Web of secrecy

I have demanded Maiyuu get the paperwork from the hospital for me to read. He was discharged with some, but left the lot with them, to keep until the day of his next visit.

The insurance policy he took out is not really an insurance policy, he says - which is helpful. It helps contain the treatment costs of someone who has already developed a condition.

I told Maiyuu that no insurance company would want to cover someone who it knew had developed that condition already. He says it is not really insurance, but is - and that I haven't understood a word he has told me.

Maiyuu has explained little beyond what he put in half a dozen text messages, which he sent me on the night he left hospital, but before he was game enough to come home. He was scared about how I would react after he cleaned out my bank account to take out health cover for himself.

Actually, the insurance policy - or whatever it is - doesn't bother me as much as the underhand way in which it was taken out, by Maiyuu and the hospital alike. A bank is also involved.

One of them should have called, or at least had Maiyuu ask a friend in to witness what they getting the ill patient to do. Maiyuu was in no fit state to be making such decisions himself.

So far I have seen nothing from the hospital that shows that he even went there for treatment. He has been referred to a specialist hospital in Chon Buri, but doesn't know the name. Apparently he will travel to Chulalongkorn first, where he will be put in a mini-van and taken to Chon Buri.

These visits will happen three to four times a month for up to a year, or until he gets better. He will have to stay overnight, in most cases just the single night.

Today we argued again, as I tried to impress upon him my need for information, as the one who is caring for him at home, and ultimately the one who must pay. I said I was not interested in the money, and want to pay his treatment costs until he gets better. However, I said his illness is likely to have an impact on both our lives, and as such I need to know what is happening.

The life he lead before, staying up late, disappearing at all hours of the night, will have to change if he wants his body to get better. He will also have to accept offers of help, rather than insisting on doing everything himself.

It is more likely than not that the hospital issued him with a receipt and other documentation before he was discharged. Chulalongkorn is a professional outfit, whose standards are not compromised by whatever childish antics its patients may resort to in order to keep people at home from getting involved in their care.

I resent the secrecy, and have told him. 'It's like I have woken up from a bad dream, and met someone who insists that I believe everything I saw, even though I have no other evidence to suggest it is true,' I said.

Maiyuu suspects that for me the most important thing is money, and that I still quietly resent the fact that he raided my account. 'I love you, and am worried about your condition. Anyone in my position would want to know as much as possible.

'But if you don't believe that, and insist it is really a matter of money, then consider this instead. As the person who pays, I still have a right to know.'

At lunchtime I bumped into kathoey Bic, one of Maiyuu's friends from our condo. 'Is he at home? she asked.

'Yes.'

'Do you know where he has been? she asked, as if she was waiting to tell me.

I answered the question for her - 'hospital' - but immediately regretted saying anything. I should have waited for her to answer herself.

I don't know where she is getting her information, as Maiyuu has told no one, and demanded I tell no one either.

I did tell one girl he knows, also from the condo, who might have passed it on to Bic. Or it might be another nightmare story altogether.

Who knows with these young Thais. Everything is secret, even when their own boyfriends are involved.

'This is reason enough alone why you should not hold my ATM card any more. Who can trust anyone who, for whatever reason, refuses to involve others in his life? You won't always get it right - no one ever does.

'However, even if it was your decision alone to make, which it is not, that mistake could still have repercussions on other people's lives. We all end up sharing the misery, and wondering why you didn't bother confiding in us earlier.'

I suspect those fine words made no impact. It will take months to change this young man's ingrained behaviour. I intend to start by telling all his friends.