Al-Fatihah

My aunt, my late mom's younger sister, passed away this morning at about 1.05 am from coronary heart disease and chronic renal failure.

She went into the hospital to get a dialysis done but couldn't. Upon further examination the doctors found that she had 4 blocked arteries. The family was told about her heart condition and upon consultation with the specialists they were told that a bypass could be done and chances are, though 74, there would be no adverse effect.

My cousins discussed amongst themselves and after asking their mother, decided to go ahead with the surgery. She had a quadruple bypass and was undergoing dialysis.

When I visited her, the nurse who was attending to her said that the dialysis would be ongoing for as long as necessary. She looked calm with some spasmodic involuntary jerks of the hand so much so that they had to restrain her hand to the side of the bed.

Last night at about 8.00pm I received a call from my cousin saying that things have gone for the worse. I rushed to the hospital and was told that her pressure was extremely low and that the reduced blood flow was hampering her wound healing process. The worst part was that, because the pressure was low, they had to stop dialysis.

The specialist said that the bypass went well but her kidneys were failing. I knew that without dialysis her condition would be bad. I was right, her lips were blackish and she was slipping in and out of consciousness.

At about 1.15am I received another call saying that she has passed away. I got to the hospital at about 2.00am and after a while they wheeled her body out. When I looked at her, she reminded me so much of my late mother.

There were 9 of them, 5 daughters and 4 sons. All 5 daughters and 1 son are gone. I have 3 more uncles remaining.

Al-Fatihah.