Coffin Money - 6

Day 4 at home

Sarah’s knees gave away in the shower. David heard her collapsing on the floor and crying out in pain. He was now staying with her full time, having taken an unpaid leave at work while Anna was working on getting a hospice nurse for Sarah, who was getting weaker by the day, continuing to lose weight and strength in her limbs.

David rushed to the bathroom, but Sarah told him to stay away because she didn’t want him to see her naked.

“But I’m your son, mother! There’s no one else here to help you up!” David said through the door.

“Then I’ll just sit here on the floor until you can find a woman who can help.”

“Do you want me to call the ambulance? I’m sure they’d be thrilled to help you.”

“No, absolutely not! I don’t want to see any medical personnel until I die.”

“Ok, I’ll call Anna then. She’ll drive up here quickly.”

“I don’t want her to see me naked and vulnerable either.”

“OK, mother, who would you like me to call then? You can’t stay in the bathroom forever.”

“How about… Maria?” Sarah moaned the name out.

“She is in classes now.”

“Well, then I’ll just die here in the shower, I guess.”

His mother knew how to send David on a guilt trip. He first called Anna who suggested that she could pick up Maria and drive her to the apartment. Anna’s daughter was 22 and studying to become a doctor, so this was somewhat of an unexpected practice opportunity for her. Anna picked Maria up from school, dropped her at Sarah’s apartment, and went straight back to work, calling them often to check. Maria got Sarah out of the shower and helped her put on underwear and a nightgown. Only then Sarah allowed David to help Maria get her to bed. After that incident, she lost confidence in her own body, developed even more anxieties about moving around and became mostly bed ridden. Without movement, she started to develop bed sores and deteriorate quickly, sending David into quiet panic mode that he couldn’t care for his mother properly.

Day 6 at home

Anna finally found a hospice care nurse to work for Sarah full time. It took awhile as they lived in a small town where everyone knew everyone else and as the doctor said, Sarah became an urban legend as a difficult patient. The nurse’s name was Donna, and she was a tall burly woman with large broad hands and a stern no-nonsense face.

“I have to warn you, our patient is… difficult,” Anna said when she interviewed Donna.

“So I’ve heard,” Donna nodded.

“And you are not afraid?” Anna asked.

“In my 10 years of experience as a hospice nurse, I’ve seen everything, believe me. If anyone can handle your difficult patient, it’s me.”

Donna’s confidence persuaded Anna and she hired her on the spot. Donna was supposed to start immediately, move in and live with Sarah until the end.

When Donna first entered the apartment, she pinched her nose and said to David, who opened the door for her, “Oh wow, this is… unexpected.”

“I guess I got used to it,” David said with a sense of guilt, like a schoolboy in trouble. He didn’t know yet what to make of this big powerful woman.

Donna put on a face mask and proceeded into Sarah’s bedroom. By way of greeting she said, “Oh my God, woman, did you ever train your cats to use the litter box?”

“Who are you?” Sarah asked, looking at Donna suspiciously. She didn’t know what to make of her.

“I’m Donna, your nurse, I’ll be taking care of you from now on.”

“I don’t need you, I’m already well-taken care of, thank you.”

“Right, by your son who took an unpaid leave from work and your granddaughter who practically had to quit school because of you?” Donna said, checking the equipment and adjusting the bed for Sarah to sit more comfortably.

“She is not my granddaughter. She is his wife’s daughter,” Sarah pointed her sharp bony chin at David who stood at the door, quite amused that someone could stand up to his mother like that.

“She is your son’s wife’s daughter but not your granddaughter? Please explain it to me.”

“I know,” Sarah wagged her index finger at Donna, “You think I’m crazy. She is not my granddaughter, but she is my son’s wife’s daughter. It’s simple: My son married a woman who already had a teenage daughter.”

“Oh, I see. And now that not-granddaughter-of-yours is taking care of you?”

“I don’t need much care. It’s just the things I cannot do myself.”

“Like walking, eating, going to the bathroom and taking a shower? It’s a lot for a 20-something woman who is not a relative or paid staff.”

“Well, she wants to be a doctor, so there…”

“Well, she can continue studying to be a doctor while I, a paid medical practitioner, will take care of you. I’m good at it, you’ll see.” Donna went on to explain to Sarah what she will be doing. David left the room, happy to see Sarah submitting to Donna’s authority.

In the evening, however, Donna made sure that Sarah was prepared for the night sleep and told David, “I’m afraid I can’t stay the night.”

“But the agreement was that you would be a stay-in nurse,” David protested.

“I’m sorry, I’ll talk with your wife about it. The stench was not something we discussed. We’ll have to adjust the contract. I just can’t stand it, I’m developing a headache. I don’t know how you do it, but animal feces and bleach do not mix together well.”

So, Donna left and David stayed the night. At this point, Sarah still slept through most of the night, and David only got up once to give her something to drink and empty her catheter collector. When he was helping her to drink, Sarah grabbed David’s hand and said,

“Don’t tell that mean nurse where my coffin money is, or she’ll steal it.”

“I can’t tell her something I know nothing about, mother,” David said, annoyed with his mother’s obsession with her coffin money.

“That’s right,” Sarah remembered. “And I’m not telling you where it is. Not just yet, anyway.”

In the morning, David finally went to work when Donna came. They started to develop a new routine of taking care of Sarah because no one could predict how long this would last.

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