8 Physic Torture – In Need Of A Smile (Part 3)

• 8 am – 11 am the phone line is engaged. I smile thinking, ‘she’s on the phone.’
• I check in with the nurses’ to get an update-nothing, no word on when the surgery will begin. I V has been changed.
• 7 pm, sitting here, no word; the doctor isn’t here, the nurses don’t know anything, anticipation mixed with anxiety hung in the room like a fog. Signing quietly I am thinking, ‘she has been sitting/laying on that bed since 6 am, no food, no water, drifting in and out of sleep, blessedly interrupted occasional by phone calls and visits from family and friends.’
• The nurses check her on the hourly checking for coherency asking the same questions, “What’s your last name? your first? What day is it? Where are you?” She answers by rote every once in a while throwing in a little humor, the nurse laughs finishes her tasks and leaves, the waiting continues.
• 7:30 pm unable to just sit without word I go to the nurses’ station and enquire, “Can you tell me what is happening, she has been here all day without sustenance or word from anyone as to when the surgery will commence?”
• Nurses response: “We just got word from the doctor; the surgery is postponed till tomorrow (July 19, 2011), I will speak with her”
• I walk back to the room and sit down with a sigh and said, “The nurse is coming to speak with you, the surgery is cancelled until tomorrow.”
• watching her closely is see/hear her  mumbling, ‘the surgery is put off, the surgery is put off, the surgery is put off, God I just wanted to get this over with, another day, the surgery is put off’….she sighs.
• the nurse arrives holding a disposable plastic food container with a tuna sandwich and a ¼ cup of apple juice inside. The surgery’s cancelled till tomorrow. “Don’t you have something hot like tea or soup?” My sis asks. “No" the kitchen is closed,” she says.
• I looked at her incredulously saying, “What do you mean the kitchen is closed, she has been lying here all day with nothing to eat or drink and you don’t even have anything adequate to give her to eat? Are provisions not made for such an event, this is all part of patient care and this is the critical care unit.”
• The nurse apologies, taking the pitiful tuna sandwich my sis tries to eat it, her face a masks of disgust.
• Leaving her with my half of chicken salad sandwich and a peach drink I set off to get the lentil peas soup, garden salad and chicken breast sandwich, I ordered from the restaurant while the nurse was .
• On the way to pick up the food as I walked in the sweltering heat I took pictures to  keep myself from worrying.

Photo Distractions….

 

 

• I returned to find her in her daughter’s company. She ate heartily making mmmmm, mmmmm, sounds in delight.
• I left around 10pm. The thought circulating in my mind, ‘they have no idea the emotional and psychological toll it takes on a person to sit in perpetual waiting with no word, worried, scared out of your mind only to have them announce casually and complacently, “oh its been canceled for tomorrow” with idea of when or even if it would happen but knowing it is needed.’
• Tomorrow, well tomorrow’s another day. The torture continues… I’ll keep you posted…thank you all for your kind words, prayers, compassion and empathy.