It was like any other day. We got up, had breakfast and my in-laws and husband went to the hospital just to show my mother-in-law's reports to the doctor. Not for any serious illness but just for stomach pain.

But after some time, the text I received from my husband left us restless forever.

My mother-in-law was suspected with cancer and after the endoscopy, it was confirmed that she had a tumor in the stomach.

No, we are still not broken because we had seen so many people recovering from cancer after surgery and leading a normal life. But things changed on the 1st of July when we got to know that it has spread to her lymph nodes as well and the doctor said that it had reached a little advance stage. Without thinking for a second, I told my husband to immediately consult another good doctor.

We reached Apollo and the doctor gave us a clear picture that day itself of what we had seen a few days ago. He clearly told us that she can't survive more than 3-4 months without treatment. With treatment, she could go on for 1-1.5 years, but not more than that.

Nothing is more painful than knowing that you are going to lose your loved ones and can't do anything even after knowing about it. I still don't know how my husband handled himself that day but I was in tears and had no guts to face my in-laws.

I know that it must have been much more difficult for my husband because, for him, it was no one but his "MOTHER". Slowly we informed my father-in-law about it. As per doctor's suggestion, we started the 4 cycles of chemotherapy every 21 days. The first chemo happened with the usual side effect of 2 days.

Things were under control and we were in the hope of some kind of a miracle. Till the second chemo everything was fine except a little pain that used to go with the medicine. The second chemo was troublesome as she got a breathing problem immediately right after the chemo, she had to be given an injection. Things started getting worse after around 2 weeks. Pain that used to subside with medicines now stayed. She lost her appetite completely, which worsened her digestive system.

On the day of her 3rd chemo, she got hospitalized and refused to take chemo due to her degrading health condition. And here the toughest part begun especially for me as I had to go to my office, do home chores, then visit the hospital every day. However, my husband and father-in-law spend most of the time in the hospital, it was still a difficult task for me to manage things myself. I hardly used to get a minute to sit.

After 4 days, my mother-in-law got discharged from the hospital with more doses of pain killers, a patch in her back for the pain and we were in the hope of things getting better. But life had other plans, she started getting more pain in the back and stomach, she was not able to sleep even for 5 minutes for two complete nights and had excess vomiting. The next day, we got her to the hospital in the emergency ward, now she was on the maximum dose of pain killer with the help of a drip and now she could sleep due to the heavy dose of medicines.

The next day in the evening when my father-in-law was in the hospital with my mother-in-law, the doctor told him to call me or my husband (as we were only communicating with the doctor). Thinking of this as general consultation, I told my husband to take some rest as he had a cold and I went to the hospital.

What happened next in the hospital moved me and my father-in-law completely. The doctor called us to sit comfortably in a consultation room and explained to me everything, clearly and calmly. The doctor told me that my mother-in-law had jaundice and her liver was not functioning well. He said we shouldn't feed her any food if she didn't want it. He also said that she will be sleeping more and asked us to keep an eye out as she shouldn't go in deep sleep, she may feel confused then and forget things.

The doctor also told me that she will get breathing problems in the coming days, maybe after one week or maybe after 2 months and told me to decide what to do for life support since the situation could come to that any moment now.

I couldn't believe my ears when I asked the doctor - "Does she have very little time?" And she (doctor) said "Yes" with tears in her eyes too.

With my permission, the doctor explained things in Hindi to my father-in-law. My father-in-law and I were so broken then but still, he displayed great courage. He handled me as well as himself, we talked for 45 minutes and in that time, he explained to me so many things. He sent me home to inform the same to my husband and to give him support.

I went home, told my husband and he started to cry. For the very first time in life, I saw him so helpless and I had no words to encourage him. My husband was the closest to my mother-in-law, out of all the siblings.

My husband's bhabhi (sister-in-law) was pregnant but since things were getting worse, now they traveled to Hyderabad from Jalna (Jalna is a district 100km from Aurangabad, Maharashtra).

The next day evening only when my husband was in the hospital, my mother-in-law started facing breathing problems and she got a cardiac arrest while she was being shifted to the ICU. She was on ventilator support.

The whole night my husband, his brother and my father-in-law waited outside the ICU with no bed to sleep. Doctors told us that she was alive for a day or so.

That painful moment we can never explain in words.

When we saw her on the ventilator, at first, we were not able to recognize her. Her body was all swollen. She was not responding to us. Doctors told us that she'd respond if we shouted loudly or pinched her. I am not sure if she was not able to respond or if she was not able to sense our presence.

I couldn't utter a word seeing her in that state but just started crying and cried so hard hugging my husband. By seeing no improvement we got to know that now Maa was not going to survive. Me and bhaiya bhabhi started for our hometown and decided that after her last breath, my father-in-law and husband will come with her in the ambulance. But she was fighting, still unaware of the life-threatening disease, we never told her about it. And perhaps that was a correct decision taken by my husband, else she couldn't have fought the way she did. At last, we decided to take her out of the life support system as there was nothing left to keep her going like that with no hope.

My husband and father-in-law, through the 13-hour journey, kept on pumping oxygen in her lungs and the moment the oxygen was removed, she died with no pulse. Everyone said that she was waiting to reach her home to take her last breath.

You were a great mother-in-law. In those 3 months that you spent with me, you never ever said a word of anger to me. Instead, you scolded your son every time he teased me. I feel so bad because my husband was so close to you and father-in-law is alone without you. I couldn't do much for you and always feel I was not a good daughter-in-law. I hope you will forgive me for all my mistakes and rest in peace wherever you are. We miss you Maa!

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