Matt. 14:14 “And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.”
Rehab… Sunday Came
Sunday morning came with the flooding of lights as we woke up. Ray and I slept all through the night and I didn’t even wake for any pain meds. The night shift was leaving and the new shift was coming in and the girls stopped by before shift change to apologize for the bad night. It was NOT their fault! The administration should have been made aware of the short staff and other aides should have been in place. Today came, as did new nurses!
As the new charge nurse came with meds, I explained I needed some crackers, I hadn’t eaten. I went on to tell her about the prior evenings' atrocity and her sympathy poured out like water from a pitcher. She said, “I’ll be right back.” And she came right back too, with a styrofoam bowl full of packets of crackers. She even came back with a cup of coffee, something I had not been offered since I arrived.
She went on to remove the breakfast, dinner and lunch trays from the day before and then proceeded to give me my meds and read my vitals. She also moved the gait belt from in front of the TV so I could watch. She opened the curtains for me and commented on the chilled gloomy rainy day. I told her that to me, every day was a sunshiny day!
She offered, “I’ll be here all day until six, (I assume a twelve-hour shift) if you need anything just ask for Jan, okay sweetie?” I melted, the good Lord sent someone. I prayed and prayed and He sent someone!
I turned the television on and began watching the morning sermon by Charles Stanley. I’ve always liked his sermons and was glad he was the first show I saw of the day. Cable TV did not impress me in the least. For the week I usually watched rehab shows, where they remodel homes. Ray liked Dancing with the Stars, a show I usually have a gag reflex to, but she turned it so loud I was forced to turn my TV off when it came on. Other than that she would watch game shows.
Then, anxiously, I clicked for a nurse, in minutes two nurses walk into the room. (if they’re tending me, I call them nurses, they earned that title to me) One was a young blonde named Sondra. I told her my son went to school with a Sondra. After small-talk, I found out she had been in the same high school as my son and actually rode the bus with him every day. The older woman, maybe about thirty-seven (older than the twenty-year-old) said she had worked in the cafeteria of his high-school. Now God has really got my attention! What are the odds?
After our dance to the commode and more gossip, I was feeling like my old joking self. I told them of the night before through tears, mind you. I had to put something funny in there or this day would be full of tears. We shared stories, the ladies laughed, I laughed, I had a feeling I would be peeing a lot that day.
My husband would arrive later in the day to hear of the story of the night before as he sits once again, through another bout of my tears. He brought me some BK onion rings to brighten my day, so I wasn’t feeling too bad if I could eat onion rings. He also brought me a box of a medley of chips. He knew I had nothing to snack on at the 5 am wake up, he thought this would help a little. He did try everything to see that I was made comfortable but he had no control over the tears I would unleash over the next couple of days.
Ray had heard the bags of chips as hubby placed them in my side-table drawer. Like a magnet she was drawn to the chips, she wheeled over and peeked around the curtain, with a bright smile as she did every day to greet me at some point in the day and asked, “Whacha doin’?” Ray loved chips! This was her vice. She hid them in her drawer and I would hear the quiet crinkling of the opening of a bag, then the soft munching so as if not to disturb me.
“Putting these chips away that my husband brought me. Do you like chips?”
“Yeth, I thure do.” Her lisp was now growing on me, her smile infectious, the light of joy that she exuded was admirable!
“Would you like a bag or two? What kind you like?”
“I like them Fritoth, and cheethy oneths too.”
I held up a bag of green onion potato chips, bar-b-que chips, and Fritos. “You like these?”
“Oh yeah,” she said moving her chair as close as she could into my tiny little corner of her room. Her wheelchair could only reach the bottom of my bed. She reached out as I handed three bags of chips to her and her smile lit the room. I didn’t need sunshine on that rainy day.
The physical therapist had come by earlier that day and I told her of the not-so-lovely night before too. I just couldn’t resist. Everyone that came through the door heard my side of the story. The PT lady was the weekend PT because it seems even physical therapist get a break. She was originally from Farmer’s Branch Texas and we bonded over neither of us being from Nebraska. I told her I lived in Texas for six years, she squealed, “Get outta here!” I said, yeah Dallas, close to Farmers Branch. We had a nice visit, spunky chat, and a handshake as she parted. I’d never see her again since my new plan was to be out of the place by weeks end!
As for Ray? Every person that came in the room that day all she could mention was how nice her roommate was, she’d whisper, “She gave me CHIPS.” Emphasis on the chips! Ray was the best part of this nursing home by far! Now… to look forward to getting out of this place.
