...am I keeping you awake? So what? There’s still
more...
Episode 22 – November 21 – I am now beginning my
fourth week here and hopefully I am past the half way point of my stay or at
least half way to getting these braces off.
Last night sleep was not as pleasant as the past
few nights have been. Art decided it would be a good night to act up and the
nurses were in and out all night.
As I mentioned before, I was beginning to like
Art’s daughter, Sandi. That part hasn’t changed but now I’m really beginning to
feel for her. This has to be such a strain on her emotionally, mentally and
physically. I can see this happening. When she comes in, she looks tired and
she’s not anywhere near as chipper. When she talks to her dad she sounds a lot
more frustrated and her patience wears thinner.
Because of the heat in the room, the window is
left open so we can hear the sounds off 13th Street mostly cars
driving in the rain and sirens from the firehall and police station across the
street but this morning I had to giggle while doing my morning exercises. I
could hear some dude ralphing in the street. Obviously hearing puking noises in
this place is not unusual, it just seemed quite incongruous to hear it coming
from the outside.
I’ve got another new day nurse today, Rosita. So
far she has been very helpful and that shower seems very promising for this
afternoon.
Breakfast came and they made another error on my
tray. The menu read “whole wheat toast” but they sent a small blueberry muffin
instead. It wasn’t bad but at least it was a change. They also include my twice
weekly egg ration. This one was listed as “hard cooked” and there was no
question about “hard. I would rather be hit by a lacrosse ball than this. To no
one’s surprise because the fairy hadn’t come by my two favourites were there,
cream of wheat and a banana. But I was already one step ahead of them this
time. Last week, Pam had brought up a fruit smoothie for me and had put it in
the fridge. She had emailed me this morning to remind me about it because they
throw everything out of the fridge after one week. I sent Rosita to find it and
it was delightful and filling.
It’s been an effing zoo in the room this morning
between all the staff coming in for Charlie’s return home and everyone checking
up on the post-op guy across from me. And everyone seems to be yelling instead
of talking. To drown out the noise I did my second set of exercises with my
earbuds cranked up with Best Coast’s “The Only Place”.
Not only that apparently some people don’t bother
to check what the visiting hours are. They are supposed to start at 11 but the
ass clown across from me had buddies coming in starting at 10 and they have no
problem talking loud. The new guy, Gordon, is one of those loud, obnoxious and overly
friendly car salesman type guys. I’ve taken to plugging in my earbuds in even
when I have nothing playing just to ignore him when he crosses over to use the
sink beside me so I don’t have to talk to him.
And just for an ironic giggle his wife came in
during lunch and while they were discussing his other visitors she asked “Did
he bring you any bananas? I told him you like bananas.” *head smack*
On the cute side, Angela, the Langara student,
popped in and I had to disappoint her again because my dressing didn’t need
changing. She’s so cute and so pretty. Hmm...possible Crown Princess material
perhaps? Hee hee!
I still haven’t heard the results of my urine
culture and bladder/kidney scan last week. I hope no news is good news.
Regardless the pain from whatever it was is gone now.
Road Trip!!! Rubber Ducky Time!! Rosita and Haney
came in the room with the shower stretcher and my eyes lit up like a kid at
Christmas. I was on my way up to the seventh floor for a shower. It felt great
to have the braces off for a bit but there was always this nagging fear in the
back of my mind that kept saying “don’t even think about bending your knees”.
The scary part is that I can feel my quads wanting to move which is good
because they appear to be healing but bad because the temptation to bend them
is there. It felt marvellous to massage the shampoo into my matted hair. I feel pretty!!
When we got back to the room, Rosita changed both
my dressings. Poor Angela, is going to be heartbroken because she had already
gone for the day.
While kicking back before dinner, Dr. McConkey,
the surgeon, came into check on things and decided to start a progressive range
of motion. Tomorrow, my braces will be adjusted to give me 30° of movement
while in bed. They will still be locked at 0° while I’m in the wheelchair.
I’ve been catching up on a couple British dramas
from Movie Central and Super Channel. “Hunted” is a suspense spy thriller. “Hit
& Miss” is best described as interesting. Interesting is the only way to
describe a TV show that reveals a “Crying Game” type surprise regarding the
protagonist within the first three minutes of
the opening episode.
Considering that I missed the dinner fairy taking
orders while I was in the shower, dinner was half bad; roast pork, potatoes and
mixed vegetables.
The new guy in the bed (hip replacement) in the bed
in the opposite corner must be a former hippie type from the sixties. He and
his wife lived in an ashram in India for a few years and he changed his name to
Bodi.
While we are on the subject of hippies, my
purveyor of the little blue pill is Layla. Yes, she was named after the EricClapton/Derek and the Dominoes song although her mom had always for some reason
thought the name of the song was “Painless Love”. That may have lead to some
strange introductions in kindergarten.
To be continued...
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