Wednesday in the Hospital
Sleep But Don't Sleep
by Terry Light
Exhausted and sleepy, all I wanted was a bed and a pillow. The hospital obliged with a transfer from the Emergency Room to the Stroke Unit. The duck-haired kid wheeled my gurney into room 142 and transferred me into the bed.
I could not support myself and that continued to
surprise me. I could bend
my right leg, though. That
was an improvement.
Junko, also known as (AKA) “Mrs. Light,” was told she could stay the night. That was good because both she and I were exhausted and wanted nothing more than sleep. When you want to sleep in the hospital, though, that’s when they do their best to keep you awake.
A huge heart monitor got wheeled in next to me.
They kept sticking me with needles.
Aides kept taking my blood pressure and checking to see why the
heart monitor was not working.
It was not working because I tangled up the wires attached to
electrodes that were ultimately connected to “sticky patches” on my
hairy skin and those round patches kept falling off!
Eventually, they shaved me. It’s okay. It is just hair. It grows back.
Suddenly, it was six in the morning.
I had fallen asleep holding Junko’s hand through the
bed rail. Tim called from
Since I had not eaten anything the day before, I woke
up hungry.
Time for coffee!
I found out I wasn’t allowed to have coffee.
The nurse offered me water.
I didn’t want water, so I progressed to have my first
disagreement with the nurse and she told me, “To get coffee, you have to
wait until the doctor comes!”
Logic. I
hated logic. Didn’t you
know I was always right!
Get that through your logical head!
The doctor would be in around
Feed me!
© 2009 by T. J. Light