The Cells That Outgrew Life..

Life is a good thing.
Make the most of it while it lasts. Well this is easily one of the strongest philosophical impressions that many of us are left with any time that a friend, kin, colleague, partner, patient or acquaintance passes on to the other side.
You can not with certainty design when this happens. In most cases it remains the greatest mystery; this business of going away. Then sometimes it crawls upon us like an unshakable leech! But even when it happens there is always a bad taste in our mouths.
We often hear these things being said on the regular: take plenty of clean water, eat right, exercise frequently, sleep enough, cut out tobacco, do regular checks etc etc. But do we heed a thing? This however is not the object of this post..

The morning was a typical August morning. Sunny, bright, cheery and with a tonne of promise in the air. But later it would perhaps rain. I busied myself in the ward doing an early morning review. I was in no particular rush and so took my time going over the admissions; this to the consternation of my colleagues who wanted to get it done with so they could go take their tea and engage in chit chat! But slowly we had gone on.
In the general female ward as we proceeded it became apparent that some process of putrefaction was going on somewhere. I had been briefed about the case and so was partly aware about what to expect.

Forty two years old, she had been a house help in Nairobi for the better part of her adult life. She had been married briefly at some point but had separated with the husband. This had been over ten years back. She however had an eighteen year old son. She thus led a sort of solitary life, just given to her occupation. Then she had developed this lump in her left breast. She could not even recall with certainty when it first started. All she remembers was that the left breast became progressively big and that's when she went to a neighborhood facility for attention. There she was examined and told something to the effect that some advanced tests needed to be done and for this reason she was sent to Kenyatta National Hospital.
Kenyatta National Hospital she says turned out a real torment on patience. Eventually the test results came out and it was confirmed she had malignant breast cancer. It had spread beyond her left breast and even the other one was now developing the lumps. Already there were nodular swellings in her axilla (armpits) She had to start treatment immediately.
All this time she had not even disclosed to her boss what she was dealing with, bravely going about her duties in a quiet contemplation and resignation. But it became increasingly clear that her health was dipping. Her appointments became more frequent; what with all the systematic setbacks and disappointments. It's how her employer got wind of the situation. Quite understanding and supportive at first, the situation became untenable some months down the line. The time commitment and financial aspects must have seemed overwhelming and this in view of the bleakness of the condition had led to the parties amicably parting ways.
Life in Nairobi became unbearable. All that she had saved was rapidly diminishing and this coupled with the erratic and unreliable KNH system had necessitated her leaving the city. On the advice of a relative she had relocated to Eldoret where she began therapy all over again at The Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital. She had an appointment for January but had not kept it. Now it was August.

We had all listened to her tale with sympathetic patience. It was very clear the condition was terminal. One half of her left breast was literally eaten away. She was in pain and kept appealing for any assistance she could get.
"And just where have you been all this while?" I had asked her a bit hard though.
"I have gone to many places that I can't even tell you." She had answered with a crushing frankness. We had all deduced what she meant by that.
"But why did you not keep the MTRH appointment?"
"Daktari I could not raise the money, I have an outstanding bill of eight thousands from my last admission there, so you can understand why I kept away."
"But this is a serious issue, every day you kept away the cancer grew some more."
"That I know and I regret it highly, now how do you help me?"
"Let me see, as it is there is so little we can do for you here, I would suggest you go back to MTRH..."
"No doctor, what will they tell me now?"
"Remember we need to get you all the meaningful help that we can now."
"But where do I get the money for all that?"
"Keeping off because of an uncleared bill is the worser evil if you asked me."
"Okay, but kindly do something for this pain, ever since I came here nothing much has been done, I have requested for just two tablets of augmentin but no one even cares."
"Augmentin is not a pain medication!"
"For me it greatly works, kindly get me two tablets of augmentin, please I beg..."
"Okay I will do something about it, I want to talk to your relatives when they come to see you."
"Thank you daktari, God bless you so much."

It was three days before her brother came to see her. In the meantime she had been on cover for infection, the wound was also regularly cleansed and we had found for her a stronger narcotic based anaelgesic. The brother had just reiterated her earlier position; the family was totally out of means, they had even approached the M.P and other well-wishers but no much help had been forthcoming and so they had let things take their course.
For six days she had stayed in the ward, alternating between talkertiveness and prolonged periods of pensive silence. We had recommended hospice care and this from the hopelessness of the situation.
"But what difference is a hospice going to make?"
"They are better suited, equipped and focused on these sort of conditions."
"I know that people go to hospices to die." She seemed to be distantly distracted.
"Not necessarily true, it's a recuperative environment sort of."
"Do you believe what you are saying?", she had asked me, intently scrutinizing my face and apparently reviving back to the moment.
"You give it consideration and let me know what you decide by the end of the day."

That day had passed and so had the next. Then she had called for me on the third day after the above conversation.
"Daktari, I want to go home."
"Is that what you have decided?", I had inquired.
"Yes, and I believe it's the best course of action in the circumstances, I do not want to burden anyone any more, let the will of God be done." Then a contemplative silence had ensued, she had come to terms with the eventuality and I found myself regarding the moment with an unexplainable sanctitude..
The next day she went home. We had to find for her a course of augmentin but she declined it. We however pressed and she left us with many thanks. Two weeks later her soul departed this earth.

Life is a good thing while it lasts..