FINDING THE TRUTH
CHAPTER 3: HER MUM COLLAPSED
"Good morning Miss Tofunmi" Adeola, another colleague of mine, greeted me on seeing me as she closed the door to her office. Her office was directly opposite mine. I was busy rummaging my bag for my office key.
"Good morning Miss Adeola. Hope you are good?" I responded back, as I searched for my office key. Where could this key be? I questioned myself.
"Yes. Thank you" she replied, proceeding to leave.
"That's good to know. See you later" I said fishing out my office key from my bag. Inserting it into the key hole, I swinged the key to the left and opened the door.
"Okay. Bye" I heard her bid me goodbye as I proceeded to enter my office. It's Friday and Fridays are always fun days for both the pupils and students of the school and rest days for the teachers.
"Well, no work for me today" Slumping hard on my chair and dropping my bag on the table, I said, smiling to myself. I did not have enough rest last night as I was too busy sorting out some student's assignment and now, I'm exhausted. I love teaching. However, I can't deny the stress that comes with the profession. Teaching can be very draining at times. However, we teachers always find our ways around it. Talking about teachers, I heard a knock on the door, giving my permission with a "come in", I saw Micheal open the door. Exchanging pleasantries, he sat down on the visitor's chair . Telling me to come join him in having his breakfast, he opened a pack of stirred fried noodles and began delve into his food. I laughed at his gesture and decided to continue the story where I stopped.
****** FLASH BACK
"Ehn! What did you say?" Abisola exclaimed. "Jibola committed suicide??" She questioned, bewildered.
"Yes Abisola. She stabbed herself to death" I said crying.
"Ehn? Stabbed herself to death? No! She wouldn't do that. Jibola is Thanatophobic. She fears death. She has been like that since her brother's tragic death. She would never kill herself" Abisola said not convinced.
"But we found her dead in her own pool of blood. She even left a note" I told her exasperatedly, amidst tears.
"She left a note?" Abisola asked with a shaky voice.
"Yes Bisola" I replied, still crying.
"Are they aware of this?" I heard Bisola ask from the other side of the phone.
"Who?" I asked as I did not get who she was talking about.
"Mum and dad" she replied.
"They should by now" I told her.
"Ah! God! Jibola why did you do this to us? Why? You should have thought about them" Abisola solliloquized. " Her parents are not going to take this easy at all. Most especially her mum. This might even aggravate her health condition" She said. I could hear her crying.
" Mummy is sick?" I asked not so surprised. Jibola had made it known in her note, that they were having another crisis in their family which this time around, she couldn't handle.
"Yes Tofunmi. She has a weak heart. She collapsed all of a sudden two weeks ago and we had to rush her to the hospital. We thought we had lost her but she regained conciousness. After series of test, we were told that she has a weak heart and the best thing is to make sure she doesn't gets stressed up in any way. She had to be hospitalised for a few days. The most sorry part was that daddy had to sell the land he had gotten through installment to pay the bills. However, we've been having issues with her blood pressure since she was discharged. Her blood pressure hasn't been very stable. She's been thinking too much about Gboyega's death. You know, it's going to be 3 years since we lost him, next month. I really don't know how they would take this. I don't want to believe Jibola did this. She knew how important she was to them. She loved them too much to cause them pain. I don't know why I don't want to believe she killed herself" Abisola said amidst tears.
"I also don't want to believe she killed herself but she did. I didn't know so much was happening at home and Jibola never mentioned anything of such to us. To think she killed herself keeping so much to herself. She was probably too scared of losing someone dear to her again. I just still don't understand why she had to kill herself. I wish Jibola had just told us what was going on. She shouldn't have done this to us" I said crying harder than before.
"But I called her this afternoon now. We spoke for 15minutes. I even sent her a cake....." I heard Abisola say before silence seeped in. Did the call disconnect? I asked myself as I checked my phone. The call was still on but I couldn't hear her.
"Hello" I said to confirm if she could still hear me. "Hello" I repeated. I could hear nothing from the other side of the phone. It's probably the network.
"Tofunmi! Tofunmi! " I heard Rose scream my name as she entered the room in a rush. I ended the call, slightly frightened at the sudden call.
"What is it? What's going on? " I asked her.
"Mariam just called me that Jibola's mummy collapsed on hearing the news. Mariam said they on their way to Macaulay hospital right now. We have to go meet them now" Rose said as she hurriedly picked up her pause from the couch.
"What?? Oh my God" I exclaimed. This was what Abisola was saying" I said, hurriedly picking my purse too and phone to leave for Macaulay hospital with Rose. I saw Jibola's phone on the dressing table. She must have dropped it there before killing herself. I took it and I put in one my boxes.
"Oh God, please don't let this woman die" I prayed inside of me as we hurriedly left the hostel.
******
"I don't think she would survive this shock" The doctor told us.
"Ehn! Ah! Please Doctor, do whatever you can to save my wife. I can't lose my wife and daughter in a day" Mr Adigun, Jibola's dad, said pleading. I could see him trying his best to not break down with the whole news.
"Doctor Kunle, you can do something. Please help us here. I just lost my cousin. I can't lose someone who has been a mother to me for 10 years, also. Please do something" Abisola said pleadingly.
"Sir, don't worry about the money. We'll pay it. We have the money" Rose said.
"Hmm. A patient's life is very important to me too. However, the rule is that atleast 60% of the money must first be deposited before we can do anything on her. I'm not the owner of this hospital. Helping you the last time almost got me into trouble. I wasn't meant to do anything on her without proof of 60% payment but I did. This time around I can't be of help" The Doctor said firmly.
