Bernadette de By (62) often feels homesick for the past, when she was not plagued by pain all day long. ‘I feel like a wounded animal, surviving day and night.’
She was returning from a party that evening in October 2015. The floor of the tram was wet. When the vehicle made a sharp turn, she slipped. Because she continued to hold on to an iron pole, her legs collapsed under her upper body. The next moment she felt a stabbing pain in her side. ‘I’m not someone who squeaks easily, but for a moment it went completely black before my eyes.’
We managed to get out and get home with great difficulty. ‘I thought: just put a little cream on it and it will disappear.’ Initially the pain diminished over the next few days, although it did not disappear completely.
The doctor didn’t think it was anything special. Maybe it was her lungs, he suggested. But lung X-rays turned up nothing. Meanwhile, the pain returned with unabated intensity and began to spread further and further. ‘I felt it move across my stomach to my leg. It became more and more terrifying. That was eight years ago now. And that pain is still there. Every day.’
2023-11-29 04:12:07
#nice #friend #blackbird #early #morning #Volkskrant
