Love in the Wards

Keep loving,no matter what

A young man suffered from a lung infection after his kidney transplant surgery,and was in a less-than-ideal condition.

I went to the water room to fetch hot water and bumped into his mother.Perhaps seeing that I was roughly the same age as her son,the mother said hello to me and asked about my disease.After hearing my condition,she said with a sigh that her son was the same age as me and that his future was hanging in the balance.

Such depression and frustration occurred on this floor almost every day.My comforting words were powerless and useless.I was about to leave when I heard her murmur with a sigh,“His wife is expecting.What will she do next?”

I halted,my heart getting perplexed by the story.

Falling in love with a fatally ill young man,getting married and pregnant,what a girl his wife should be!

His mother told me that,his wife would never leave him,whether be in school uniforms or in wedding attire,through health or sickness.

They fell in love on campus.In their junior year,the young man fell ill,quit school,and intended to break up with the girl so as not to burden her.The girl refused to leave him alone and even rushed around to raise money for him.She finally raised enough for his surgery.His father donated one of his kidneys and the operation was successful.Both of them then returned to school and graduated from university.

The wife’s parents firmly opposed their marriage.The reason was quite simple: his life hung by a thread,the young man with only one kidney could hardly provide for the family.

The girl was,however,determined to marry him at the risk of falling out with her parents.She entered his family,did the housework,and made money to support the family.

In less than 3 months before her delivery,a high fever forced him into the emergency room once again.

The mother paused a little and then murmured in anguish,“If only I had known it,I should have objected to their marriage.”

當初我該反對的

那個男孩移植了腎之后出現肺部感染，情況不太樂觀。

我去水房打開水，正好遇到他的母親。也許是瞧著我和她的兒子年紀相仿，那位母親主動問起我的情況。聽完后，她長嘆一聲，說自己的兒子和我同齡，現在前途未卜。

這樣的壓抑和失落，在這個樓層，幾乎每天都在發生。我的安慰，廉價而無力。我正要離開，只聽見她低低地嘆了一聲：“他媳婦還懷著孩子呢，以后可怎么辦？”

我的腳步停了下來，心被故事牽扯著。

愛上一個絕癥青年，結婚懷孕，不知那是一個怎樣的女孩。

故事是男孩的母親說給我聽的，從校服到婚紗，從健康到疾病，不離不棄。

兩個人是校園情侶。大三時，男生發病休學，本打算斷絕關系，以免拖累女孩。女孩執意不肯放手，甚至東奔西走，為他籌款，最終湊足了手術費。

父親捐了腎，手術順利完成。兩人回了學校，安安穩穩畢了業。

女孩的父母堅決反對兩個孩子的結合。原因很簡單，只有一個腎的年輕男孩，難以撐起家庭重擔，而且朝不保夕。

女孩鐵了心要嫁，不惜與父母鬧翻，進入一個陌生的家庭，操持家務、賺錢養家。

就在離臨盆不到3 個月時，一場高燒又將男孩送進了急救室……

母親說到這里就停了，最后，她囁嚅著說：“早知如此，當初我也該反對他們在一起的。”

有你在便不懼生死

在醫院，兩次見到楊婆婆和江爺爺這對老夫妻，前后相距不到10 天。第一次，據說是因為楊婆婆感冒，結果剛出院回家沒幾天又腹瀉，江爺爺二話不說，帶著老伴兒，匆匆趕到醫院。

When you are here,I fear not life and death

In the hospital,I saw an old couple,Granny Yang and Grandpa Jiang,twice in less than 10 days.The first time I saw Granny Yang was because she caught a cold.Later,as she developed diarrhea just a few days after being discharged,her husband had to take her back to the hospital again.

Granny Yang has been ill for many years.In her forties,she was diagnosed with kidney disease,which has lasted for more than 20 years.With the worsening illness,she got a kidney transplant,which caused several infection problems.She has narrowly escaped death many times.

She leaned on the bed and told me her story peacefully,without mentioning a word about her husband.Yet she gazed at him from time to time,with a strong sense of dependence and affection.

Granny Yang said that when they were young,they also lived a bickering life.When she got sick,she was afraid of burdening her husband and prepared a divorce agreement.But Grandpa Jiang tore it into pieces and said in tears,“Give away all we have and you must be cured.” Then he accompanied her to the hospital and they began to shoulder the uncertain future together.

For better or worse,they have reached old age together.

