28. Farewell
وداعا
This is how they said goodbye. They had only a few minutes before he had to go.
Doctor Murad, the surgeon, and Doctor Papazian, the anaesthesiologist, allowed Sam into the pre-op room long enough for Wassim and Sam to speak. They had given Wassim drugs for the pain of his disintegrating insides, so he was less than lucid when he spoke. After a half-day of waiting, Wassim’s heart rate had regulated enough for them to operate. Gallbladder surgery. Sam didn’t know what a gallbladder was. He could have Googled it, but he knew better than to get bogged down in the science. Understanding what is happening does nothing to help in those moments. Sam was used to hospitals and bypass surgeries and holding his breath for the duration of surgeries, sitting in the cafeteria pushin
