She Is My Hayaat

Chapter 36: Burning Desire In My Veins

Jummah Mubarak my Hayatis!

~6 months later~

"How long was your last menstruation cycle?" Jamilah asked as she delicately typed away on her white iPad keyboard.

"It was nearly two and a half weeks. 17 days to be exact," I mumbled as I fidgeted with my rings. I rolled them over and over again, and they circled on my slender and cold ring finger.

They were always slightly loose, but held a firm enough grip to not come off without me trying to take them off. However, recently, they seemed a little looser than before, easily coming off with one tug. Izhar had noticed that I'd slightly lost weight and had become paler, but I had brushed him off by telling him that it wasn't anything big, just my blood level constantly changing.

"Nouran?" Jamilah snapped her fingers in front of me.

"Huh," I commenced.

I flinched and moved my pondering gaze back to her from the big window that streamed the bright rays of the sunshine and sat up straighter in my chair.

"Are you okay?" she asked hesitantly, her fingers poised over her keyboard.

"Um yeah," I nodded reluctantly.

"Okay so, yes or no?" she looked at me calculatingly.

"Hm?" I moved my head towards her, confused as to what her previous question was that she'd asked.

"Nouran," she heavily sighed. Jamilah put her iPad to the side and leaned forward, taking my sporadic moving hands in her warm ones.

"Yeah?" I inquired quietly in a shaky voice.

"What's wrong sweetheart?" she asked with helplessness etched in her sombre eyes.

"Nothing," I looked down and gently shook my head as I closed my eyes shut and breathed in out through my nose.

"Nouran, why are you doing this to yourself? Hm? In sha Allah everything will be okay," she said quietly and rubbed her thumb across my knuckles.

"Yeah, in sha Allah," I whispered and opened my eyes with a reassuring smile.

"Now, that's more like it!" Jamilah smiled and let go of my hands, taking her iPad back. "So, have you had any excessive and unbearable pain than the usual cramps and dysmenorrhea?" she asked and typed away.

"Um," I started as I scratched my forehead. "The cramps are more frequent even if I'm not on my period. The blood is a lot thicker and heavier than usual if that's even possible," I said.

"How many times do you change now?" she met my stubborn eyes.

"Anywhere from 10 to 15 times a day," I mumbled.

"Okay. Your iron level is extremely low again Nouran. Have you been taking your iron pills on a daily basis?" she asked like Mama or Izhar would, strict and already assuming a negative answer to the question.

"Yes, fortunately and unfortunately. Izhar makes sure I take all my prescribed medication and vitamins," I smiled.

She gave me the smallest of smiles, and I knew that that wasn't a good enough answer. "We need to alter you diet, steering it towards foods and vegetables that have a higher iron content. Your hemoglobin is decreasing exceedingly and before it goes into the extremes, we need to get it back to normal."

I simply nodded along, hearing some things while others faded away into the thin and wispy air.

"Other than what we already talked about, is there anything else that's been out of the complete norm?" she tapped her pen against her other hand.