What a Next of Kin!

Chapter Seven

29 Chapter Seven S hortly after banging the door, two doctors and a throng of nurses brought the woman’s father to the ward. They worked diligently to install all the lifesaving gargets they had brought along, and after ascertaining that every thing was in place, the matron now relaxed and satisfied, opened Ndi’s door to find out how he was doing. Ndi was glad to see her. He knew her conviviality would distract him from his worries. But before either of them initiated a conversation, he peeped into the opposite room and saw the two doctors and nurses, and the sophisticated lifesaving gargets they were installing in the room. He took a deep breath as he juxtaposed the man’s admission into the SSW with his and other patients’. It was like moving the intensive care unit for the sake of one man to the room. He considered that as an unethical fit of discrimination and wondered whether the hospital staff wanted every patient to be blessed with a matron in order to be given the same treatment. It was the first time that doctors accompanied nurses in the installation of a critically sick person in a room. More so, Ndi noticed that the doctors and the nurses spoke to the woman with a very high degree of respect. They addressed her matron Caro, and ended a response to her questions with a bow and a ‘Yes or no, matron Caro’.” “Good morning and how are you today Mr. Ndi? Have you come to terms with yourself?” the matron started the conversation. “Good morning matron. I feel a bit well. I am doing everything to come to terms with myself. It’s not easy.” he responded. 30 Charles Alobwed’Epie “Only a bit well? Everything will be alright. Don’t worry. Get yourself together, forgive and forget, and you’ll be OK.” “Matron, when will they remove this cumbersome waist cast?” “When the doctor will ascertain that your discs have held on or are holding on. Once they remove the cast, they will remove the stitches and you will be OK.” “Who is the patient you have brought into the room opposite and what is wrong with him?” “Matron Caro’s father. He is suffering from several complications, including age. He is lucky that his daughter came on holiday just when he got into the crises. It has taken us hours of intense work to resuscitate him from the comatose state his daughter brought him.” “Matron Caro should be a very special person. You tend to adore her; all the intensive-care-unit staff came to escort her father.” “Matron Caro is of great renown. She was a matron in this hospital before independence. After the plebiscite, she went to work in Nigeria. We have great respect for her.” “It seems not everybody knows her. One of your nurses did not seem to know her.” “Yes, that should be one of the recently employed ones. Only the old nurses and doctors know her.” “She seems to be a very tough woman.” “For sure. She’s astute, solid, knowledgeable and upright. We call her, ‘The lady with the lamp’.” “I see. She’s a male-lady then.” “She’s more than that. Two men put together. I say, she is a no nonsense personality. You need see her on duty. Even doctors respect her. I raise my cap for her.” “Matron, when shall I start using the wheelchair? I am bored lying down in this room. For some days now, I have been alone in this building. Can you imagine how lonely it is? Agreed, there are always two nurses here but we don’t 31 What a Next of Kin! have common ground for conversation. Furthermore, they come only when I call them for help. This is worse than a prison. If I could be wheeled around along the corridor my boredom would be manageable.” “That’s the more reason why I say you should encourage your family to come to you. You are the least visited patient in this ward. Your friend Mr. Ndeb comes here very briefly only on Sunday evenings. He would have been the one to wheel you around. We cannot allow you at this point to strain in wheeling yourself up and down the corridors. You see, the corridors are not flat. They are made to slope to provide a strenuous...