How I Spent My “Fall” Vacation – Episode 43

Episode 43 – December 12 – So we are now moving into week seven of my incarceration. The end of this adventure seems to be moving further away than getting closer. My goal of being out of here before Christmas day seems a little cloudier today. I could accept this if I didn’t know how much stronger my legs are getting every day. It seems all the nurses on the floor are on my side along with Dr. Haaf and the physios. It the meantime, the one person whose opinion matters, Dr. McConkey has yet to give me any answers.

Sleep last night went as well as can be expected around here and I was up by 6 to do my first workout.

Today I drew another one of favourite nurses, Layla. She’s always fun and very accommodating. And to make the day even better, I have Angela, the student from VCC looking after me as well. Angela was the one near the beginning of my stay that was so excited about changing my dressing and the first candidate I suggested as a potential Crown Princess. Actually, Layla has Crown Princess material as well. She was allowed to provide me with my morning drug cocktail. I give her props for doing the best job of giving me my blood thinner shot. She did it so well that I couldn’t even feel the slightest pinch. The only thing I felt was I tiny burn a few minutes later as the meds course through my layers of winter insulation. My stomach looks like a used pincushion and like Mike Tyson had taken a couple of rounds out of it due to bruising caused by the thinners.

It turns out that Angela and I were roommates in the ER on Halloween night. She apparently has a bad habit of fracturing her ankle especially when consuming one or two adult beverages. It was the third time she had done it since last Boxing Day. Chatting with her I found out that although she grew up here she was born in the USA. So obviously, what state would you guess a tall fair-skinned, blue-eyed would hale from? Why, Hawaii of course! But then again, Hawaii birth certificates have been called into question so she may be from Kenya.

It being Wednesday, it could only mean one thing. Rubber Ducky Time! I was loaded into the shower stretcher by Angela, and another student, Juanco as well as the nurses’ aide, Geyne (pronounced Haney, I had spelled in wrong in previous episodes.) and wheeled out to the seventh floor. Rounding the corner past the sixth floor nursing station, I was greeted by the resource nurse, Karen who was holding up two yellow rubber duckies! Apparently the floor manager has a collection of them in her office.

It is always so wonderful getting hosed down, soaped up and rinsed off by strangers. Hmmm...may have to rethink this Crown Princess idea. It’s a little awkward once your future daughter-in-law has seen you naked and handled your man-things. Come to think I’ve probably had more women handle my stuff in six weeks than I have in my life. That’s not necessarily such a good thing.

When we arrived back at the room, Pam and Dennis were already waiting. They had brought up my mail and dropped off some more cookies and mandarin oranges. Unfortunately because of the timing we weren’t able to chat. It takes quite a lot of time to get me settled back in after the shower I have such great neighbours.

Geyne got me settled back and applied the medicated cream to my rattlesnake legs before putting the braces back on. At least I’m now able to assist doing a lot of things by just being allowed to lift my legs instead of requiring a second person.

Geyne has been a big help in our ward the last two days because the Salvadoran woman, Graciella, does not speak English and Geyne is Peruvian. The nurses have also got some help from Norberto in the bed across from me who’s from Spain. The bonus to this I am getting a bit of a brush up on my Spanglish. ;-)

Jenny and Rizia came by around three for daily dose of abuse to my legs. The knees are feeling much stronger and much looser. I wish someone show this to Dr. McConkey.

The big excitement for the day or actually the big irritation for the day is something went wrong with the call bell on the floor and it automatically switched over to the signal that is used when a patient requires assistance in one of the wards’ washrooms. The tone is similar to a ringing phone. It was even driving me nuts and I’ve practically blocked all the regular noises out. They tried closing the ward door to muffle the sound but that turned the room into a sauna.

In a much brighter light and a bit serendipity, my calendar reminder popped up on the screen about something I had to do today and when I looked at the date it clicked in my little brain that it was an old friend’s birthday (a story about her appears in episode 39) and I tried to see if she was listed on FB. My previous searches over the past few years had been fruitless but today her name popped. She had only recently joined Facebook. This made my day. She will probably kill me when she reads episode 39. Hee hee!

On another front, I was just told by the cute little that lived across the street, that the Donnelly Mansion on Dundas Street is for sale. Asking price $939,000. And even better ...it is on the Vancouver Heritage Registry so the buyer must get special permits for exterior modifications or demolition. Any of you who remember the Mansion will have chuckle about this.

Again my winning streak continues with nurses, Felly was my night nurse. Felly is great for listening to my problems and frustrations and helping me keep my mind at ease

So once again I settled down to my bed time snack of an orange, a cookie and a blue pill and finished watching  season 4 of “The Wire” and let Rachel Maddow warp my impressionable young mind with her lesbo-commie propaganda. ;-)

To be continued...