When my neighbour went into a state of denial

By Aavesh Anand

My neighbour was around 75. He was well-built and full of life. I was therefore surprised to get a hysterical call from his wife one day. Her husband had collapsed in the living room. He was still breathing but clearly in trouble.

She pleaded for medical help. Sensing the urgency in her voice, I called my friend who owned a small nursing home. My friend responded with alacrity and rushed an ambulance with a medical intern.

It was a severe heart attack. Fortunately, the damage was limited as he received medical aid in time. My neighbour was kept in the ICU for three days. After which he spent another three days in a private ward before being sent home.

His recovery was also aided by the arrival of his three sons with their wives. They took turns to stay with him at the nursing home and things started returning to normal.

Or so it seemed. Two days after he returned home, I got a call from his wife. She was at her wit’s end. My neighbour had stopped taking medicine, and the family was worried. She wanted me to come and persuade him.

After work that day, I visited my neighbour. He looked distant. There was something clearly wrong. He did not open up as to what was troubling him. The good thing was that he listened to me and took his medicine. The family was relieved. The storm had blown away.

A few days later his sons went back, and my neighbour resumed his normal life. I still wondered why he had revolted. It was most unlike him till one day I found out.

My neighbour was an average middle-class person and had spent most of his earnings on the education and marriage of his three sons. His savings were just enough to take care of him and his wife after retirement. He was a simple man and believed that if things went wrong his sons would be there to bail him out.

He could not have been more wrong. When the first real test came, his sons failed him. They found excuses not to pay his hospital bills. My neighbour’s wife had to use her credit card and clear the hospital dues otherwise the hospital would not have let him go home.

It was a substantial sum, and my neighbour went into a state of shock when he learnt this.  He wanted to secure whatever savings were left for his wife. That was why he stopped the medicines.

It was a knee-jerk reaction, and I doubt if his sons understood why their father went into a state of denial.

His wife certainly understood. That is why she did not ask anything from her sons when her husband died. She paid for the funeral.

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