Political Football

This is a story about my last two + weeks, but really started much earlier. I just wasn’t feeling well. What was actually happening was internal bleeding and blood pressure slowly sinking to nothing. My eye doctor told me he wanted to take me to the emergency room, I said no, I’d call PK and she could take me.

I had no idea I was so sick and had never been admitted to a hospital before.

If you stay in a hospital for an extended period, you take on and become part of a specific odor. To me, for all the care and cleaning, that odor which I helped create, becomes and obstacle to final health goals. I was still not keeping food down but I convinced them to let me go home.

After two weeks – with gratitude toward the staff in the Muscatine and UI Hospitals for essentially bringing me back to life – I move on to the next step.

Keeping hospitals going… All levels of Nurses, Aides, and Janitorial staffs are truly angels.

In the 2 weeks I was in the hospital, I didn’t care to turn on the TV once. This was partially out of deference to a roommate, but more – I wanted nothing blocking or masking my communication with myself.

Is it just me?

I’ve always had warm hands and feet. From the date of surgery to almost exactly a week later, when I’m writing this… My extremities were cold. This afternoon when I lay still for an hour, I felt a warmth radiate through me as though I was coming in from the cold.

Maybe it is just warmer in my condo than the hospital; is it just me?

And then there is eating. I made a decision early on not to encourage visitors. Sitting in a hospital bed is tiring. From peeing in a hat to getting required walking, etc in – people pulling blood and taking blood pressure all times of the day and night – a hospital is no place to rest – and to me no real place for most visitors.

With my particular situation, I also have to learn to eat differently. No more snarfing food – a 3 minute banana needs to take 30 minutes. It takes me a good part of the day to figure out how to take my (currently all OTC) meds, and food. I’ve never done this before. A half cup of chicken noodle soup today took 20 minutes.

My life has changed, but I haven’t felt this good all year. Stay tuned: later notes on friends and praying for farts.

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