Chapter 24 — Medicinal Garden After Hospital

Three days after that night of crisis, the epidemic in Yen Son was gradually controlled thanks to close coordination between the hospital and the medicinal garden. Polluted water sources have been treated, clean water supply points are temporarily operating stably, and the number of new patients admitted to the hospital is decreasing day by day. But just as everyone began to breathe a sigh of relief, another unexpected news made the whole group shocked and worried.

That morning, when Quyen went to the garden to prepare a new batch of medicine, she discovered Mr. Loc lying down next to a bed of honeysuckle, his face pale, sweat pouring out like a bath, and his breathing weak and interrupted. She called out in panic and together with Mr. Thanh rushed him to the emergency room immediately.

Bao Nam, although still tired after days of continuous work without a break, immediately showed up to directly examine Mr. Loc. After checking vital signs and doing a series of necessary tests, he couldn't help but worry when he discovered that Mr. Loc's blood pressure had suddenly increased, accompanied by signs of serious exhaustion due to overworking for many consecutive days, not getting enough rest, plus his advanced age.

"Mr. Loc is seriously exhausted," Bao Nam told Quyen, his voice heavy with worry. "For the past few days, he has hardly slept, constantly on duty at the garden to prepare medicine, and support the treatment of hundreds of patients. The body of a person his age cannot endure such intensity of work for a long time without any prior warning signs."

The news that Mr. Loc fell ill quickly spread throughout the hospital and town, making many people, especially the families he had saved, shocked and worried. Many people spontaneously flocked to the hospital, waiting in the hallway, waiting for news about the health condition of the respected old physician who had been attached to this land all his life.

Quyen, sitting next to Mr. Loc's hospital bed, couldn't help but blame herself. "I should have paid more attention, should have reminded him to rest more in the past few days," she said, her voice choked, holding tightly the thin, trembling hand of Mr. Loc who was lying asleep on the hospital bed. "He has sacrificed too much, but I am not sophisticated enough to realize that he also needs to be taken care of and has his own health limits."

Bao Nam gently placed his hand on her shoulder, comforting her. “This isn't your fault,” he said. "Mr. Loc is a person who always puts his responsibility to the community first, just like my mother before. He will never proactively stop, until his body forces him to stop. What we need to do now is to focus our best on helping him recover, instead of tormenting him about what happened."

During the next two days, Mr. Loc's condition was still quite unstable, his blood pressure sometimes increased and decreased erratically, forcing the entire medical team to closely monitor every hour. Quyen almost never left the hospital, taking turns with Mr. Thanh at the bedside, while Bao Nam personally monitored and adjusted the treatment regimen every day, carefully combining Western medicine to stabilize blood pressure and some gentle nourishing Eastern medicine that Mr. Loc himself, in his rare moments of alertness, suggested.

"Don't worry about me too much," Mr. Loc said one afternoon, when his health was somewhat better. His voice, although still weak, still retained its familiar humor. "You're old, it's normal for your body to have problems sometimes. The important thing is, the recent epidemic has clearly proven that what we have been trying to preserve and build all this time is really valuable, really necessary for this community."

Quyen squeezed his hand, tears rolling down her eyes. “You must get better quickly,” she said, her voice choking. "I still need you to teach me many more things, and I also need you to be by my side to see the garden develop further in the future."

Nhung, taking advantage of breaks between shifts, often stopped by to visit, bringing hot porridge and fruit juice to nourish Mr. Loc. "If it's your fate, no one in this whole town will dare to look at Quyen and Nam anymore," Nhung teased, deliberately making a joke to ease the tension, making Mr. Loc, even though he was still weak, still chuckled softly. "This girl, always like that, only has a smart mouth," he replied, his voice was weak but his eyes sparkled with a bit of familiar mischief, making the whole hospital room seem brighter amid anxious days.

Doctor Phan Ngoc Lan, who supported Bao Nam during the night of emergency treatment for baby Ngoc Bich, also proactively offered to participate in additional monitoring for Mr. Loc, taking the opportunity to learn more about the folk remedies that he often mentioned every time he was awake. "I see, the recent epidemic really opened me up a lot," she told Quyen during a shift on duty. "Previously, I was only trained in pure Western medicine, but now I realize that if you know how to combine them properly, the treatment effect will be much better than if you only go in one direction."

During the days when Mr. Loc was in the hospital, Mr. Thanh took on all the work of taking care of the garden and preparing basic remedies, based on what he had learned from his wife before and from Mr. Loc himself recently. At first, he was somewhat confused and lacking confidence, but gradually, with Mr. Loc's remote guidance through short conversations whenever his health allowed, Mr. Thanh gradually became more proficient and took on this important role well.

"I never thought I could do things like this," Mr. Thanh told Quyen one evening, when both father and son checked the finished batches of medicine together. "But now, when I actually started working, I realized that it seemed like the knowledge about medicinal plants had been silently seeping into me for a long time, through many years of living with my mother and children, even though I had never taken the initiative to learn seriously."

Quyen smiled, her eyes filled with pride for her father. "I believe, this is the gift that mother silently left for father, even though she is no longer here to witness it directly," she said. "And now, Dad is continuing to write that story, in his own way."

One evening, when Quyen sat alone by her hospital bed, rereading a few pages of the prescription book that she and Mr. Loc had painstakingly compiled, she suddenly realized that book was now becoming an important fulcrum, helping Mr. Thanh take over Mr. Loc's work more smoothly while he recuperated. She silently thanked her old decision, when she persevered with Mr. Loc to record each remedy, because, without it, perhaps her family would have struggled much more in the past days of crisis, when the person who held most of the traditional knowledge was the one who was lying on the hospital bed.

By the fourth day of hospitalization, Mr. Loc's health had made clear positive changes, his blood pressure gradually stabilized, and his spirit was clearer and happier. Bao Nam, after a thorough examination, announced the good news to the whole group. "Mr. Loc is past the most dangerous stage," he said, his voice relieved. "But he needs more time to rest and recuperate, at least another week or two, before he can return to normal work as before."

That news made the whole little family happy. Quyen hugged Bao Nam, tears of happiness rolling down her cheeks. "Thank you, for taking such good care of him," she said, her voice choked with emotion. Bao Nam gently wiped her tears, his eyes gentle. "Mr. Loc is also my family," he replied. "Caring for him is also my way of expressing my love for you, and for what we are building together."

The severe illness that struck Mr. Loc, although it brought a period of panic and extreme anxiety to the whole family, eventually passed peacefully, leaving a valuable lesson about balance, about knowing how to take care of yourself while still dedicating yourself to the community. At the same time, that difficult time also unintentionally became an opportunity for Mr. Thanh to affirm more clearly than ever his irreplaceable role in continuing his late wife's legacy, officially becoming an important and solid link in the traditional chain that the whole family is preserving and developing together, a chain that now, no matter what happens, will no longer be in danger of breaking like what Quyen once feared for more than a year after her mother's day. lost.