Chapter 23 Thirteen

After my exercise lab, I had a few days off, and then it was my turn to make my first organ donation: one of my kidneys was going to a young medical student.I am very scared. The night before surgery, Johannes stayed up with me.We made love and I cried.He tried to comfort me and help me calm down. I also only have one kidney, and he said: It's okay, I can't feel any difference at all. This is not the point, I said: I am afraid that once I am anesthetized, I will never wake up again, and I am afraid that I will never see you again. He was silent for a while, looked at me seriously, and said:

That day will come, you know it well, we all know it, and we have to live with that fact, but that day is not today and it is not tomorrow. Not today, not tomorrow.The thought calmed me down, and I immediately fell into a deep sleep. When morning came, I took steady steps and walked towards the fourth department of the hospital.The hospital is located in the K area. On the first floor there is a nursing center, pharmacy, massage therapist, podiatry clinic, physiotherapy clinic, a hairdresser, lounge and elevators to all departments.Department 4 is located on the 4th floor, and my ward has a window looking out to the Aceh trail.I was amazed that I had a private room.Through the glass walls of the Winter Garden, I overlooked Monet's garden.

This is the first window I saw in the unit.I stood there engrossed, gazing down at the people moving on the Aceh trails, some walking, some jogging.I looked up and looked through the glass walls, across the pond, to bridges, rose sheds, wisterias, copper red beech, weeping willows, bamboo groves, and paths where people walked.I recognized Reina from her short disheveled white hair. She walked quickly, with nimble hands and feet, and looked like a little giant on the road.She stopped and spoke a few words to a man I didn't know who was sitting on a bench by the pond reading a newspaper. Dolly.Weg?I turned around and saw a nurse in white trousers and a light blue shirt standing in the doorway.

My name is Ann and I am a nurse.She came in the door and shook my hand.I'm the supervisor of department number four. Ann explained the steps to be taken later, and what I should do in the next few hours: take a shower with Hebeclean disinfectant, change into a hospital gown, inject a sedative, lie on a gurney and take me downstairs to the K1 floor. In the operating room, under anesthesia. The surgery went well.I awoke feeling dizzy and vomited into the mask.It feels sick, but at least I'm alive.The young medical student received my kidney, and I heard the transplant went well.When I was discharged from the hospital a few days later, Johannes came to pick me up, bringing flowers and a box of chocolates.He took me home, took care of me, cooked for me, brought me food, made me coffee and tea, fed me chocolates, and even read to me, one of which was Somerset.Maugham's "The Ant and the Grasshopper" (The Ant and the Grasshopper).

It took me a while to recover, but I was in good health and soon returned to a more or less normal life, writing novels, walking, swimming, and taking steam baths.I used to go to the steam bath with Elsa and Alice, who also recently had surgery, Elsa donated part of her liver and Alice, like me, donated a kidney. If I knew it was minor surgery, Alice said so, the three of us sitting in the steam room one afternoon.Alice and Elsa sat at opposite ends of the upper bench, and I sat on the middle bench, just below Elsa.Maybe I will consider donating a kidney voluntarily, it's as simple as that, donating my kidney to the society.

real?Aisha's tone was very surprised.You're going to donate your kidney to some puffy, needy bitch?This bitch has five wonderful children and a job that supports economic growth, you want to volunteer a kidney to this kind of person?are you serious Yes, but of course I don't want to donate to this kind of person!But then again, why not?Everyone has the right to live, even the pompous, needed bitch. Oh, is it?Aisha said: Do you really think so?How noble! That's right, call me Saint Alice.Alice clasped her hands together as if praying, and closed her eyes at the same time.Showing a sacred and serious expression, she chanted from the bottom of her heart with her deep voice: Amen!

