So much for that coming in threes wives' tale. I had just gotten to sleep last night when my mama called to tell me the "911" folks were there to pick daddy up for an ER trip. Now, this is the man who refused transport twice after falls so he must have been in pretty bad pain to make the call on his own. I went on up there in my slob attire and after a few hours could tell it was going to an all nighter so I came home for scrubs so I could just go to work when he got situated. The closer it got to 6AM the antsier I got about what his disposition would be. Would there be time to take him home and make it back without being tardy? Lord knows we don't want that to happen. The holdup was radiology read on the CT but there was plenty of entertainment while waiting...heh. A drug seeking drama queen from hell parked herself in the room next door and proceeded to wail and moan at the top of her lungs as if being stabbed in the eyes with a knife. This went on for like...ever. When her family tried to visit they got shooshed away by the self affirmed "not a dopehead" so she could act out a little more for the staff and me and pops. When told she would not receive pain meds for anything ever, she started cussing like stuff I've never heard except from addicts and sailors. She then had her INT removed and stomped quietly out the door.
The defining moment of this whole experience was me trying to help daddy use the urinal when he's not used to anybody but mom being around, and she can't see. He had been trying for so long, crawling off the stretcher every time, that when it did flow, it was aplenty! Thinking he was through he pulled away and squirted the scrubs I had just put on. Y'all forgive me if I tell you I didn't go home to change at 4AM. I made a couple of new friends that I already knew from phone conversations and trips in and out and it wasn't really THAT bad. Next door before drama queen, there was an odd looking female couple with a two year old kid who had a topknot. Everybody called him a girl, they said. He was as pretty as Baby Man in a more cocoa kind of way. He chattered and squealed and Nurse Angie chatted with him about Batman vs Spiderman. Very cool demeanor, that one. His Nana said she didn't take her BP meds because she has no doctor. This is what we treat in our nations's ERs, on the fly and do a damn good job of it. Sure, there's a lot of money to be made but emergency care is something that gets triaged and dealt with appropriately depending on the amount of teamwork happening. There's always somebody who wants to play Big Ike, usually an anesthesia guy with pretty hair. I've watched them rip into many a chest while treating trauma patients. And yes, there's a LOT of blood.
This one guy with a surly attitude played idly with a pad while drama unfolded, seemingly oblivious to important things like life and death and old men with strangulated hernias. Even after pain meds this tough old coot named Billie G gave his pain a solid 7. He never slept, nor did I. Even up to this point we wait for the surgeon to finish his scheduled cases and do this one on the tail end because it became non-emergent when the evil thing popped back in place for the moment. I delivered cell phone and hershey bars for after the OR and left him watching TCM happy as a clam. He talked to Mama and told her to not worry he's fine. BG is visiting with her today fetching lunch from Applebee's and taking time to bond. My bonding with daddy last night was a very long haul, kids.
Which brings me somehow around to loyalty and betrayal. These past few weeks have been tough and I have felt like there wasn't really anybody at bat for me in a couple of life areas. They kind of sigh and say "little black cloud" and carry on with the status quo. I am a loyal friend who falls short in many ways but will always try to make amends. Like, heartfelt you know? I don't ever look for it because I still hear Noler's admonishment to expect nothing. Some people just can't feel your pain.
^j^
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