Baba Ayo’s brain tumor surgery had already been scheduled for 10:00 am in the morning. After his wife, my mum’s friend has finally sought after getting a huge sum of six hundred thousand Naira which was requested by the doctor at the general hospital very close to us.
“Doctor, can I stay in the theater to stay with my husband while the surgery is going on?” Mama Ayo, the wife to the patient asked the doctor.
The doctor refused which is quite normal in the medical line that no other person stays in the theater while the surgery is going on aside from the doctors and nursed who were assigned to perform surgery.
For four good hours, Mama Ayo was busy perambulating the whole of general hospital. Everyone sensed that something was wrong and her mood became somber after the doctors advised her that the surgery may or may not go well.
After five hours, the doctors began to come out of the theater one by one.
“Doctor, how’s my husband? Is he doing well? Was the surgery successful?” Mama Ayo threw over twelve different questions at the doctor and she expected him to answer all of the questions.
“Madam, let’s be grateful. The surgery went well and he will be transferred to one of the wards very soon,” right after the doctor said so, Mama Ayo’s somber mood became brightened up again.
The greatest feeling was that a surgery which she wasn’t sure if it will be successful finally went well and all she wanted to do was see her husband lay on that sick bed and watch him respond fast to the treatment.
“Thank you very much, doctor. Can I go to see him to at least take care of him and call on you if we’ll be needing help,” she said to him.
“No, madam. You won’t be able to set your eyes on him. If you are with him, you won’t let him rest well so let’s just do our job and you’ll be able to see him after two days?” this is the weirdest thing she has heard so far.
“How will you tell me that I won’t be able to see a patient who I brought here for the whole of two days? Does this make any sense at all?” After going back and forth, she eventually agreed with the doctors.
Instead of going home, she slept at the hospital’s reception and peeped through the door almost every minute to check on her husband.
After peeping through the door for the umpteenth time, she saw her husband gasping like he was having a seizure.
“Nurse!!! Come and take a look at my husband. He’s acting weird. Please, come check on him,” as life savers, they were expected to rush fast to the ward to see their patient but Mama Ayo got the greatest shocker of her life.
“You must have caused the reason why he’s gasping. We told you that patients are not allowed to step into the wards after a surgery but you wouldn’t listen. You’d have to wait till I’m done filling this file,” Mama Ayo was shocked. How will a nurse be this wicked? A patient is right there fighting for his life and you’re not acting concerned.
She ran back to the door and tried to open it but it was locked. She tried to peep through the door and saw that her husband wasn’t gasping anymore. Was he alright? Was he dead? Or what could have gone wrong? She didn’t know but this time, she yelled that the nook and cranny of the hospital will hear her.
On entering the ward, Baba Ayo was found lifeless on the hospital bed.
“I told you! I said he wasn’t feeling good. He was gasping. I came to you but look at what you’ve done to my husband. You have killed him,” she sobs.
“It’s not our fault ma. We don’t allow anyone to stay with patients after the first day of surgery,” the nurse said. That felt like the most disgusting thing Mama Ayo has ever heard since a long time.
“What sort of weak excuse is that? If you had allowed me to stay with him, this wouldn’t happen. I’d have cried to call on you people but I even did and you people didn’t respond,” Mama Ayo began to wail at the hospital’s reception.
That’s how the doctors weak excuse costed Baba Ayo’s life. Yes, the hospital got sued in court but after two months, the hospital was open again.
Baba Ayo died due to a weak excuse and his family members will never forget the silly excuse which killed their husband, father or brother.
