Mom's Ordeal At The Hospital

Please be patient as this story might be a bit long. My mother was admitted to Universitas Hospital in Bloemfontein, South Africa a few years ago for a heart bypass. It was sometime, mid-August and my sister and myself and a friend of ours travelled the long road to Bloemfontein where we would stay with the friend's sister a block or so from the hospital.

After surgery, my mom was taken to the ICU where she was under supervision of the very qualified sisters. Soon she recovered so well, that she was pushed to the ward on the same floor. That very first night, my sister, our friend and her sister and myself went to visit my mom in the 4-bed ward, just across from the toilets near the duty room.

My sister sat next to me and the other two sisters sat on the other side of mom's bed, their backs to the empty bed next to the window. My mom's bed was the 1st bed to the right as you entered. The other two beds opposite her, were occupied by a black lady and an Indian lady.

During this visit, we heard a coughing sound, like a male that is coughing, coming from the back of the two sisters. We all looked that way and back at each other with puzzled faces. We tried to make a joke of it and to put my mom at ease, as this was her first night without monitors beeping, etc. The eldest of the two sisters said maybe it came from the next room, but we all distinctly heard it coming from the back of them.

The following morning, we went to visit my mom, but only this time our friend, my sister and myself. My mom looked much better and she was moved to the bed where the Indian lady was the night before, as she was discharged. So that left only the black lady next to my mom and my mom in the room. Nothing funny happened during any visits that day.

The Friday morning we went to visit again and my uncle was there to surprise us. He drove through the night to come and see his sister. We all had a nice visit and then we left. That evening, it was just my sister and myself that visited, seeing our friend's husband also came through to visit the family. We enjoyed the time with mom and also sort of visited with the lady next to my mom seeing she did not have any visitors that night. We stayed a wee bit longer than usual and then left.

The Saturday morning, our friend went with her husband to go and visit his family and said we can still stay at her sister's house until mom is discharged. We went through to visit my mom and saw she was all alone in the room. She told us that after we have left that Friday night, chaos ruled in the ward. The whole ward seemed to be going mad. 1st the lady in the single room, as you come into the ward on the left, called the sisters and told them she felt she was sleeping on something... The more they checked the more she moaned there was something under her... In the end, she was taken to sit in the comfy chair and she slept there. The lady next to my mom, started to shout for help. The sisters ran and she could not speak. Eventually she could and said something was holding her down and choking her. She did not want to stay in that bed, so they moved her out. The room next to my mom's room had a very young boy in it and an old man... None could move as the boy just had open heart surgery and he was sedated and the old man was paralysed so none of them could really move, but their bell went off numerous times during the night. The sisters could not explain what was going on, as both the patients were asleep every time the bell went off. There were screams down the passage. My mom said the poor staff were on their toes the whole night. It was if hell broke loose. And then she saw this man in black standing in the doorway of the toilet, just looking at her. She blinked and looked again and it was gone. She thought she was imagining things.

We did not want to go back to the house after the visit, so we went to the mall to get my mom some stuff to cheer her up and also for our trip back to KwaZulu Natal. We went in earlier than visiting hours, as the staff said we can, because there was no other people in the room with my mom. My mom said she was lying in her bed, in the day and she saw that man again standing in the toilet doorway and watching her. Then he came into the room, walked past the beds and straight through the wall. (She was on the 4th floor!) We felt a bit uneasy to hear this. My mom, being a very religious lady, started praying and she felt at ease after that. My sister sat on a chair at the foot end of my mom's bed, and I sat against the wall and the window at my back facing the door and we visited with mom. We made her laugh and she was cheered up. Then all of a sudden my sister started rubbing her neck and flew up and looked around. Mom and I sat and watched and asked her what was going on. She said someone just played with her hair! I did not believe it at first. She moved her chair on the other side of the bed, busy with a text message from a friend of hers.

It was not long after her ordeal, that I felt a brush of something on my neck. I flinched and it was their turn to look at me... And all of a sudden it felt like I was pulled back. I jumped up and my mom said it looked like I was engulfed in a blue smoke. I of course did not see the smoke... All that I could think of was I am going to fall. After that, we were well aware there must have been something going on. Then my sister sat and stared at the bed opposite my mom... The same one we heard the coughing sound coming from. She asked us if we also could see what she saw... The bed was breathing! It was going up and down like someone was lying on top of it. There was like a white hue over the bed... My sister got up and laid her hand on the bed and she said it felt warm, like someone just got up from the bed. My mom, all hyped up, just laughed.

It was getting late, about 21:00 and I told my sister we better go home and get some sleep, as it was a long drive home tomorrow, as mom was being discharged. We said our goodbyes and as we got to the door, it felt like a hand on my bum. I was startled and looked back with shock. My mom laughed when I told her. She said maybe the uncle likes you. My sister and I walked to the lifts just around the corner of the ward. It felt realy eerie as we were the only ones there. The lift came up quick and opened. We got in and the lift closed. Then it opened again and closed again. My sister just looked at me and said we need to get out of this thing. We walked as fast as we could to the door and as we got to the door, I told my sister I feel so much at ease now. That pressing feeling was not with me anymore.

The next morning at 07:00, we went to fetch my mom and her wounds was being done by the staff for us to take her home. She was busy telling them about the night and the one nurse got so scared, she ran out of the ward. The sister had to finish the dressings. I was so glad that we could fetch her. She said nothing happened after we left. All was quiet and she had the best sleep ever. The long trip home was made so much lighter by talking about our experience and soon we stopped at home after the 6 hour trip home.

Thank you for reading my story.