Ward 309

I was having a roller-coaster of emotions, first was me shivering with apprehension as Mom was unresponsive,splayed on the floor while my brothers battle to revive her as Karl was performing CPR,she was quite stiff and her lips abit parted,add that to feeling hurt about how everyone around the airport scampered away from us as though Mom was some human bag of plague waiting to distend,burst and gradually ooze out,poisoning everyone,they stood afar,barking CPR tips. QT  screamed at me to join them to carry Mom to the car and rush her to the clinic,I hurriedly joined in,lifting Mom's arms and as we were carrying her away,the medical team of the airport came around and asked us to place her on a stretcher they came with,she was examined on the spot and wheeled into their sick bay,where Mom was revived and complained of splitting headache and tummy cramps,she was given pain relievers and we left the airport albeit a little embarrassed at the whole drama.



You should know this about Mom,she thrives on self pity,she loves the attention of being pitied and fawned over when sick,most times,I indulge her but my brothers don't,they were still reeling over the drama that went down at the airport,especially QT,he barked

"I don't understand what is going on with you Mom,I think you need to see a doctor as soon as possible,can you imagine the embarrassment at such a public place,fainting and everyone running away from us as though it was another case of ebola"

Mom,all looking teary-eyed asked if QT was talking to her in that manner,saying how insensitive he is towards her and emotionally blackmailing him

"I carried you in my womb for nine months and nurtured you to adulthood and this is how you repay me? By being insensitive and cruel?"

QT quieten down,exactly what Mom wanted,lol


The next day,Karl got behind the car wheels,while I sat beside Mom at the back seat and we went to her office clinic where we met with her consultant,an urologist,I kept prodding as to why we were coming towards the department of urology rather than a general consultant or an obstetrician and gynecology specialist,she didn't say anything. The consultant chided her for not going for the procedure he had specifically told her to go for

"What procedure please?"


I cut in,the doctor looked at me as though I had just asked a stupid question and looked at Mom again,asking if she did not tell her kids about what was going on,Mom nodded

"I didn't want to alarm them"

She said calmly

"Alarm us? What's going on?"

Karl asked,agitated,the doctor sighed deeply and broke the news to us

"One of your Mom's kidney isn't functioning well and it has to be operated upon and rectified,I'd referred her to a specialist hospital here in the capital but I guess the word "operation" is scaring her"

I turned to look at Mom in horror as the doctor kept explaining why it was necessary for her to do the operation and at this stage where it was getting her dizzy and having spells of fainting,the drugs could not help again,rather,it is putting more pressure on her kidney,he reiterated the need for the surgery and that he had already written to Mom's office to that effect and they had approved to foot the entire medical bill but Mom was being lax over an issue of her own health.


On our way home,I quickly swiped on the face of my phone,googling Mom's condition and what could be done,Mom was trying to offer a groveling apology for not disclosing her ailment but I was not paying her any attention while Karl was furious

"Mom,what you did is not okay at all,how could you not tell us about your condition? Huh? Putting us through such emotional turmoil with your fainting and dizzy spells,why Mother why?"

Karl ranted,banging the car wheels out of frustration,I did not even look up,I kept on searching and researching on the ailment on google and so far,in retrospect,Mom had been doing all the necessary things she ought to be doing,I had noticed she took long walks around the compound and taking lots of water and we always eat healthy foods with lots of fruits,so in hindsight,she had already done all that was necessary to avoid the surgery and the hospital is a super exclusive hospital with hi-tech gadgets and expatriate,professor doctors so they knew what they were saying.


Hamz and QT were waiting for us to get feedback on how it all went down at the hospital,Karl drove into the compound,turned off the ignition and alighted dejectedly from the car,his countenance,the look of thunder. Hamz and QT saw my glum face and Mom's rather vague facial appearance and knew something was up.

