Legends of the Fall - Part 5

We open inside a hospital awash with white florescent light with humming and beeping filling the background noises, joined by the low murmurs of nurses checking on their patients.  In one bed is a man with disheveled hair and beard, who’s eyes slowly open to a thin slit, then close tight, the effort too much. Then those eyes open slightly wider. Again, this effort expended is too much and his eyes close again.

Well, this is boring. Let’s move away from this. Maybe the nurses have something more interesting for our attention. Suddenly, the nurses pause in their duties when they hear…

...singing?

I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down

Yes, singing which is coming from the man with the disheveled hair and beard. His eyes are still closed but yes, he’s singing.

I get knocked down, but I get up again

You are never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down

And that man, dear reader, was me after the operation on my elbow.  

I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down

Perhaps I should back up a bit.

Wherewe left off with Part 4 yesterday, my mother had passed away. This not unexpected. Her pending demise was in Brunswick County in the first place. Still, there is a significant difference between the expectation of something happening and actually having something happen. Still, I remain a bit bothered by my disassociation to this event. Between being numbed by pain killers and distracted by pain when the pain killers began to wear off, the death of mother became a “oh, now I have to deal with that” type of thing instead of dominating my thoughts as much as one would expect the death of a parent to do. 

My fall and injury may have saved me from the full weight of grief. Or it stole my grief when I was most entitled to it. 

I was released from Brunswick hospital on Wednesday. I was dressed in something other than a hospital gown for the 1^st time in days. My wife and daughter had rented a car to drive down from Greensboro so she could drive us in my car (which a cousin had helpfully retrieved from the rest area).

That Wednesday was visitation at the funeral home as I sat next to my mom in her coffin greeting people. The subject of a  lot of conversation was how my arm wound up in a sling. A time to reflect on my mom and her life but my situation was usurping that moment.

The next day was the funeral which as well as one might expect a funeral to go. The dinner afterwards was pleasant and I'm grateful to the church volunteers who put it together.  

That night  I was back in Greensboro in the Fortress of Ineptitude for the first time in a week. It all felt surreal. 

The next day, Friday,  Andrea and I went to see doctors. I would have surgery Saturday morning in Greensboro's Cone Hospital. 

And the next day,  I did. 

Then I awoke in post-op recovery singing:

I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down

I remained in Cone until Tuesday when I was released.  

Two weeks later, the cast came off and I began physical therapy which I'm still involved in. I have some improved flexibility and strength in my left arm but I'm still stuck typing with one hand. That functionality is still some time away.  

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What about the TIA or "mini-stroke" thing? I have met with a neurologist and today, Saturday March 11th, I'm having an MRI done. There may be more to that story but I'll save that for another day. 

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In yesterday's post, I included this graphic:

Here is the unedited Rex Morgan MD strip by Terry Beatty that graphic was taken from. 

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Thanks for reading. Remember to be good to one another.