THE ORDEALS OF NNEOMA
Episode 10
*****
When they got to the hospital, Nneoma’s father and the taxi driver carried her into the emergency unit. But on getting there, the doctor saw her condition and quickly referred them to a psychiatric hospital.
They took her back into the car and left for the psychiatric hospital.
As soon as they got to the psychiatric hospital and were trying to bring her out of the vehicle, the orderlies quickly came and helped them carry her to the ward.
The doctor gave her an inject!on immediately and in no time, she became calm and slept off.
Stella stayed with her in the ward while her husband left for the hospital records where he made some entries and payments.
Later on, he returned to the ward and joined them.
“When you went out, the doctor said she needed to eat something before taking another dose of the inject!on. Can I go home and bring the food?” Stella said.
“We can buy food across the road, you can do that in the evening.”
“Ok.”
Stella wasn’t comfortable staying with her. She was looking for a way to leave the hospital.
Nneona’s father left again to buy the food while Stella stayed to watch over neoma.
Nneoma was calm but not in her right senses, she wasn’t speaking to anyone. She only looked around confused and unable to concentrate.
Her father came back with the food and asked Stella to feed Nneoma. She was reluctant at first but later fed her.
Later in the day, Stella left the hospital to go and get some food from the house.
When she got home, Dera was already back from school and was waiting outside.
She opened the door and they both entered.
“Mummy, where have you been?”
“We took Nneoma to the hospital because she was losing her mind.”
Dera was shocked.
“Is that substance supposed to make her feel that way?”
“Shut your mouth! Let me not hear this anywhere else I’ll deal with you.”
Dera was scared.
“She will be fine,” Stella said when she saw the change in Dera’s face.
Dera left for the bedroom looking sad.
Stella quickly prepared some meals and was about to leave the house when Dera walked up to her.
“Mummy, can I go with you?”
“No!”
“l can’t sleep alone here.”
“Your father will come home soon.”
“I want to see Nneoma.”
“Get out of my sight.”
Dera went back to the room as Stella left for the hospital.
A few minutes later, she got to the hospital.
“How is she doing?” Stella asked her husband.
“She has been like this since you left.”
“I want you to go home.”
“No. I don’t want to leave her like this.”
“I’m here with her besides she’s no longer v!olent. You need to freshen up and rest. Dera said she could not sleep alone in the house. Please go home and rest.”
He later agreed and went home afterwards.
Later on, Nneoma defecated on her body and the whole room was stinky. Stella refused to clean her up and left the room. She went to the lounge and relaxed on the bench there.
A nurse went to administer some medications to Nneoma and noticed she mëssed herself up. She called an orderly who cleaned her up and changed the bed sheet.
The nurse later met Stella at the lounge.
“Madam, didn’t you see that your child defecated on her body?”
“Really? I never knew.”
“We have cleaned her up. Please next time, we won’t do that for you.”
“Ok. Thank you.”
Then the nurse left.
“Hmmm, is this what I will see here? I’m not ready to take care of anybody let alone Nneoma. I will not rest because of her. I can’t do this oo. I know what to do. Everybody will rest from all this her stress.”
Later on, around midnight, Stella went out and saw that everywhere was locked up. He went back to the lounge and lay down.
Early the following morning, Stella went to the room where Nneoma was but she was still sleeping. She gently woke her up, took her by the hand and left the room.
At that time, people were already moving around the hospital.
She then told the nurses on duty that they wanted to stroll around. So they allowed her to take her around.
Stella gently walked around the hospital with Nneoma for a little while. When she saw that they were not being watched, she took her and left the hospital environment.
