We Tried Everything

At the emergency hospital, everything moved fast.

Tests. Machines. Serious faces.

And then the words no one is ready to hear.

“She won’t make it. You should consider putting her down.”

Aaryan and I broke down. Ria stepped away to call her dad. My body felt numb, like I was standing somewhere far away watching this happen to someone else.

I called Ratul.

He spoke to the emergency vet, reviewed the reports, and then said something I will never forget:

“Shaily, I know how much Bella means to you. The reports are bad. I know you won’t care about anything except trying to save her. So do what is possible. Try. And hope. And pray.”

That was all I needed to hear.

We decided to go ahead with a blood transfusion.

Seeing Bella lying there — so small, so quiet, tubes attached to her little body — was unbearable. Her eyes did all the talking. They held sadness, exhaustion, and something else… like she knew how serious this was.

Friends came in quietly. Nishtha. Timse. Aditya. Each one took turns to see her, to whisper love, to be present.

For two days, we lived between hospital corridors and waiting rooms. Doctors told us she had developed jaundice. They said there was a fifty percent chance when we admitted her.

Fifty percent felt like hope.