"But sir she needs to be resuscitated immediately. She might die if it's delayed. She had a f**king heart attack, DR KUNLE! You know better than this. Your duty is to save lives. You took an oath to save lives" Abisola screamed on her lungs in anger as she broke down in tears. This was probably too much for her. She just lost someone who had been a sister to her for over ten years and now the woman who had decided to take her in after her father decided to abandon her following her own mother's death, is on the brink of death and despite her also being a medical student, knowing the impending danger if things are delayed, she couldn't be of help. She had decided to study medicine alongside Jibola, since she didn't have anything of particular that interested her then. She couldn't be of help to her cousin and now her aunt.
"Please calm down Abisola" Mariam said as she tried to console her. However, Bisola pushed Mariam's arms away. She must really be angry at the whole situation.
"Please sir just take her into the resuscitation room. I'll get the money" Mariam said to the doctor as she proceeded to leave for their finance.
" Well be fast about that" Doctor Kunle said.
"I will" Mariam said has she swiftly left for their micro finance bank. She was obviously gloomy. I felt bad seeing Mariam so sad. Though I'm yet to see her cry since I broke the news to her, it is very obvious she is weeping inside of her. I don't even know how she feels about losing her childhood friend. Jibola and Mariam had been best of friends since kindergarten 2. Though Jibola was from a middle class family, she happened to have attended the same school with Mariam because her uncle who was well to do, loved her so much that he decided to sponsor her education. He made sure Jibola attended one of the best and expensive schools in their town which Mariam happened to be attending. However, Jibola lost her uncle in Basic 6, to a kidney disease. It was a great loss for her family. Jibola and her family have really experienced a lot. "She was probably tired of losing important people in her lives" I said to myself as the images of her lying dead on the cold floor flashed through my head. "Hmm" I sighed.
Ever since Jibola's uncle's death, Mariam's family has been sponsoring her education. This was because at the time jibola's uncle died, her parents had to withdraw Jibola from the school as they couldn't afford it. Jibola at that time had told Mariam, her best friend, that she wouldn't be attending their school anymore, as her uncle was dead and her parents could not afford it. Mariam didn't want this as she was very attached to Jibola. She is the only child of her parents and Jibola was the closest to a sister for her. She told her parents about it and they decided to sponsor Jibola's education since then. They both attended the same secondary school and now, university. Mariam has also been a supporting system to the family. She made sure she was always there for Jibola. However, her childhood sister and friend is gone. I saw Doctor Kunle leave for his office as Mariam left. Seriously, delaying things might make Mrs Adigun's health condition worsen.
"Are this people not meant to resuscitate her immediately? " I questioned rhetorically.
"Mtchew. Nonsense! Total rubbish! Abisola screamed. "Y'all go to medical school in the name of wanting to save lives but you throw the essence of your profession on the floor over money and you call yourselves Doctors? Huphm" she scoffed. "Doctors my feet. Only God knows what sort of confused system is runned in the health sector of this country. I'm totally disappointed. Until you get money before you can save lives? Really? For the first time, I'm disappointed in this profession" Abisola poured out in anger.
"You have to calm down . This is a private hospital and they have their rules. It isn't his fault that these rules exists. They probably made this rule to avoid having to treat patients, save lives only to have them not being able to pay their bills and causing loss to the hospital. They have to pay their Doctors and nurses too including their surgeons and technicians" Rose said, also trying her luck of calming her down.
"If the general hospitals were very good and standard hospitals, would there have been the need of private hospitals in the first place? " Abisola questioned in anger.
"Well, unfortunately, all thanks to the political system of this country, things are like this. You just have to calm down" Rose replied.
"Mtchew" Abisola hissed.
"Mariam is here" I said, as I noticed her walking towards us.
"Here is the proof of payment" Mariam said stretching a receipt to the nurse who had been waiting for Mariam to arrive.
The nurse read through it. "Take her into the resuscitation room immediately". She ordered the other nurses to wheel Jibola's unconscious mom into the resuscitation room. She seems to be the head nurse. Jibola's daddy tried going in with them but he wasn't allowed to.
"You can't come in sir" said one of the nurses. "You go get Doctor Kunle" the head nurse told a nurse. He ran as quick as possible to get him. In few seconds, I saw Doctor Kunle coming in our direction, he gave a light bow and went into the room with the nurse.
"Humph" I scoffed. What was the bow for? I questioned rhetorically. Well, I do not blame him as he is bounded by the rules of the hospital. However, I feel slightly annoyed at how unwilling he was to help the other time and now that the money has been paid he's being all polite. It wasn't like Mr Adigun did not pay the fees the last time. He was only on able to pay it on time.
"Mtchew" I heard Abisola hiss as she watched Doctor Kunle enter the resuscitation room. The hall way became eerily silent following the sound of the door being closed. Everyone seems to be praying so hard in their heart.
"Oh lord please do not let anything bad happen to her" I prayed silently.
20 minutes later. We saw the door open and Jibola's mum was wheeled out. Her eyes were still tightly shut.
"Please, how is she?" Jibola's dad ran to Doctor Kunle on seeing him exit the room.
"She has out of danger for now. However she might not regain her conciousness soon" Doctor Kunle told us.
"Ah!" Jibola's father exclaimed.
"There's nothing to be worried about sir. She is okay. She just might not regain her conciousness soon. Also, it would be best if you don't mention her daughter's death to her again, when she later regains her conciousness. She might not be able to survive another blow" Doctor Kunle said.
" You can go check on her in her ward" The Headnurse said as she signed for the nurses to wheel Jibola's mum into her ward. We followed through, hoping that she would regain her consciousness soon and everything would be fine.
"Ah! God!" I exclaimed. I hope things turn out fine. What are we going to say to her when she regains consciousness? I asked myself worriedly.
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