a consent form for the surgery, I'm sure you're familiar with it from your kidney transplant." The nurse hands Carla the form, and she nods.
"Right, you be brave, okay? I love you so much. You'll be fine and I'll see you in a bit." He kisses her, stroking her head.
"I love you." She replies.
"See you later, babe. Everything will be okay." Michelle hugs her.
"Bye, Chelle."
As the nurses start moving Carla's bed, Peter's lip starts trembling and tears started escaping down down his face.
He spun around so he wasn't facing Carla as she left, he really didn't want her seeing him like this. Michelle noticed the state Peter was in and looked at him with concern.
"See you soon, love." Michelle smiles as Carla goes through the doors to surgery before walking over to Peter and rubbing his back.
"You tell Carla not to bottle in her emotions but that's exactly what you're doing, Peter. Let it out."
"I need to be strong." He stutters, taking a series of deep breaths.
"Who for? Carla isn't here now, you need to have someone to lean on too."
Then, Peter starts loudly sobbing. Michelle holds him, rubbing his back whilst his head leans on her shoulder.
"I feel so helpless." He sobs.
"We all do. But us just being here really helps her." Michelle reassures him.
"I just don't want her going through this. She's been through enough, it isn't fair. I'd prefer if it were me."
"She'd be feeling like you do now if you were the one going through this. She wouldn't want that for you."
Later that day, the family wait patiently in the relatives room. They'd been there for a couple of hours now and were as you could guess, extremely nervous.
"Family of Carla Connor!" The doctor alerts Peter, Michelle and Roy. "The surgery went well, just as planned. She's in recovery now."
"Oh, thank god. Can I see her?" Peter pleads.
"Yes but only you for now. She's still very drowsy and disoriented, once we've taken her too the High Dependency Unit then more people can visit her, alright?" She explains.
"Hey, you! God, I've missed you." Peter smiles, emotionally.
Carla lay in bed, her eyes barely open. She had a mask over her mouth and nose as well as drips attached to her hand. Peter moves next to her, holding her hand and stroking her forehead.
"Mm." She groans, using her free hand to take off her oxygen mask.
"Put that back on, its there to help you." He says.
"I'm fine." She whispers, holding it to her neck and staring at him, exhaustedly.
"You feeling okay?"
"Well yeah...thanks to all the drugs they've put in my system." She smiles, ever so slightly.
"I'm so glad the op went well."
"You and me both." She sighs.
"And can I just say this, you look absolutely beautiful. Even after just coming out of major surgery." Peter grins.
"Oh please...I bet I look awful." She replies, quietly.
"You could never look awful. Come here..." he stands up, hovering over the bed as he places a delicate kiss onto her lips.
"Mm...I love you."
"I love you too."
A few hours later, it was now the evening and Carla had been transferred wards. She had a long sleep and was feeling a bit more with it now.
Roy and Michelle were now also sat at her bedside along with Peter.
"Ah, there she is! Sleeping beauty." Michelle jokes as Carla's eyes adjust to the harsh lighting. "Started to think the drugs knocked you out completely."
"I feel like a zombie." Carla mumbles, rubbing her eyes.
"How are you feeling?" Roy questions.
"Oh...hi, Roy." She smiles. "I'm alright. Just tired."
"That's perfectly understandable and a very common symptom with recovery." He replies.
"How long are they keeping you in here?" Michelle asks.
"I don't know...up to four days I think they said." Carla says.
"Yeah they did. Depends on how the wound heals though." Peter pipes up.
"You all look shattered...go home and have a nice sleep." Carla demands, softly.
"No if we all went then you'd be on your own, wouldn't you?" Peter shakes his head, stubbornly.
"I'll probably nod off again soon anyway."
"I do not mind staying." Roy says.
"Honestly, it's not a problem, Car. We want to stay with you, especially with how much we've been worrying all day." Michelle smiles.
"Mm..alright then. They'll kick you out in a bit so you do you."
Two days later, Carla was getting more stronger. The doctors had been working to keep her moving more and had also been keeping an eye on her wound, which was recovering very well.
She has been doing breathing and leg exercises to help chest infections and blood clots. Peter, as he promised, was there for her every single minute of the day. Even if he went home for half an hour to shower and get dressed, he was always on the phone to her.
"Morning, love." Peter greets Carla as she's taking her painkillers. "You feeling okay?"
"Yeah, the best I've felt since the surgery." She swallows.
The pair haven't properly spoken about the hysterectomy since it happened and Carla hoped it stayed that way. It was like the elephant in the room; they both knew it needed to be discussed but both couldn't bring themselves to do it.
"That's great." He smiles.
"I've got some even better news actually, the doctor told me that she thinks I'll be able to go home tomorrow."
"Really?"
"She said as long as I've got someone by my side to help me not overdo it, but I've got you so I don't see why not." She smiles.
The doctor informed Carla that she was not to do housework like vacuuming, carrying heavy bags of washing or shopping or drive.
"Well you know I can do all of that...and it's not as if you did any housework anyway." He chuckles.
"Oi you!" She nudges him as much as she could in her condition.
"And I'll obviously have follow up appointments to check everything's healing and to discuss the cancer and...chemo." She says, quieter this time.
"That's okay, I'll be there." He strokes her arm, notching her change of mood. "You're worried about the chemo, aren't you?"
"Well I can't say I'm necessarily looking forward for it."
"It's not going to be nice, we can be positive but you know as well as I do that it won't be great. However, think about life after. It won't be for long then you'll be completely cleared. We'll be able to get on with our life."
"I guess...I hope it goes quick." She sighs.
"It's only what...four weeks long? That'll fly by, before you know it you'll be completely better."
"Mmm-hmm." She smiles.
"Try not to stress about it. I know it's hard but we can try and focus on other things." He kisses her.
I know this isn't great writing but I wanted to get it out, Leave reviews x
