You’re my life now: Part three

 Christmas Day in a hospital is a hybrid beast. Efforts are made to produce a festive menu and the hospital hands out gift bags to the patients. I spent a fair bit of time on FaceTime sharing in my family’s Christmas but at least two thirds of the day was spent hitched to a drip. I also found time to finish binging a korean drama.

It was 10.30 when I fell to sleep but regardless of my own intentions I knew I would be woken fairly regularly to have my blood pressure taken. It was 11.30 when I was woken first but it wasn’t a nurse. A rather well dressed lady was at the foot of my bed with what looked like a gift bag in her hand.

“Hi there! I’m Jane from the church chaplaincy, we are distributing gifts to the patients on behalf of the chaplaincy”.

“It’s a bit late isn’t it?”

“I know, they were running behind and I volunteered to pop in and do an hour or so”

I thanked her and then she asked if there was anything else I needed. The role of the chaplaincy went beyond handing out gift bags and they often engaged with patients to discuss any worries or concerns they might have. I thought it rude not to oblige and invited her to sit down rapidly moving my iPad, phone and pods from the chair. She then asked me what I would like to talk about. I’m a nosy bugger and a bit cagey at times so I said her. Surprisingly she said ok.

“I’m 38, have two children: Benjamin and Jack and a husband who is also called Benjamin.”

I asked how she came to be involved in the chaplaincy and she told a story which in some aspects was not too dissimilar to my own. She’d felt unwell for some time and the GP had suggested it may be just that she was run down and offered her anti-depressants. It wasn't until she collapsed in the middle of town and was taken to hospital that it was discovered she had a particularly aggressive form of leukaemia. From there a familiar story of chemo treatments and infections followed until in early March 2018 she was declared in remission. She had also recently returned for some more chemo sessions as the cancer had returned although she was now being treated as an out patient. She wanted to do something useful so decided to help out with the chaplaincy. Jane had not previously been religious but it was a multi faith group which is as close to agnostic as it gets and, anyway, she liked talking to people. 

She then asked me about my story and told me the important thing was to take each day at a time and to take as much out of each day as I could. This was a time for building bridges not walls and she told me to never be afraid to ask for help. I then related a story of the heavy drinking early 20th century comedian WC Fields. Confined to hospital in his final days his agent arrived to find the heavy drinking and dissolute character with a bible in his hands. The agent surprised by this exclaimed that he hadn’t realised WC was religious. “I’m not” he declaimed in his famous drawl. “I’m looking for loopholes”.

I mentioned early that Jane was quite well dressed and I also noticed she had beautifully styled hair which didn’t fit with the chemo story. I then realised it had to be a wig. The hospital provides a comprehensive wig service and it was even offered to me. Somehow I didn’t think it would work for me and would be surprised if any men took up the offer.

When Jane left it was past midnight and I wasn’t disturbed again until 2am by someone wanting to take my temperature and blood pressure. After that I slept through to seven. I checked through the goody bag and it was the usual collection of toiletries and a packet of mint humbugs. There was also a card from the chaplaincy with a small declaration and a picture of Jane. The card read “the chaplaincy is committed to providing a multi faith service designed to provide emotional support to the hospital’s patients. This year the gift is dedicated to Jane Thomson who, herself, has spent some time on Ward B11 and has subsequently shown herself to be a champion for the patients and a fantastic communicator. Sadly Jane passed away this August leaving behind a husband and two children. She will be greatly missed”

And that, Ladies and gentlemen is my attempt at a Christmas ghost story. 

Merry Christmas