A PRAYER FOR CATHERINE

Today is probably one of those days i classify as dark. I was woken up by a workmate because one of us was very sick and needed to be rushed to the hospital. It would probably just be any other day because such emergencies are what my work is all about; but today it was my best friend at work. Allow me to digress,

Cathrine has alwyas been the girl i would come to the office to catch up and gossip with, infact every morning before we started work we would take sometime off to chat, gossip, tell each other our dreams and fears, talk about our sex lives....or lack of it. O n the outside we actually had nothig in common, She is the religious straight and good morals girl she even has a post in the childrens ministy in her church and i.....well i am the crazy,risk taker full of guts and a loud mouth. What brought us so close was our status and what we go through at work. and boy werent we close.

At the begining of this year though, Cathrine told me she was expecting. We were happy, had a evening out to toast her new developements. Our hapiness was shortlived because just two days later, her boyfriend of one year walked out on her.

My friend changed from the ussual happy girl to a cry baby daily as she went about her heart break, she turned pale and thin and thinner as weeks went by. I tried....We all tried to help her forget this stupid son of a bitch but i guese some things arent as easy as we want them to be.

HIV and stress dont really work well together, and before long my friend was sick with one ailment after another, popping in as many as 20 tablets a day including her ARV's. She looked so bad i once asked her to terminate the pregnancy. Most of the people did but she wouldnt hear of it.
So i sat and waited, everyday hoping she will get better...that she would not die of this serious need to get a child, a child whose stupid father is married to another woman right now. She is 5 months pregnant now but is always sick and is so thin i dont look forward to seeing her anymore. Is that too bad? she is my friend but she is a constatnt reminder of what this virus can do to me.

Back to today, Cathrine is sick again and as i write this has been rushed to hospital, she had a seisure in the morning. To top it up she could be losing the baby....her water just broke.

I leave for a meeting that i know i wont give my all in just a bit......because i am terribly worried for my friend....terribly mad at her at the same time too......and super angry at her stupid ex.
I am saying a prayer though that everything works okay and i dont lose a friend today....well maybe because i dont trust my self to be strong enough for it.
Say a prayer for Cathrine too.
*Not her real name