Is this where they bring people to die?
One of these days we'll both be fine
One of these days we’ll both be fine
Is this where they bring people to die?
They moved my mother to the 10th floor which caused her to be more confused.
The floor is better though. Basically it’s where they hold the patients moving to long-term care homes which means we’re no longer fighting with the hospital and we’re heading in the right direction. This floor is generally less hectic and quieter.
“Is this where they bring people to die?” the woman in the bed beside my mom asked me. I said no that we were in the hospital and the hospital helps people get well.
“It’s also where they go to die,” she insisted, and I couldn’t argue with her.
Later this same woman screamed at the top of her lungs that she wanted to go home. I’ve never heard anyone scream so loud and for so long. She was a tiny woman too.
My mother turned to me and said, “I’m frightened to stay here.”
“Don’t worry, Mom,” I said, “you can take her.”
Even though she laughed, I could tell she was shaken.
I gave her some fennel tea and then tucked her into bed with the little bear I bought her. The bear who she thought had a sad face because he didn’t have eyelashes.
“I want to tell you something before you go,” she said in a serious tone. “If I don’t call you on the iPad it’s because I’m not able to and I’d like you to call me.”
It was the same serious tone she used when I had a pregnancy scare at sixteen. “If you are pregnant, I want you to have an abortion,” she had said. “I don’t want you to ruin your life.”
The implication that having children had ruined hers was not lost on me then or now.
The phone call request was heartbreaking because I need the rest when I’m not at the hospital, and I don’t want to call her when I’m not with her if I’m being perfectly honest.
Despite this, I promised I would.
Read more from One of these days we’ll both be fine
Kathryn Mockler is the author of Anecdotes.
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