Doctor Kami comes running. He is wearing striped pajamas under his blue coat. In his hand he holds the tube and a bowl. Rachel is carrying a glass of water.
"You want the tube?"
"Yes."
"In my whole medical career you are the first patient who has asked me to introduce a tube through his nose," he says with a smile. His mockery doesn’t change my opinion. Better to have a moment of fear than many hours of pain. "Normally we have to hold the patients down and force them to take the tube," Rachel remarks.
Doctor Kami is short and seems nervous. He is the only doctor whose words I believe. He tells the patients and their relatives the truth. As my sister informed me, he told my parents that my life is in danger until my intestines start working again. I hate doctors who always tell their patients that they are getting better, and who leave them in permanent uncertainty.
He feeds the tube into my nose. That is the moment I am afraid of. I feel as though I am choking. I roll from side to side, open my mouth, and make noises like a man dangling from the gallows.
"Drink!" orders Rachel and hands me the glass.
I swallow some water and can feel how the cold tube slides into my stomach. I feel better already.
Doctor Kami connects the tube to an apparatus consisting of several containers. It is a complicated pump that empties my stomach automatically. One part produces the necessary reduced pressure and the other sucks the juices out of my stomach. I can see the greenish liquid coming up and mixing with the clear water.
"That better?" asks the doctor.
"Yes. Thanks."
The doctor and the nurses don’t get many thanks. They have to cause pain and the patients resent this. Even if they know that it is for their own good. "Now you look like an elephant," says Rachel. "A really sweet trunk."
"Just a moment, doctor," I say as he is preparing to leave. "When do you think I will be able to eat again?"
"That depends." I can see that he is thinking. "You have been mak-ing good progress so far. Really good progress. If there are no... er...