We couldn't help laughing, but laughing hurts the wound. Aisha and I each hold the scar from the operation.We compare each other's scars.There's no one else in the steam room, just monitors and, of course, invisible microphones.Alice's scar is bigger than mine, but mine is uglier, bumpy, and blue, green, and pink.Aisha has the biggest scar, very bumpy, almost like a bump, with redness and purple around the scar, but hers is the newest.After discussing the scars, Aisha said: Dolly, there is something I have been looking for the right time to tell you, but it is better to hit the day anyway, so let me tell you now, it is your sister's business.

my sister? Yes, is her name Sif? I nod. She has been here, Elsa said: she used to live in B4. I am reminded of the painting on the wall of the No. 2 study room.Sure enough, it was Sif's painting.I wasn't surprised, I felt very peaceful. how do you knowI asked Aisha. When I went for surgery, I met a woman named Clara.Granholm's nurse. Granholm?She and Qiu Lan.Are Granjhogs related by blood? Clara is the daughter of Qiu Lan, and Qiu Lan is the principal of our school. Aisha first explained to Alice, and then went on to say: Clara knows my name, and I know her name, so we chatted The people in the hometown, see if there is a common understanding of the people.I was about to mention you when she called out: Sif.Wegg!do you know herNo, but I know her sister.I said: She lives in H3, we meet every day.You don't mind if I tell her that?

Elsa looked at me anxiously. Of course I don't mind.As I said, I climbed up to the upper bench, between Elsa and Alice, so we were all sitting on the same floor.Tell me what you know about Sif. Well, Aisha said: Sif, like most of us, came here at fifty, participated in a lot of medical and other experiments, and had organ donations and multiple egg and bone marrow donations.Her egg quality was apparently as good as that of a twenty-five-year-old woman, and she was considered a true superwoman.She's still finding love here, just like you.She met a woman named Irene or Ellen, Clara couldn't remember which, and they stayed together until either Eileen or Ellen had to donate a heart.

There was a sudden stabbing pain in my heart, as if I had been stabbed, and I had to breathe heavily in the humid air of the steam room.I was thinking of Johannes, who was much older and had lived in the unit much longer than I had.I closed my eyes and thought to myself: Not today, not tomorrow.Elsa grabbed my hand. Are you all right?Aisha said: Do you want to go out for some air and cool off?Do you want some water? No, no, I'm fine.As I spoke, I opened my eyes, met Aisha's eyes, and nodded for her to continue. Aisha withdrew her hand and carefully leaned against the hot wooden wall. Her whole body was covered in sweat and glistened.Alice and I were also sweating profusely. Both of us quietly curled up our knees, wrapped our arms around our legs, and listened eagerly to Elsa's words.

After Sif lost Ellen or Erin, she went to apply for the final donation. Is this possible to apply for?Alice asked. Don't you know?Aisha replied: Well, anyway, it is possible now.Sif's application was approved, I think it will be approved.After a week or so, someone with the same blood type as Sif needed a heart and lungs, and then she was four years ago. This time I wasn't keeping my cool, my whole body seemed to be boiling, but not from the heat of the steam room.As I said, I'm not surprised.I also said that I don't think Sif is alive.I would be very surprised if she was still alive.If I met her on the road, let's say a walk in Wintergarden, alive, I'd be surprised to see her older than the last time we met.I don't feel sad either, at least sad isn't the main emotion.My main emotion is anger.Listening to Elsa tell this story she heard made me really angry, and I built up my anger as I listened.Knowing that Sif's heart and lungs are still alive in someone more needed than hers, who may have raised five wonderful children, doesn't leave me at all. what about me?I blurted out and slapped the wall.Maybe I need my sister, why doesn't anyone care?Brothers and sisters may need each other, I need my eldest sister, and still need her, she is my family, my closest family, why does no one care about this? I punched the wall with my fists, punch after punch, sweat pouring down my body, almost spraying, and with each punch, the sweat dripped down, until Alice and Elsa came close, grabbed my arms, and put I hugged to prevent me from punching wildly again.They hugged me, rocked me, and comforted me as if I were a child.Our warm, damp bodies stuck together. You know sibling relationships don't count. After a while, Alice said: Only relationships that can increase new populations count, only relationships that create new families and reproduce populations are recognized.You know, Dolly, you know everything has to move forward.