Читать книгу Undying - Michel Faber - Страница 18

Remission

You have achieved zero.

We celebrate with a lunchtime special

at the Thai, on the way home from the hospital.

You order Tom Kha Gai because

your red cell distribution width

is now 15 (as near to normal

as makes no difference).

You choose the crispy fish because

your lymphocytes are 1.6.

The waitress pours your jasmine tea

because your neutrophils are 3.

We pay extra for some greens

because your glomerular filtration rate

is more than 60 ml per minute

(admittedly an estimate).

We share banana fritters because

your albumin is 40 grams per litre.

Brand new hair – ink-black and curly –

springs forth because your creatinine

stands at 69 micromoles.

After dessert, we order coffee.

Let everything settle.

Your paraproteins

are immeasurably small.

You have achieved zero.

Which is to say, the cancer in your marrow