How much longer?

She lay in bed and said something. No, it was more a desperate attempt at a whisper. An attempt to whisper out her frustration, her pain.

"A...few... months..."

I heard what she said. I can hear, I can see. And I see the inevitable approaching slowly, slowly, ever so slowly. "What did you say...?"

I knew what mum said. I just wanted to hear it. Again. Why? Is it perverse to want to hear it from mum's mouth in her own frail voice?

Does it matter how much longer?