Takeshi stands in front of a glass windows, hand is touching the glass. His lips are pressed tight as he tries to numb the aching feeling inside his chest. He knows it is only on his mind, but the pain of his heart bleeding seems so real. Behind the glass windows is an ICU room which his mother lays, peacefully sleep surrounding by three machines that keep her alive. Hoses and cables are also surrounding her. It is painful to see your love one who usually very active and alive now is lying helplessly.
It's been two days since the doctor finished operating his mother. She is still in her critical state. She will always be in her critical state until she has a heart transplantation. The doctor said, once she awakes the paramedic will shot her another anesthesia to put her back to sleep. The doctor has already examined her and checked her medical record to see if she is possible to have a heart transplantation. If she is not capable to have a hear transplantation, thus ... she will be in this state.. fore..
"No !" Takeshi exclaims as he shakes his head to dispel his thought. He unconsciously hits the glass window with his soft fist. No! She will be fine, he says it inwardly, trying to keep the optimistic thought inside him. That's the only thing he can do now. Nothing he can do, nothing depends on his decision. He can only wait.. and surrender to the destiny. He is desperately helpless. As he closes his eyes tightly, a tear drops to the floor, but he doesn't care about it. His heart starts to pray, a thing that he has never done before. He doesn't even know to whom he prays, he just does it. He prays, begs, pleads.. to whoever up there that is almighty, asking his mercy to spare his mother's life.
"Sir," a voice calls him. Takeshi opens his eyes. "Sir," the same voice calls him again. Still with blurry sight he turns his head to the left. A nurse stands next to him. "Your mother is awake. She's looking for you and your brother," the nurse tells him. Takeshi turns his head straight to the glass windows again. His mother is starring at him with a weak smile.
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"You both look so awful," Mrs. Hasegawa says meekly, barely able to be heard. Both of her hands are occupied, being hold each by her sons. "How are you, Mom ?" Goro asks her in whisper. "Sleepy," his mother answers with a smile, makes Takeshi and Goro chuckle. "You must be," Takeshi says then kisses her hand softly. The doctor comes inside the room, followed by two young men with white coat and notebooks on their hands. "Vital signs are all normal. As you can see her heartbeat is irregular, a strong sign of the valve dysfunction," the doctor says to the two men. He then turns to Mrs. Hasegawa and smiles gently, "Great to have you back, Ma'am," he greets her. "After this examination, we will have to put you back to sleep. It is the best way to eliminate any risk for another heart failure. I hope you understand," the doctor explains to her gently. Mrs. Hasegawa frowns but still nods to accept it. "You will be alright, Mom. You are just going to sleep. You need a lot of rest," Takeshi tries to ease her mind, rubbing her hand softly. A nurse comes with a tray on her hands. She puts the tray on the chest-high bedside and takes a syringe and a bottle of liquid from the tray before she injects the liquid to Mrs. Hasegawa via one of the hose. Takeshi keeps stroking her hand while Goro stroking her hair, both doing it as gentle as possible. Soon, Mrs. Hasegawa can not longer hold her eyes open and gets back to sleep.
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Takeshi is back on the doctor's office. Now he is being accompanied by Hiroshi who came an hour ago after finishing some important jobs. Goro needs to work as he doesn't have any leave left. "I will give you the good news first," the doctor in front of him starts the conversation. "The health examination's result has come out. Your mom is actually fit enough to go through the transplantation," he tells the good news straight away. Takeshi exhales in relieved. Hiroshi pats his shoulder. "But .." Takeshi stares at the doctor's solemn face, waiting for his next words.
"Al tough your mother case is urgent, but since your mother is quite old, she is being less prioritized, as the queue of the recipients is made by prioritizing the most urgent and ... beneficial to the country.."
"My mom is most important to me, to our family !" Takeshi snaps right away. He doesn't accept hearing his mother is considered useless. The doctor sighs while Hiroshi is petting Takeshi's shoulder to calm him down. "I know she is important to your family, most every recipient is for their own families. But the rule is based on the country's consideration. Thus, the younger the age of the recipient, the more prioritized they will be," The doctor utters him the reason in a very gentle way. Takeshi's eyes are teary, but his anger is subsided.
"So.. how long she should wait ?" Takeshi asks weakly. "I have no exact information about that. She is in round 100th place maybe," the doctor answers, he squints his eyes as an apologetic act. Takeshi closes his eyes in desperation.
A nurse suddenly pops up on to the office's door. "Doctor-san," she calls the doctor, glances at Takeshi in a little surprised. "Red code," she informs the doctor in short. The doctor quickly stands up and follows the nurse in hurry. To have a bad feeling because of the glance, Takeshi also stands and follows. When he is nearing the ICU, the nurse holds him back, forbids him to enter the room. Takeshi's feeling becomes worse. He pushes the nurses and manages to free himself from her grips. He quickly enters the ICU, follows the doctor that is already entering his mother's room. Takeshi is about to enter but two male paramedics come out of the room and resist him to enter the room. From the opening door that is about to close he still can see what's going on inside. There is also a long steady voice from inside the room. The doctor is holding defibrillator. He then pushes it on to his mother's chest. Takeshi goes hysterical to see it, but the two male paramedics are too strong for him to free himself. Takeshi can only scream and wail as the doctor pushes the defibrillator the second time on his mother's chest.