Desires at the pharmacy counter

December 31, 2017

After preparing the closing of the year and all the bureaucracy involved, I sit down at the pharmacy counter and write down the wishes for the New Year.

The counter is not just the place where the recipes and boxes of medicines are placed. It is where people talk about themselves, their loved ones, their illnesses and achievements, the baby on the way, they confess their longing for those who are far away and those who are no longer there. Here they share almost all their stories with us.

Fátima, one of our dear ones, came to the pharmacy this week to ask for help to fulfill one of her niece’s desires for two thousand eighteen.

“Luísa, I want to surprise Luana, I need surgical masks with dolls, could you help me fulfill this desire?”

She talked about the Christmas dinner she organized for her friends where, instead of exchanging gifts, they added up the value and managed to buy a girly wig of Princess Jasmine.

“The girl was very happy when she unwrapped it on Christmas Day.”

Little Luana is two years old and is undergoing treatments at the IPO.

Catarina, mother of two babies, discovered just over a month ago that she has breast cancer.

She came to get diapers and a cream for her children. As she picked the cream, she could not contain her tears: “I’m afraid. I do not know how I will react to the treatments. The doctor told me that the likelihood of getting well is high. Having gone to the hospital as soon as I detected the lump was very important. I was optimistic about the test results. I hoped it was all a scare. That I was not the protagonist of this sad movie. But there is no doubt, I have a malignant tumor. I was operated this week and started treatment in January.

My greatest desire is always to be with my children. It is they who give me strength.”

During the last few weeks, people have wished us a good year in good health!

Immediately followed by a kind of absolute truth: “because without health … nothing can be done”.

I dare say we can. I dare to write that it is we who decide to what extent the lack of health can affect our life. We can do little great things like offer princess wigs.

We can just watch the kids running in the park. Give a good night’s kiss and thank you one more day.

We can just listen or just embrace someone tightly.

We can simply wish a lot.

Now I will continue looking for suppliers of surgical masks for a princess.  Because here in the pharmacy the wishes of a princess are orders.  Happy New Year*