Ate Liza looked so young lying in the hospital bed. Only then did it hit me how close we were in age. She can't be more than 30 years old. With a 7 year old son and husband in the Philippines. When she was getting sick, I thought (as most of us in the household) she was "just" homesick over the holidays, missing her family and not allowing herself to get better.
Nagmumokmok lang yan sa kwarto, we would say,
she'll snap out of it soon. I mean how long could a cold last? And then it became bronchitis. And now, it could be cancer. Shit. Last Saturday, Mom and Dad took her to the doctors beacuse her stomach was swollen, she couldn't even zip up her pants. Apparently the growth got bigger during the day, and by the time we got home that evening, Mom had left a message on the answering machine that they were at the hospital and that Ate Liza was going to get confined. B and I were at the hospital waiting room til about 12:30am;Mom and Dad stayed until 3:30am. B and I walked in the "wrong" entrance and managed to sneak into the ER for a few minutes to see Ate Liza. I really hate hospitals. But we are her only family here, though not of blood - and not even from the same region in the Philippines. One of many housekeepers, nurses, babysitters, TNTs that have come to stay in our house since I was a child - who have become family over a common tie of obligation to family in the Philippines. Last night when mom went back, I wasn't sure if I should have her bring a photo of her son. I mean, would it be a comfort? Would it make her even more depressed? There is a 99% chance that
they will have to operate, and more like than not, remove her uterus. I wondered why mom was crying last night. And as I write this, my question is answered.
