It’s that dreaded time of year again when we have to submit our income tax returns and pay up our dues. I just completed filing my income tax return online (it was such a breeze). I was so excited about the fact that for once in my life, I have a tax refund that I forgot to save the income tax form. I was told that the government will refund the overpaid tax within two weeks. Hurray!
F. J. Raymond once said “Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is quite as satisfying as an income tax refund.”
My mom has been discharged from the hospital last Friday, thank God for that. We’re glad that she need not undergo the operation.
Everytime I visited my mother at the hospital, there is sure to be some patients being discharged or being admitted to the ward. My mom told me that one night (very late at night), there was some activity at the bed next to hers. The doctors and nurses were busy attending to the patient. The next morning when she woke up, the patient was no longer there. She heard from someone that the lady had been admitted to the ward because she was involved in a fight in a bar. But the next day she was gone, so it’s not certain if she survived the night or not.
Anyway, one day, I saw a patient on the bed with life supporting machines attached. Many of his family members were surrounding him and then I noticed that one by one, they started to touch or kiss his face. I could hear the “beep, beep, beep” sound of the machine. After some time, there was no more sound from the machine and I saw one of the ladies crying. I suppose that was the end of the road for the man.
Then I noticed one lady standing nearby and when I caught her eye she smiled at me and I asked her if she knew the dead patient. She said, no, she was chanting some blessing for him as she knew he was dying. Then she told me that she was waiting for her dad who was there for some treatment. He had been lying in bed for a long time and he had developed some sores on his body. She said that her dad had rectum cancer and had an operation two months earlier. Now, he walks around with a colostomy bag and a urine bag. The colostomy bag will be permanent but the urine bag is temporary. Her dad had earlier refused to change the colostomy bag on his own but the nurses had advised him to do it on his own because he had to learn how to do it when he got out of the hospital. Slowly, he learnt to accept the colostomy bag as something he had to live with for the rest of his life.
While we were talking, her dad came out of the treatment room and she introduced him to us. He was 80 years old and he appeared positive. He told my mom that he was out of the hospital five days after the operation. And that he has no problem now with the colostomy bag.
I guess we should all take care of our health because being hospitalised can be quite scary.
After our lunch at Moss River restaurant, we saw this tree growing on the roof of a shoplot as we were walking to the car park.
Penny For Your Thoughts