NY Day 7: Hospital

KaiMa has been in and out of hospitals since the discovery of her liver cancer in March.

Her family doctor told her she can stay home for as long as possible. Because hospitals in the States are free, also because she needs family time more than hospital time.

She is very fortunate as Uncle's medical insurance covers 99% of her med costs. Her monthly medicine bill is around $7500 US, her hospital room costs $1300 per night. It made me think about Canada, about our public health care system. I often complain of the sales tax, the property tax, the income tax, the investment tax. But I can't even fathom the idea of having/paying that much for medical treatment.

Tonight, KaiMa's condition took a nose-dive. Her skin turned yellow, her eyes turned yellow, both of her legs had massive swelling. Uncle "rushed" her to the hospital in Manhattan. Well, he tried to rush...since it was during rush hour, and a normal 35min drive turned into 75minutes.

We went to the hospital about 2 hours later. Por Por heated up some food (brilliant idea suggested by Mr. Lui), Son#1 took the baby, and we all went there. For me, the car ride was beautiful but long. The NY night scene is nowhere close to what HK can offer, but still we passed by many many famous landmarks.

I saw KaiMa, on her bed, unit #7 of the Urgent Care room. Exhausted. She grabbed my hand, and began to weep.

She said,
"I'm very glad to see you."
"Very happy to have you fly all the way here."
"I'm sorry I won't be able to drive you to the airport."

Those were the 3 lines she spoke before the others arrived and started to talk.

That was (probably) the final moment we would share in our lifetime (barring miracles).

We left the hospital after 2 hours.

And at 5:00am, I arrived at the airport, and said goodbye to this week-long life-altering experience.