WELCOME TO MY JUNGLE

CHAPTER 3

- How can the tumor not be operated on?

Please – she begged. Don't tell me that!

-We are telling you in this way, directly, with no anesthesia because we know it's you. If you were someone else, we would tell you differently, Natalia, you know.

You already had many signs : due to the coordination failures that your mother had. Vison and hearing mistakes only confirm the result of the CT scan of the chest and abdomen: advanced-stage metastatic cancer.

- But really, nothing can be done?

-At this moment there is no reliable technique.

-And what does the rest of the team say? How long?

- Well, the optimists think that about six months.

-And what do you think?

-Four months maximum.

Natalia already knew it, but that didn't make it any less painful for her. Less painful to hear it from her oncologist friend.

-Yes, yes, tomorrow morning I'll organize everything - she replied when he told her that they couldn't do anything else at the hospital and that in two days the mother would have to be brought at home and Natalia should take care of her there.

-I am giving the information right now so that you can bring me the oxygen, and we will prescribe the medication and I will have to move to live with her, because her house is bigger than mine.

-Now I have to leave you, Nata, two other families are waiting for me to talk to them.

-Excuse me, yes. Yes, of course, of course - Natalia said, cutting off her talk out loud.

Thank you very much for everything, really. Thank you.

-If you like, Nata, I can see you the day after tomorrow. You can finish now your shift and go home.

Here we will be taken care of her, and you can use the next two days to organize everything and then we will be moving her.

Natalia found she had to move her things to her parents' house.

Well, her mother’s house, because it had been more than five years since her father had died.

At first, she thought of organizing a big move, but later, she thought the most practical thing would be to take only some clothes and work clothes, along with the toilet things.

-Oh, and I don't have to forget to take some folders from the university.

But just for a week, and then at the weekend -my flat is not far away- I can make changes or pick up something I forgot...

And at my mother's house I have to see how her room is.

I'll have to clear it out a bit, because my mother really likes furniture and with so much furniture, we're not going to be able to move around well.

… And in my old room I'm sure I have to make some changes too, because my mother still has it with the posters of my favorite movies.

I'll have to throw them all out, because that cinephile stage was a bit crazy and the walls were literally wallpapered with those posters.

And when I have time I'll also check the closets, because there must be clothes from when I was fifteen. I'm sure I'll have to throw it away because there is no point in keeping them anymore.

Well, maybe don't throw anything away. I can see it first because maybe I can sell something on the web.

Although I don't have time now to upload anything in any second-hand application. Well, that's not urgent.

And above all, I am going to make a note of calling Sylvia today telling her at the end I will need her to stay with my mother for more hours, to help me.

Luckily I count on Sylvia, and also on her daughter for those days in which Silvia can't stay, because if not, I wouldn't be able to do everything by myself!

-Well, everyone comments that at the beginning it is difficult to organize, but that in the end, with some help, you manage to make everything fit…

I think that in the end I will square everything -she sighed, while remembering her mother, who was already being returned to the floor after finishing her tests. .

-Great, guys, thank you very much for helping us!

Would you like a coffee or a coke?

-No thanks, we have to go pick up other patients, and we're already a little late. See you tomorrow when you go to work, Nata. I think we're on your turn! - one of the stretcher bearers told her.

"These guys are nice," her mother said, taking her hand with a small voice.

-Yes, mom, and they have an incredible skill. An incredible strength and knack for not harming the people they are bringing, right? She answered, squeezing her hand.

The next two weeks flew by.

She took turns with Sylvia so she could be with her mother, while she continued studying her double degree in psychology and criminology.

In the hospital there was a lot of work that season.

They had loads of patients who came in after having a domestic accident. They would have to look at the statistics later to see if they were as out of the ordinary as they seemed.

Helping her mother to take a shower, her cell phone rang, which she had it in the living room.

She couldn't pick it up, because she couldn't leave her mother alone. 

So, as soon as she finished, almost without drying her hands, she picked up the phone, which in that moment begun to ring again.

As she held him between the shoulder and the jaw, she wiped her hands on her pants and asked who it was that.

At the other end of the line there was a:

-We call you from the company W.I.C.

You don't know who we are, but we know who you are.

We know that you are studying a double degree at the university and we know that you are a very competent person.

We also know that her mother has a severe illness, and we have got an experimental treatment that could help her.

-What kind of treatment?, because as far as I know, at the moment no treatment is reliable.

-We, Natalia, are not in the official medical channels, and this treatment, although not yet approved, is proving to be very reliable.

-Well, send me information by mail, and I'll see if I'm interested in.

I would also like to know the price and if there are some financing possibilities.

If you can send me the information as soon as possible, I would appreciate it - Natalia finished by saying.

-The treatment would be for free.

-For free? I thin I do not understand you. Could you explain a little more to me?

-You would have to do a job for us and, in return, we would provide this treatment to her mother.

-What kind of job?

-We'll leave you a couple of days to think about it, Natalia, and we'll get back to you -he settled his voice in a neutral tone.

Natalia didn't even have time to answer. She was thoughtful and frowning.

She had never heard the name of that company.

Perhaps it was a new company, but it was also normal if, as she had been told, they were not in the usual medical channels…

She finished fitting her mother into her bed, and gave her the medication to take.

That day her dose had been increased, because she was already beginning to have a lot of pain.

She brought the portable table to her mother's bed, and she took advantage of the fact that her mother had to rest for a while from the effort of getting up to go to the bathroom, to surf the internet a bit and to see what that W.I.C. could mean.

What was the meaning of that acronym?: Women in the church? Workers in charge? Woodworks Institute of California? That didn't make sense.

Perhaps it could be the initials for West Indian Co., or the Women, Infant & Children program.

The latter was a nutrition program for low-income mothers and children.

It was not her case, because her mother, although small, received a retirement salary, and she also had her wage from the hospital.

Perhaps there was more chance that it was the West Indian company.

But the Dutch West Indian Co. had ceased operations in the 17th century, and the British West India Co. had ceased in the 19th century.

There was also a Welding Inspection Co., but it offered inspection services for industrial plants.

The Welding Co. had more to do with engineering than with a pharmaceutical, or with scientific research.

It had to be a different company.

She thought of calling her tutor. It coudl be that he had given some references from her to the W.I.C. Co., but she was surprised that he hadn't mentioned it.

That same afternoon she contacted her tutor, who confirmed that no one by that name had contacted him at all, and who, in turns, called the rest of the teachers to see who might have talked to W.I.C.

No luck either.

So Natalia decided that it could have been her boss or someone from her administration, and the next day, first hour in the morning, she tried to find out at the hospital if they knew the company.

Neither secretary, nor administration, nor her colleagues, none had contacted or heard of that company.

It seemed a bit strange to her, and she thought it might be a joke.

A little in bad taste, but a joke all the same.

For this reason, when they contacted her again the next day, she was surprised that they continued doing the same, and although she insisted on knowing what type of company it was, they did not give her any explanation.

-Are you telling me I have to work for you for three weeks and then you will be giving me a cure for my mother?

And what would the job consist of?