The patient in the ICU

It was nearly 16 or 17 years ago when I used to visit the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) section of the M.P.Shah Hospital in Nairobi along with my healing group members. 

As a norm we would put our phones on silent and sanitize our hands before entering the ICU and maintain the silence as a protocol. Once we entered Sister Gachuki would hand us a list of names of the patients and we went around bed to bed, one after the other, understood the patient’s condition ( usually a nurse or doctor would help us with the information) and gave reiki therapy. 

Some of us, including myself were more frequent than others and went for the seva nearly every once a week. 

We preferred giving a touch healing with our hands if the patient and his/her condition permitted. Where it wasn’t permissible, we stood around the bed and gave distance healing. The patients benefited by both methods and often felt a positive difference with the reiki. 

With time this activity became a part of my life in such a manner that it seemed more routine than a seva – perhaps it could be called a seva without the feeling of doing seva. There were times when I witnessed extremely severe cases and some of my friends chose to stay away from this activity as it disturbed them emotionally. That’s when I realized, I was different. The more severe the case, the more I felt inclined to help out in whichever way I could and of course giving healing love and reiki was my greatest tool. 

One such day, as I had nearly finished giving reiki to most patients, the last patient I went to, was very critical. This very old Kenyan gentleman who appeared extremely feeble lay quietly with the tubes all around him. I stood on his right side along with a colleague of mine and started giving touch healing on his chakras when he spoke in his faint demure. 

He said he had been waiting for both of us Kamal and I as Jesus had spoken to him that morning and told him he is sending two angels of mercy towards him. All that while we thought he was asleep, he wasn’t. He was too tired to open his eyes and look around and had been praying silently. He said he knew, we were the angels that had come to give him the final cure.

Both Kamal and I felt lot of gratitude giving him healing and he waved his hands in blessings as we said our byes to him before leaving. Then suddenly he spoke again and asked if we would be back again at 6pm. We politely told him that we weren’t sure but will try. This was unusual as over the years of this activity, we hadn’t known any patient requesting us to return in the evening.

Although it was difficult for us to return in the evening, we decided we will check upon him the next day and mentioned the same to Sister Gachuki. Later in the evening we were informed on the phone by Sr. Gachuki that the old gentleman had breathed his last very peacefully at 6pm. 

Whatever and however the Divine Will works is the Almighty’s higher plan and that day it truly felt like I along with my friend had become part of that Divine plan. I felt truly blessed to be the one to give him a healing release – for death is the final destination but the seva before someone’s death became our last seva towards him.

Monica Gokaldas 

picture credits: Google