Tongue

Mum showed me her tongue. I shuddered at the sight, and put my hand on her shoulder, full of pity, full of hurt from seeing a dear one suffer.

Six chemo sessions later, and her tongue looks burned. Instead of the normal red texture, her tongue had partly become blackish-gray. It looked like something left in the oven for too long, like something that was singed. The depth of her throat is more or less the same, she said. And so when she eats, the food seems to cut and hurt her insides like putting salt on an open wound.

"This is life, so full of suffering", she said, "That's why I don't want to do chemo. But if I don't, then [cancer] may spread. I sometimes cannot take it any longer..."

I patted her on the shoulder.