How I Spent My “Fall” Vacation – Episode 20

Episode 20 – November 19 – My little blue pill did wonders last night giving me eight hours of solid sleep from 10 PM to 6 AM. I immediately got to work on my upper body exercises in anticipation of another busy day here in paradise.

They hauled our new cellmate to the OR while I was stretching; not if he’s coming to our room or not. They had him on a wait list all day yesterday to go in for his surgery so he had been on a no food or drink order all day. When it was finally confirmed that he would be going in they brought him a tray of food. His turned it down because he was supposedly a vegetarian. It turns out he’s actually a fake vegetarian; the kind that eats fish and eggs. Actually I’m pretty sure that a vegetarian would have no problem here anyway because there is never anything resembling meat on those trays ever.

Kevin is my nurse for the day. He definitely does not fit the standard description of nurses around here. Besides being a larger sized male, English is his first language. Kevin is also the one we all have to thank for finding pajama bottoms for Charlie.

Not seeing the magic breakfast fairy the night before of course meant gruel this morning. They did however throw in a slab of cheddar cheese along with my whole wheat toast. I decided to supplement my meal by opening up the jar of peanuts that Pam and Dennis brought me last week. This may have been a mistake because they were way too tasty.  

While enjoying my delightful repast, the vampire returned to scoop up a couple of snack size test tubes of her own. She mumbled something about my blood count but I could see her salivating as slinked off into the shadows. Does anybody hamper to have Buffy’s new phone number?

I must have been having some concentration and memory issues this morning because I was having a few problems typing. Normally, I type similar to the touch typing method I was taught in high school. I was never great at it but it is like my fingers remember where the keys are. If try the hunt and peck method I get lost. This morning couldn’t seem to remember where the keys were. I’m back to where I should be.

For the first time in awhile lunch was on par with the other meals. I opted to try the turkey tetrazzini instead of the tuna sandwich. It was beyond tasteless. The soup which is normally the best thing on my tray all day was cream of potato that resembled most of the breakfast gruel.

While lunch was being served, the new guy returned from the OR.

They finally got the seating issues straightened out on my wheelchair so after almost a week of lying in bed they were able to get me sitting up at a ninety degree angle. After a lot of fumbling and adjusting they got settled.

While up it Kevin thought it might be a good time to change my dressing and by coincidence a group of students from Vancouver Community College happened to be on the floor doing dressings so Kevin brought in Angela to do mine. She did a great job on mine and because of the odd blister configuration around the incision, she will probably have the most interesting report back in the classroom. It was actually funny watching how a student does everything does everything so slow and methodical step by step while an experienced practitioner will combine the steps and speed through the process. You see this in all professions.

Because of the new cushioning system I was able to sit up in the chair for over two hours which was the therapist’s goal for today without any but pain in the butt. It was refreshing to settle back in bed with fresh new linens.

One thing I did confirm is that it feels much more secure when they let me run the lift controls. The therapists wouldn’t let me going into the chair but going back I convinced Kevin to let me do it and Angie, the nurse’s aide confirmed I had done it before. I think maybe a regulation is getting bent a little when a patient operates the lift. Hey, I’m a rebel!!

So I started a new book by Ann Rule “Green River, Running Red” about the Green River killer. This should make for some sweet bed time reading and pleasant dreams. Thanks, Mona. ;-)

Every once in awhile, dinner shines as the best meal of the day. That would the case when the grilled salmon on the menu. Finally, something had taste.

Spent the evening catching up on “Treme” an extremely well written HBO series about post-Katrina New Orleans; great characters and fabulous music.

 Solly, my night nurse took my vitals and loaded me up on evening meds as Rachel Maddow read me another bed time story.

Oh and damn those peanuts are tasty!

To be continued...