Coffin Money - 2

Day 4 at the hospital

Sarah’s test results came in and the doctor wanted to talk with David about them first, without his mother. When David came to the hospital, the doctor told him that his mother had Stage 4 stomach cancer. David was stunned.

“How much does she have left?” he asked.

“Hard to tell at this age, can be days or can stretch into a couple of months.”

“Oh, wow, that soon?” David said.

“Yes. Unfortunately, at this stage and given her age we can’t really do anything: it’s inoperable and chemo would only make her sicker.”

“Is there anything you can do?”

The doctor shook his head, “No. We can just make her comfortable, give her painkillers and monitor her.”

“For how long?”

“A week, maybe 10 days. After that, we’ll have to recommend hospice care.”

“Oh wow,” David dropped his head into his hands.

“Did she ever complain about stomach aches before?” the doctor asked, just to say something as there was not much else he could tell.

“Not really. But she is not the complaining type.”

“That’s what I thought. She is quite…” the doctor was looking for the right word, “feisty, isn’t she?”

“Yes, if you mean stubborn and angry.”

“You’ve said it, not me,” the doctor smirked. “Ok, that prompts my next question: Do you want to tell her?”

“Would you, if this were your mother?”

“I certainly would, but my mother’s different. Everyone’s different, especially at this age. You know your mother better, how do you think she would take the news?”

“Oh boy, not well.”

“That’s what I thought. We can tell her that we need to observe her more as we can’t figure out what is really wrong with her.”

“But at some point when she gets sicker she’ll catch on.”

“She might, but it will win you some time. Or would you rather take her home? She’ll need constant care.”

“Oh God, no! I don’t even know how to approach that.”

So David went to see his mother and told her that the doctor would like to keep her in the hospital as he can’t figure out what is wrong with her.

“I’m telling you, they want to kill me! There’s nothing wrong with me, they just want to kill me and chop me up for body parts! I will never agree to be an organ donor!” Sarah said angrily.

“If only you knew the truth,” David wanted to tell his mother. Instead, he said, “Where do you get this nonsense from, mother?”

“No nonsense at all! I’m telling you, I’m not coming out of here alive!”

“Mother!”

“Don’t ‘mother’ me! Just listen. I need to tell you something important.”

“Alright, what is it?”

“I’ve been saving some money. When they kill me here, I want you to use it to buy me a nice coffin.”

“Oh, stop it, mother, no one is going to kill you! You’ll see, as soon as they figure out a good treatment for you, they’ll send you home. Just tell me what you ate today,” David took his mother’s arm and wanted to strike it gently. Sarah withdrew it. She was not a gentle type either.

“I hate hospital food! They gave me some porridge and chicken broth. I want steak or fried chicken!”

“I’ll try to bring you something better tomorrow,” David said.

“You’d better, or I’ll run away from here!”

David sat with his mother until she fell asleep again and went home. When she told his wife about his mother’s Stage 4 stomach cancer, the first thing Anna said, “I’ll make her some soup for tomorrow. I’m sure she cannot eat heavy and deep fried foods she loves so much.”

“Yeah, now the challenge is to convince her to eat soups and broths.” David pulled up a list on his phone, “This is what the doctor said she can eat.”

Anna looked at the list and said, “Wow, I can make some steamed fish for tomorrow as well. But she’s going to hate you for that.”

“Tell me about it,” David said. “It’s like I’ve been cursed. She wasn’t always like that, you know?”

“See, that I cannot believe. She’s been always abusive to you, for as long as I’ve known you, and that's over 10 years.”

David thought a little. His wife was right. His mother started treating him differently after he married Anna. But that cannot be the reason, can it?

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