His lungs were failing him. It broke my heart when the physician said that it would be best he be put on home oxygen therapy. I nodded my head in agreement. He was getting tired, and even short sentences were an effort. I looked at him, head slumped in despair as the reality of it all kicks in. "Its ok" I told him. We will arrange something. We had a few options. Robust oxygen cylinders that need refilling every few days, or we could buy machines called oxygen concentrators. It would make him more mobile. Costs were an issue though, as the mobile ones costs RM18 000, and the larger home based ones were RM6 000. We wanted both, so at least he can still get out and about as the mobile ones had car extension leads to them. The disadvantage of these mobile ones were that it was pulse driven. He still had to make an effort to take a deep breath for the oxygen to be released from the machine. The bigger ones were continuous release.
RM24000.....that was half our life savings. He saw me hesitate when we were making that decision, one of the few things I regret till today. I wish I hadn't hesitated so much to buy it. He looked at me and said "You can sell it when I am gone". The words still echo in my ears.....
Material and money are replaceable. Though I spend wisely, because being a single mum with a single income is a challenge on its own these days, I will not hesitate to spend on my children. We never know when we will no longer be able to enjoy the nikmat that The Almighty has given us on this earth, as life here is so temporary.
2 comments:
Petite
I can understand what you have gone thru' cos I have gone thru' the same situation. I am a bit lucky because my wife was under the Hospis care and we got the privilege to borrow the oxygen machine from them. In fact the hospital bed were also borrowed from them. Initially I thought of buying them but a friend of mine suggested me to call Hospis first and I was lucky that they can provide me those things. However, she used them for only a week before she passed away. After that I get the Hospis people to take them back rather me looking at it and remind me about the her suffering.
Dear Phlegmatic,
Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment.
Hospice are good organisations, and bless all the volunteers that devote precious time to the most devine cause. Thats why I have the utmost respect for many NGOs and support groups, as they deliver without expecting anything in return. Equiptments for the terminally ill are always a controversy, especially as most are very costly. I hope to run a centre in the future insya'Allah, that can run on charity to help those that can't afford it (and charge only those that can...a bit like The Robin Hood method)
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