Hello, I have a fantasy for you.
When I was 17 years old, I lost three of my fingers in a school class. The result was 8 fractures in my left arm, going from my shoulder to my wrist. My shoulder was dislocated, and my elbow also. After 15 hours of surgery, and 2 days in a coma, due to other allergies to medicine I was given, I awoke in a cast from my pelvic bone to my neck and encased my left arm completely. I was unaware of how long I was out, and what was in store for me.
In the coming months, I spent a total of 5 months in the hospital; I endured therapy of all sorts. But one I will never forget. It was repeated for 4 of those months, and almost every single day. A young nurse, her name was Betsy, was new to her duties, I had met Betsy before, but didn’t realize it until after I was released from the hospital. She visited me on a regular basis. I found out from another nurse she was actually assigned to another floor but had asked for a transfer to my floor. She made a point to do everything for me. She helped me out of bed, which was a chore as I was very unstable with this large cast on. She made sure I was clean after visiting the toilet. And made sure I was kept clean from head to toe.
When I finally decided to go for a walk, she dressed me, with a few very oversized pieces of clothing, and joined me for my little venture around the hospital. She showed me all the different floors and what types of patients were kept on each one. We finally came to the maternity ward. She could not take her eyes off the little babies behind the glass. I thought it was so sweet. I finally asked if I could return to my room as I was beginning to get really tired, very fast. She said, “OK, Hun. Anything for you.” And she helped me back to my room and proceeded to undress me and get me ready for a nap. Or so I thought. Betsy placed a syringe into my IV to ease my pain, and I fell asleep. What was in store for me was not to my liking but not for me to decide either. She had so many things planned out for me, and two other nurses involved in the project.
I eventually awoke to the sunshine coming through the window. It was so bright. I could not understand why it was. My room faced west, and by the clock on the wall, it was only 7:46am. What had happened to me? Had they moved me? Or had my heart stopped as it did during surgery? I couldn’t figure it out. I tried to reach up with my right arm to scratch my nose, but it did not move. It appeared to be in a cast now. Why? I knew I was nearing my next surgery where they were going to take muscle, tendon, and bone from my right arm and reconstruct my left hand. But this was sooner than I thought. I had no pain what so ever. It seemed to just have been placed in a cast for fun. Or so I thought. I laid there for what seemed to be hours on end. Funny thing though. I hadn’t needed to use the toilet. What had happened to these functions? Was there just nothing in my body to digest? I then started to lick my lips as they felt so dry. Nothing? I could not move my jaw. Why not? I felt something in my throat but it was like it was just dry too. Why was my mouth so dry? Suddenly, I got an itch on my foot. It was a weird itch though. I tried to move my other foot to scratch it. Nothing? What was going on? I now could not move either of my arms, or legs.
At this point the door opened and Betsy walked in. She caressed my forehead and just stared at me like I was a bar of gold or something. She started to speak, and stopped. She walked around my bed and moved some things and came back around to the other side of the bed with a mirror. As she started to hold it up, she stopped and put it back down. She said to me with a calm voice that would put a small child to sleep, “I am sorry for what I have done to you, but it had to be done. With the injuries to your left arm, you would never be able to regain full mobility with your entire upper body, as you have been the torso cast for so long.” I immediately began to wonder what all she had done. Even why she had.
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