Black blood

Mum was audibly tired.

The tiredness was in her voice, in the way she spoke. I toned down my cheerful tone when I realised what she had gone through.

She went into hospital early in the morning to take a blood sample. The nurse had difficulty finding veins in her arm, and when the blood was drawn, it was dark, almost black. The nurse was alarmed. "Have you been doing chemotherapy?" Mum said yes.

It stunned me to hear that. Black blood. How can that be? I've been with her so many times in the past, watched (and cringed) as she bravely had blood drawn with a syringe, watched as the blood slowly filled up the tune and dyed it red. But how is it now that it is black in colour? Is something wrong? I cringed at the imagination, and my heart sunk again. The nurse is also a little lost why the blood looks so dark.

"You don't need to call everyday," she said, "You must be busy preparing for your exam, and preparing for your trip." She reassured me again she will be fine. She is scheduled to return to hospital for an appointment with her main physician, and then back to the hospital in the morning to resume her bi-weekly treatment.

If she sounds weak now, how would she feel after her treatment? I have seen what the treatment does to her...  

I cringed and closed my eyes. "Collect myself, collect myself... be strong, be strong..." I heard myself saying to myself.