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Mommy-Jdocx PDF
Mommy-Jdocx PDF
Alice M. Sun-Cua
- Robert Frost
I clutched the small stuffed teddy bear and walked briskly along the hospital
corridors. I had just done my morning rounds, discharging two patients who delivered
normally two days ago, and looked in on another that was operated on for a ruptured
ectopic pregnancy the night before. I was on my way to Room 314 at the San Vicente
Ward in our hospital, to pay Mrs. J. a social visit. It was Valentine’s Day.
The first time I saw her, she had extreme difficulty of breathing. She looked young
to be 58, her thick lustrous hair secured at the nape by a clip surrounded by fresh
sampaguita flowers. I later learned that she always had someone to pick fresh
sampaguitas in the morning then fashion these flowers into a fragrant bunch to be
attached to her hair clip. In spite of her breathlessness, she managed to smile and greet
me when I introduced myself, her Tagalog bearing an unmistakable, lilting Hiligaynon
accent. Taking salient points of her history, I realized that she had full knowledge of
what was happening. Two of her children, Rowena and Roberto, both in their twenties,
updated me with lab work-ups and medications from the previous hospital. Their father
will be flying in tomorrow, as the family business needed his close supervision.