16/02/2025
I don't owe her anything..
A teacher teaches a student with all his heart. When the student feels that, the student learns well..
I have met her twice in my life. That is, at the Galle Nursing College, where I received my "A" in nursing, and at the Open University of Sri Lanka, where I received my nursing degree..
I love her lectures very much. I respect that great personality then and now. I never fall asleep during any lecture. I listen to her lectures with my mouth wide open. Even after finishing my night shift, I rush to the university and sit behind the lecture hall, open-mouthed, fascinated by the words that come out of her mouth. I love that great personality just as much then as I do now.
Time has flown by and it seems that she is running as the guardian of a patient receiving treatment in a ward close to the unit of the same hospital where I work. The brisk walk... The confused Keherel seems to be under some pressure.. Such scenes are common in the Maharagama waiting room.
*****
"Madam.. Madam.. Where are you running?"
" Ah.. This..."
She arranges her hair with her hands.
"Madam, do you remember me..?"
" A student of mine, right? Which ward do you work in?"
I tell her my situation. I went to see her mother with her. I went to the unit after being told where the unit was.
Like that day.. I met her this morning.
" Madam, come to our unit before you go.."
She nodded approvingly and hurriedly walked to the ward..
I too am sipping a sip of tea to relieve my fatigue after completing my assigned duty.
"Miss, who's here to see you?"
A member of the unit staff brought a message.
"Please come in.. "
I was enjoying my tea during my break after massaging a client.
Suddenly, she walked towards me!
"Come in, come in, madam.. I was sipping tea."
"I thought.. you were off duty.."
" Oh.. no madam. The work is over now.."
We talked about the past. While a patient is being treated at this hospital, due to the pressure on the residents and the patient, the most important thing when talking to them is to listen to them.
I have been listening carefully to the suffering she is going through due to her mother's illness.
Insufficient sleep, tingling in her legs and pain have made her uncomfortable.
Usually, if I can give a non-pharmacological treatment for a pain-related problem, I will not hesitate to do so. Handling such cases is my favorite hobby. So, I held her feet. The fingers, toes and soles are very painful. The muscles of the legs are like banana stems.
"Madam, don't you want a foot massage?" I asked, massaging her dry feet.
"Children.. When do you have time for that?"
"If Madam has time, I have plenty of time.."
I replied to her.
Having prepared everything needed for the therapeutic massage, I invited her to it.
"Children, you are ready to go home. Those clothes are getting dirty."
When she entered the room, I took off my formal attire and put on my colored dress to go home, waiting for tea to come.
"It's okay.. I'll wear an apron."
I sat on a chair and put my feet in a basin of warm water with salt and cut off the snot. In the meantime, I massaged her feet.
Seeing her feet aging after her youth made me sad. She, who had been the way of tens of thousands of nurses, is now old. Tired.
I washed her feet thoroughly and dried them well between the toes with a piece of gauze.
I stretched out on the bed and massaged all the fingers and toes very gently with my hands. I gently released all the tight spots on her feet. She has plantar fascitis on her feet. Massage is not a miracle. I diagnosed her problem from experience and treated it without medication. The saddest feet I saw were those of one of my teachers. I recognized how much she was thinking about her mother, not about herself.
She was sound asleep during the therapeutic massage. I continued the massage to my own rhythm. I even felt like waking her up after finishing.
"Madam, the massage is over. How is it now, Madam?" I asked.
She was very happy. The disciple's therapy had made her ecstatic.
She clasped my hands and said, "Oh, you must be very tired. May the Buddha bless these two hands.. God bless you..!"
I send my mother the blessings that the clients who finish a massage therapy give me every day.
"We owe you, Madam. I used to really want to learn from Madam...."
I remember the past.
We are now successful because of the four skills they taught us.
I held her feet and bowed them.
"Don't bow.. get up.."
She held me and lifted me up.
" Madam's leg problem... can be corrected. Madam, come when you have time. I will do the therapy..."
Looking at the therapies I have tried so far, I know that she is in a position to be saved..
"I don't owe her anything..." I heard my subconscious whispering to me.
