A Strong Woman

Last week I received a shocking news from my friend. She fell on her buttock and broke the twelfth backbone. She told me she’s at the hospital, lying on a bed covered with a large piece of board. She said that she needed my prayer so that an operation won’t be necessary because it’ll be too painful, too complicated and it’ll cost too much.

We’ve been friends since junior high and have kept in touch since then though we didn’t see each other very often recently. She has 2 children and has married an unemployed and indifferent husband. She comes from a broken home family so she has two moms, two brothers, a stepbrother and a stepsister. She bought a house, which I’m very sure she bought with her own money. She’s strong, I know. I hope she can survive this one, too.

I drove to the hospital, not knowing whether I could restrain myself from crying when I saw her. One thing I knew was my visit would mean a lot for her. The trip was supposed to be at least one and a half hours but it turned out to be a half hour only. I said to myself that this is a good sign and mile by mile, my heart got stronger and stronger.

She had had a visitor when I went into her room. Her head was covered with a head mask and a prayer book was next to her pillow. I checked the bed and yes, it was covered with a large board which starts from her back down to her legs. I smiled and told her a joke. Inside, my heart fell and cried.

She told me, “I have to wait for a week. If everything’s OK, I can go home.”
“That’s good news,” I said.
“Yeah. Better stay at home than here. The nurses are patient, though. The doctor is communicative. But I have to stay in bed for a month. After that, there will be evaluation and if things go the way the doctor wants, I can move around with a back support for the next three months.”

Let me see…. A week, a month and then three months? That equals to four months of limited movement? With two active children, selfish husband and a change of life from a working mom to a person who can only lie in bed, I just hope she's going to go through it well.