An orderly escorted Rose to the room where she had left Craig and Chris earlier in the afternoon, but when she opened the door, the first person she saw was her daughter Heather.
Heather rushed forward and hugged her. When Heather finally released Rose, she cried, “Oh Mum, I’m so relieved to see you.”
Bemused, Rose responded, “And me you, but when did you arrive?”
“This morning. I caught the overnight flight via Amsterdam, and then a taxi up to Nanyuki. I just missed you this afternoon.”
Rose looked at the empty space where Craig’s bed had been. Had she also missed him? Had he been taken away already?
“Where’s your father?” she asked quietly. “Did you see him?”
Chris, who was sitting on one of the chairs opposite the empty space, answered softly, “They’ve taken Dad for a second CT scan.”
Heather smiled weakly. “I did get to see him. And I told him all about the girls. He was struggling to speak, but he smiled and seemed happy for me to be here.”
“I’m sure he was delighted.” Rose felt a wave of relief. “Actually, I think he’s been holding on to see you. But we weren’t expecting you until the end of the month.”
Heather rubbed her arm. “Chris has been keeping me updated and as soon as I heard about Dad’s fall, I began making arrangements to fly over.”
The door opened and Craig’s bed was wheeled into the room, followed by Dr Farrukh. As Craig was being hooked up to various monitors and the drip, Dr Farrukh addressed them.
“I’m afraid it’s as I feared.” To Rose she said, “We undertook a CT scan of his brain immediately after his stroke and discovered that one of his arteries was blocked by a blood clot. We’ve been trying to dissolve it with medication delivered via his drip.”
She stepped towards them with her lips drawn together and a look of sympathy in her eyes, “But it’s not working. The second scan showed the clot is still there. The only option now is surgery to remove it, but it might not work, and his chances of surviving the procedure are low.”
Chris asked, “What damage will the blood clot have already done?”
The doctor’s tone was soft as she answered, “Considerable, I would expect. He was already struggling to speak after his last stroke, and this one is likely to have damaged his brain further.”
“Can he breathe on his own, without all these machines?” asked Heather.
“No,” replied the doctor, giving a small shake of the head.
Rose walked across to Craig’s bed and took hold of his frail hand. It felt cold and as she looked at his closed eyes and expressionless face she whispered, “It’s time to let him go.”
Heather wrapped an arm around her shoulder and asked, “Are you sure?”
“But you didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to him,” Chris said with a sad, almost apologetic tone.
Without looking up, Rose whispered, “Yes. I did.”