Sinking into our comfortable cushion in the sitting room,I told QT and Hamz all that happened,all the while,Karl had his face in his palms

"So Mom has to undergo a surgery to correct the anomaly in her kidney and the procedure is quite invasive...what am I saying,we talking about kidney here and scalpels are involved,so it is invasive"

I concluded,my brothers couldn't utter a word,they did not know how to respond,Karl was probably waiting to hear roars of them chastising Mom and feeling scared about her going through with it and asking questions but nothing,he raised his head up from his palm,looking rather disappointed,after all sighing around,I spoke up

"Guys! Let's all chill ok? All we need now is pray that it goes well,the consultant made it clear that a stent has been inserted into her kidney which has been keeping it abit functional but the bottom line is,she has to go for the surgery to correct what's wrong or else,the kidney might burst and that would be it....death,God forbids,so the earlier the better,Mom would be fine God willing"

Mom's face brightened up,glad about how I went about consoling my brothers and reassuring them that with prayers and God's help,she would be fine,my brothers also felt abit relieved,so I went to the kitchen to wash my hands and start gathering ingredients and food stuff needed to prepare lunch. While at it,Mom came to the kitchen to thank me and assure me that all would be well as she had already told her islamic clerics and marabouts to help pray and check spiritually for any danger and all had given her the go ahead, assuring her that there was none,I gave her a patronizing look,she smiled knowingly,giving me a light shoulder massage and a peck and just then a call came in,it was her turkish doctor at the super exclusive and plush nigerian-turkish nizamiye hospital located at the capital's hinterland,Mom kept nodding and saying "yeah" and that she would also check her email,then she hung up,she looked up to face me

"That's the doctor at the nigerian-turkish hospital where the procedure would be carried out,he said I should check into the hospital in 5 days time and am not to take anything from the night before the day....and am suppose to bring someone to donate blood for me"

I smiled wryly

"That hospital is very very expensive you know?"

I said,she nodded,smiling

"Perks of my job right? Am so grateful to God that they are paying,because I couldn't afford their fees, taking a hospital card alone cost ten thousand naira,you can imagine how much the surgeries would cost"

My jaws falling open in surprise

"so how much is your procedure costing your office"

I asked,Mom smiled and waving her hand on her way out of the kitchen,she said she won't divulge but it's hefty.

Few days before we were to check in to the hospital,Mom decided to inform her sisters,as expected,they were against the idea,telling her not to dare try it

"Am sorry but my mind is made up,I have to do this,am in pain,I can't continue like this"

Mom countered,aunt nina,always acting as the know-it-all person,told Mom to give her some money to buy some medicinal and "spiritual" drink,so she went out to buy zam zam water,a kind of water gotten from the holy land of mecca,some dates,olives and some kind of oils and mixed it all and gave Mom the gruel-like mixture,she obliged her and drank it and also aunt nina gave her some prayer points to recite which she did.

On the day we were to leave,Mom went to her sisters' house and decided to humour them by asking which one of them would come along to watch over her in the hospital,she knew they would not come,I was the one she had concluded would come along with her,QT and Hamz had said their goodbyes,it was emotional,we all prayed and Mom admonished us to be of good character always,she already left a list of people we could call upon to help us in event that she didn't survive. Our gateman Garuba was called upon to donate blood for her as Mom's blood group is O+ while all of us brothers took after Dad's B+

On getting to her sisters' house,Mom announced she was leaving for the hospital,her sisters had protested,bad-mouthing the "so called exclusive hospital" for asking a patient to come along with a blood donor,et cetera,Mom did not respond,she simply and calmly asked


"I was told to come along with one person so which one of the both of you would accompany me?"

Mom asked,there was no response,she smiled wryly and knew her own siblings were selfish and had a deep-seated jealousy over her,she stood up and decided to take her leave,she motioned for me to stand up for us to leave, Aunt hubaida protested,asking why Mom was insisting on going ahead with the operation,Mom didn't respond,we went out and left.


We got to the hospital and the architectural structure looked more like a bank or a world-class laboratory than a hospital,the array of cars in the hospital parking lot belonging to hospital staff and out-patients were intimidating it left our toyota venza in the shade,various colours and models of range rovers,escalades,bullet-like cars,bentleys,I was awe-struck,this is truly the hospital for the minority elitist class,gardeners were busy watering delicately trimmed flowers and green spaces,the environment as first glance alone is therapeutic,nothing hospital-ly about it,not the usual antiseptic smell or blue scrub wearing nurses you see in conventional hospitals,here,it looked like we were checking into a classy hotel,the ground interlockings were intricately designed,I nodded with admiration.


