Sunday, August 24, 2008

Entry for February 23, 2008 ~ It's News to Me...

It's surprising to me that anything like a broken leg can be as "painless" as this...
I have certainly been through alot in the past week, but as I have always heard that a broken bone is by far the most painful injury one can experience, I am happy to report that it is not what I expected it to be!
Having given birth to eight children, plus enduring two miscarriages, I am here to tell you that childbirth is much more excruciating ~ albeit much more worth the trouble ~ and I am astonished that this past week has been as easy as it has been.
The worst part was being away from home.
But the two ambulance rides in the pouring rain, clad in soaking wet clothing, and all the cold, the waiting in the first ER and the x-ray tech who did NOT know what she was doing (long story) and undergoing two major surgeries in less than four days' time...all this put together is really something to write home about!
I could go on here about the waiting...and the fact that there were so many admitted that same day due to falls and accidents because of the ice...but I won't. Instead, I will talk about the fact that when I receive the mailing from the hospital in a week or two, concerning my recent "visit," I fully intend to tell them about the woman in the radiology department in the first hospital who really could use more help, and the kind gentleman from the dietary department in the second hospital who remembered that I adore a cold Vernors.
These two, to me, represent the two extremes of care that I received during my little adventure...and I intend to commit every waking moment of this past week to my memory.
There was the young nurse who came rushing into my room on Tuesday morning, anxious to tell me that she, too, had fallen ~ after we had had a nice long chat about that very thing the night before. Luckily, she had only bruised her hand and her side, but I daresay even these injuries have since proven to be more painful than she first suspected they would be.
Then, there was the other young woman from the lab, who came to take my blood that same morning, who was also anxious to share the tale of her own fall ~ bruising her knee.
Everywhere I turned this past week, I was told of others taking falls on this treacherous ice ~ and my own family was not in the least bit spared, either!
My dear husband Michael had taken a slip himself, but luckily was able to save himself before going all the way down. Our daughters Mary, Andrea and Clare also reported falling...although as strange as it seems, Clare did NOT fall on the ice, but on the very salt that the school maintenance had spread to guard against it!
So, anyone reading this can probably note that this has indeed been a week of contradictions ~ from hospital personnel who care nothing about others, to those who pay attention to even the tiniest details for their care and comfort...not to mention the family whom I love with all my heart, even as I lie in my hospital bed, in imitation of me, falling and enduring their own painful injuries.
There is, however, one thing of note that I would like to point out here ~ and that is the fact that broken bones do not hurt as much as I have been told they do!
After my second surgery, I was weaned immediately from the morphine and put on a much lesser "drip" for pain ~ the name of which escapes me ~ and the only sad side-effect was the constant sleepiness I felt. Then to be sent home with Loritab pills, which actually work better and longer than the other stronger drugs...I must say that I have felt the urge to take them only once in awhile, much less than the nurses expected of me.
So, anyone who tells me in the future how painful their own broken bones might have been, I can only say that I sympathize wholly with their misery, but I must also admit that my own has been much less than I would have expected!
And for this, I can be most grateful...

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