See you soon Mum

The nurses decided to evict me from the room and said that i should come less often. Their argument was that they could manage well without my help and I needed to go back to school. I was adamant and they had no option but to allow me to stay. My routine continued, I stay with mum the whole day and night, in the morning I go back home, shower, change, prepare her porridge and am back to the hospital. Her room was on 10^th floor, private wing. I entertained myself with the Television. I also talked to her on and off just to keep her talking.

Her room had only one couch so I was given a blanket and I would sleep on the couch or on the floor. I used to take the cushions from the couch and place them on the floor, it was more comfortable. On this particular day, as I finished cleaning my mum’s bathroom, I forgot to tighten the tap. We slept and in the morning the room was flooded with water. The nurses were so upset, and that was the last time I slept in my mum’s room.

I would carry my homework in the room and catch up on my studies too. There was a time people came to the room to pray for my mum. They used to go from room to room praying for patients. When they asked her is she was born again, she said she had received Jesus as her personal savior some time back while in upcountry. The time she got born again she had called us in Nairobi and was so excited. I remembered buying her an English bible since she had one in mother tongue. I had also bought her a book mark. I was very excited. They still prayed for her and she got born again, again. At least now I was sure her soul would live on for eternity.

Her wounds were still being changed and her condition seemed worse by the day but I never lost hope. Once we took her for an X-ray that showed signs of cancer. The doctor later told us that she had Pancreatic Cancer but we were not to tell her. She was to be taken in for surgery. Uncle Jim, who was a doctor, got a few doctors that he knew to work on her.

When the surgery was over the doctor called my uncle and sisters and told them that it was successful. They went out drinking to celebrate that night. I was up the next morning with the routine to take her from ICU and back to her room. When I reached the hospital, one nurse told me to wait until they called my sisters. I waited patiently as I did my school work. The waiting became too long but I never felt suspicious.

Suddenly Susan appeared and looked disoriented. Her eyes were blood shot and that’s when it hit me. She told me they could not tell me because I was too young. We were allowed to enter the ICU and see my mum but we were to remove our shoes because ICU was a very sensitive unit. We walked to my mum’s bed where she had been covered with a white sheet. We unveiled it and just stared at her. I was still on denial. She seemed to be asleep. My sister broke down and we were quickly removed from the ICU. It dawned on me slowly and I was walking while tears trickled down. We went back to her room to clear her things.