The glass doors wooshed open and at the reception,we went through the normal round of registration and checking in and we were led by a turkish nurse to our room,taking a lift to the top-most floor and after dropping our luggage,we took the lift down and went to consult with the doctor who welcomed us and asked Mom to just relax and prepare for the surgery the next day,Mom was nervous at the thought and requested to have a CT scan done to check her kidneys again,stating that she took a spiritual drink and prayed a lot hence believing she was healed,I squeezed my face in embarrassment,not that I don't believe in miracles but oh please mother!

Arabians are well known for their temper,though not exactly an arab country,turkish nationals share a lot in common with arabs and one of them is their temperament,the doctor got upset at Mom's hesitation and misgivings about going ahead with the surgery,spitting fire at Mom and in the process,having major mother-tongue interference spliced with cusswords in his local language,I felt embarrassed for her,another staff,whom I guessed was an administrative staff saw what was going on and stopped-by and helped calmed both Mom and the doctor,telling Mom CT scans or any form of xrays aren't what you do at will as the radioactive rays causes cancer,assuring Mom they would not resort to surgery if it was not the final option. Having calmed down, we proceeded to the laboratory to have Mom's blood screened for all kinds of diseases and to know her blood group and also Garuba our gateman also had his blood screened and it was a match,so he donated blood for Mom who
found his action very noble and quickly sent me to buy maltina drink and milk for him to take when he is done donating,but we were far from town and the little grocery store they had there which is also quite classy in its own right shockingly didn't stock up on all these things except chocolates,biscuits and those sorts,I mean,who comes to the hospital to eat chocolates? Do rich people do that? I was pissed.


Later that evening,after we were served and had a meal of jollof rice with meat and salad,Mom asked Karl to take his leave,he hugged Mom and promised to be back the next day. Since the hospital was mainly for the rich,the cleaners and even nurses assumed every patient is definitely financially loaded,so they fawned over us,always rushing to our room at the first ringing of the bedside bell and one of them couldn't stop admiring Karl. Karl left after eating and I picked up the remote for the flat screen and flicking through different channels while Mom changed into her scrubs and went to sleep.

The next morning,Mom woke me up early to pray and afterwards,engaged me in a conversation about life and how transient it is and how I should get closer to God,I nodded and cut her short,assuring her that by God's grace,the surgery would be successful,by eight am,I had breakfast of chips,bread and tea with some fruits and just when I was through,the doctor barged in,accompanied by nurses,ward attendants,etc and told Mom it was time,our hearts skipped several beats,my eyes instantly got teary,at that moment,QT,Hamz and Karl walked in and we were all flustered emotionally,Mom was given a theatre cap and dressed in scrubs and asked to lay on a stretcher to be wheeled into theatre,my eyes went red with hot tears that instantly came welling down,she said bye through forced smile,we willed her to live as the doctor and nurses all understood our emotional feelings and assured us all was going to be well and Mom was wheeled through an emergency lift,strictly for
the purpose of moving patients to and from the theatre.

Immediately she was out of sight,I bursted into tears,the fear of loosing her was too much to bear,QT chided me to pull myself together and to my horror,they all said they couldn't wait and were going home to pray,I couldn't protest,so I told them to go,Hamz surprisingly,ran back towards me and hugged me,crying sheepishly,it made me smile as I rocked his head tenderly and told him all would be well


I shut the door after them and went to perform ablution and prayed amidst tears to God to be in charge of the operation,I cried until I decided to watch an action film on cable lest I cry my eyes out. An hour later,the door flung open and Mom was wheeled in,still under the influence of the anesthesia,I was so grateful to God,I called her and she slurred through calling the name of God,I was so relieved,I called my brothers and aunties that Mom was fine and the surgery went on successfully,they immediately rushed to the hospital as my aunties couldn't stop staring around the whole hospital admiring the facilities and  its beauty.

A week later,we went home and well,all was well for a while

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