Granny Yang said,“He used to weigh more than 70 kilograms,but now...”

While we were talking,Grandpa Jiang brought in a basin of warm water and said to his wife,“Time to soak your feet now.It’s good for your blood flow.”

As the lights of the ward turned off,only a small wall lamp lit beside their bed.Yet a sense of warmth enveloped the whispering couple.

I will give you a kidney

The kidney being transplanted into her body was her husband’s.

When he learned that his wife was ill,her husband squeezed her hands silently and said softly,“Don’t be afraid.I will give you a kidney.”

We two were the only patients staying in the quiet ward.The silence of the night concealed her face.I heard her voice with a little choking.

She was a high school teacher.So was her husband.When they were young,both of them taught the same class.They came and went,igniting the spark of love.They married,had children,and life went on as it was.

The serious illness came unexpectedly.She fainted in class,and when she woke up,it seemed she had entered the afterlife.At that time,she was in her prime and her only daughter had just entered junior high school.The sadness and sorrow of life has changed her completely.

At the very beginning,she strongly opposed the kidney donation proposed by her husband.Knowing that she was burdensome,she could not convince herself to accept the gift of life from this man.But he was determined to consult the doctor alone.Learning that the effect of organ donation by husband and wife was second only to that of parent-child donation,he was so ecstatic that he mobilized all his friends and relatives he knew to persuade her.

The respect for life and the practice of love make this story of a man saving his wife magnificent.Before entering the operating room,he held her hand and whispered,“I’ve given you roses and rings.Now,it’s just the turn of a kidney.That’s no big deal,for my life is yours.”

Tearfully,she lay down on the operating table,thinking about how his kidney was about to enter her body.From then on,they became part of each other,inseparable throughout their lives.

(FromWhat Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger,Democracy and Construction Publishing House.Translation: Qing Run)

楊婆婆已經病了許多年，四十幾歲時，腎病纏上身，斷斷續續20 多年，病情惡化，換了腎，中間幾次感染排異，無數回死里逃生。

她靠在床上，平靜地說給我聽，只字不提老伴，但她不時看向他的眼神里，有濃濃的依賴和疼惜。

楊婆婆說，年輕時，他們也是吵吵鬧鬧過日子的。發病時，自己怕拖累丈夫，擬好了離婚協議書，卻被江爺爺一把撕碎。他紅著眼睛，只說了一句：“砸鍋賣鐵，也要把你治好。”然后陪著她四處顛沛流離，一腳踏進命運的兇多吉少里。

日子過著過著，竟然也走到了白頭。

楊婆婆說：“他原本有70 多公斤呢，現在……”說話間，江爺爺已經端了洗腳水進來，口中說道：“該泡腳了，對血脈暢通有好處。”

病房的燈已經熄了，他們的床邊亮起小小的壁燈，昏黃的溫馨，籠罩住竊竊私語的兩個人。

我給你一個腎就是了

被移植到她體內的那個腎臟，來自她的丈夫。

得知妻子患病時，丈夫握緊她的手，輕聲說了一句：“別怕，我給你一個腎就是了。”

只住了我們兩個人的病房，靜悄悄的，沉寂的夜色遮住了她的面容，我聽見她的聲音帶了一絲哽咽。

她是一名中學教師，丈夫也是，年輕時，兩人同教一個班級，一來二去，擦出了愛情火花，結婚、生子，順應自然。

病魔來得突然而迅猛，她在課堂上暈倒，醒來時，仿佛下一世已在倉促間開始。那時，她還不算老，唯一的女兒剛剛上初中。生死未卜的凄惶，讓她完完全全變了模樣。

對于丈夫提出的捐腎，一開始，她是極力反對的，深知自己已是累贅的她，無法說服自己接受這個男人的生命饋贈。可他鐵了心，獨自咨詢醫生，得知夫妻捐獻器官效果僅次于親子捐獻，他欣喜若狂，發動了所有認識的人前來勸她。

對生命的尊重，對愛情的信仰，將這個救妻的故事渲染得轟轟烈烈。進手術室前，他握握她的手，輕聲說：“我送過你玫瑰花、戒指，再送你一個腎，又有什么大不了的？我的命都可以給你。”

她泣不成聲，躺上手術臺前，心里想著的是，他的腎臟馬上要來到她的體內，從此以后，你中有我，我中有你，一生一世，再不分離。

（摘自《那些打不敗你的，終將讓你更強大》民主與建設出版社）