I believe it's important to say "thank you" to those who are kind to us. So today's blog post is my humble attempt to do just that. My stay at Weiss was for three weeks; immediately followed by my two week stay at a physical rehab facility, Wesley Place. If you'd ever need their services (heaven forbid), you would be in very good hands at these two places.
On Feb. 19, I was admitted to Weiss Memorial Hospital. When I had tried to stand at home, I suffered an excruciating pain in my right thigh. I could stand up only with great difficulty, and walking was nearly impossible. This came out of nowhere. I thought, "Great! This is all I need. It's bad enough that I've been battling cancer for two-and-a-half years. Now this?!" When I called my doctor, he said to call an ambulance to have me taken to Weiss which is about 10 blocks from where I live.
As it turns out, I was operated on to relieve pressure on a nerve in my L2 vertebrae. This was considered to be a very minor operation, which required only a small incision. After that, my right leg was fine - but only for three days. The original problem had been fixed but three days after the operation, I acquired a condition in my right foot called drop foot. I could still walk, but only with a hobbled and slow gait. I was also diagnosed with a fluid build-up in my pericardial sac and my lungs. These required immediate surgery to drain this fluid. I just had an operation within the last three months at another hospital to drain the fluid build-up around my heart.
Obviously, this build-up recurred, leaving me wondering, "Am I going to need drainage surgery every three months for the rest of my life?" No one could predict an answer, though they said I would need to be periodically monitored.
Oh, and I developed shingles on my inner, right thigh. Turns out, I was quite a train wreck, which is why I had to stay at Weiss for three weeks. Then I was transferred to Wesley Place so I could work on my drop foot. Unfortunately, I still have drop foot, even though the staff at Wesley tried their best to help me walk with a bit more ease. I was told that my drop foot might heal in time, might remain with me as is for the rest of my life, or somewhere in between. I'm trying to arrange for more intensive intervention at yet another hospital about three blocks from where I live.
But I digress.
One notable instance of "above-and-beyond" I experienced at Wesley: I told the staff I was a blogger but don't have my own laptop. So they set up one of their laptops in my room for my exclusive use for ten days, which BTW I didn't have to pay for. Wesley is primarily for senior citizens, so I suppose that would include 62-year-old me. However, I had to be the healthiest patient there, since I saw so many who were so frail looking and confined to wheel chairs. I could easily see that a lot of people are a whole lot worse off than I am.
At Weiss, one of the nurses arranged for me to see the movie "The Interview" on a hospital laptop wheeled into my room. She used her own Netflix account to stream this movie. I had told her that I was bored out of my skull, waiting for the healing process to end. So she thought of this lovely gesture to help me out. She was also one of many at Weiss who listened to me. Anyone who reads my blog posts knows I'm very opinionated. So I took advantage of their patience and willingness to listen by speaking about my feelings concerning what I think lies in store for us in the Great Beyond.
This chance to vent was quite unexpected. Normally, I encounter massive indifference to my ramblings. But the folks at Weiss gave me their time and seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. True, they could have just been trying to humor an old man. But that didn't seem to be the case. I even told one nurse, "Everyone at Weiss is so remarkable in their kindness, I'm almost in shock. In my life experience, I've met more than my share of Type A assholes and bullies. I seem to attract them. So the Weiss family stands in sharp contrast to this."
Again, I thank Weiss and Wesley very much. Bless your hearts.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Steven Searle, just another member of the
Virtual Samgha of the Lotus and
Former Candidate for USA President (in 2008 & 2012)
Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment