As I start to write, I wonder if I should comment on the trials and tribulations of the last few weeks. Perhaps, I should forget the cold hard cold of the operating room – which I don’t remember anyhow as I was out like a light. Heck, I do not even recall meeting before surgery with the surgeon who my sweet wife known with great affection as The Blonde in the house says I did. I seem to recall somebody hovering over my bed with a long sharp knife, but she claims that did not happen either.
I do recall waking up with a nurse peering at me. It seemed to me that she had just finished cleaning and polishing a sharp knife and putting in its case. She claimed that she was just putting away some scissors that she had used to cut the bandage off a patient. That may well be true, but who knows what can occur when you are out like a light. In any case, I laid there thinking unremembered thoughts for some time. I was there naturally because I had to wait until they chased someone out of regular hospital room so I could move in. Apparently, no one wanted to leave.
Eventually, I was escorted out to a double room which did not bother me because there was no one in the other bed. There was a stout curtain between the two, and I was still woozy anyhow. However, before long another soul was brought into the room on the other side of the curtain. The problem was that he immediately turned on his TV in a loud manner. About two am that night I was still trying to sleep when I heard a nurse in his area. I gave a desperate cry that I needed sleep and I couldn’t with the TV on. He told the nurse that he could not sleep unless it was on.
I am not certain how the nurse arbitrated the matter, but eventually the TV was turned off. I then went to sleep never once dreaming about anyone with a long sharp knife. The next day the TV lover moved out, and a very nice gentlemen who did not care about TV moved in. Thus, the room was calm and peaceful. In fact, when daylight came I was able to look at my knee which had been three sizes too big prior to the operation. Now it was only about one and a half times its normal size. The important factor was that my knee did not hurt nearly as much as it had for the three weeks prior.
All this started with a simple trip and crash where I landed on my knee on a hard surface. In any case, I was now in a hospital room, which is definitely not my favorite place. I needed to escape from it, but if you have ever been in one, you know that it is not as easy it seems on TV – even if they show you how at two am in the morning! However, as my knee was not throbbing like it had been, I was able to do some deep thinking. However, it was not deep enough as I stayed for two days after the operation before I was freed. It could have been much worse if not for the day nurse who I refer to as Ann of the Fifth Floor. When things got stuck, she unstuck them. What a nurse!
I am now at home where my sweet wife takes care of me – by making me use a walker when I could easily walk alone or at least with a cane. Tribulations never cease!
Barry Evans writes about Life in The Villages for Villages-News.com
