My irritation develops into full-blown exasperation. ‘There’s that bloody word again. Everything’s about my wellbeing now. It has never been used in my presence before all this, and now it’s haunting me like the sodding ghosts from that Christmas film. I am the ghost of workplace future. Your career will spontaneously combust at the chime of midnight, unless you look after your wellbeing and never go off sick again…’

‘Lex, what’s gotten into you?’

‘What’s gotten into me is that this is all bullshit. I haven’t changed, Dom. I’m still the same person, but for some reason I’m being treated like some kind of lesser being.’

‘Hey, come on. That’s not true.’ He tries to stroke my hair, but I flick his hand away.

‘Really? Were you there?’ I eyeball him accusingly. ‘Because I’m pretty sure you have no idea. You waltz through life without a care in the world, with your perfect health and your perfect job. You have no idea what this is like. Being constantly poked and prodded, the gruelling physio, the disease-modifying drugs, then on top of all that, people treating me like I’m incapable.’

I pull myself up from the bed, my whole body screaming at me in protest.

‘Is that what you think?’ Dom sits up as well, hurt and resentment clouding his face, his voice rising. ‘You think all this is a stroll in the park for me? I may not be experiencing the physical side of this, Lex, but it’s sure as hell not easy for me either.’

‘Oh, come on. There’s no comparison. Try being me for a day, then you’ll realise how easy you’ve got it.’

Dom looks at me in disbelief. ‘Are you kidding? I’ve been doing the cooking, the cleaning, the laundry… I’ve had to take on all the wedding-related stuff.’

‘Don’t give me that. You and my mother took over the wedding planning without even consulting me.’

‘And you could have handled it, could you?’ Dom locks eyes with me, his temper hot like lava. ‘You couldn’t do anything for yourself for weeks. I’ve been waiting on you hand and foot ever since—’

‘Well, no one’s asking you to,’ I spit back. ‘I never wanted to be treated like a patient. You turned me into one.’

‘That may be the case to a certain extent, but things have changed, Lex. You need to wake up and start accepting this situation because I’m not sure I’ve got the energy to take much more.’

This statement takes me to boiling point. ‘Accept it? Oh, I’ve bloody accepted it, Dom. I’ve got no sodding choice. What I can’t accept is being treated like I might fall over if there’s a slight breeze outside. I can look after myself.’

‘But that’s the thing, Lex,’ Dom roars back at me, his face contorted with rage. ‘You can’t. Not when you’re like you’ve been the last few months. If I’m going to look after you at these times – yes, I know that’s hard to hear, but it’s the reality – I suggest you learn to accept the help more gracefully, because otherwise—’