My last morning at the hospital was nothing short of amazing, in a very good way. I had the most delicious sleep which was a miracle considering I was in a hospital hooked up to machines that kept going off – tracking something or another. But at nine pm (2100) I checked out and checked back in at 6 am (6). Roomie and I had the following conversation.
Me: I cannot believe the wonderful sleep I had. It was amazing I could sleep so long and in such peace. I think it is because of the heating pad. It works better than the hot water bottle I sleep with at home.
Roomie: Yes, Sometimes sleeping with something warm can make the whole difference.
Me: Yes! And a heating pad is much easier to manage than a man.
Roomie: You can say that again.
Me: A heating pad is much easier to manage than a man.
Roomie: Hahahahaha
Me: So all one needs is a heating pad and a vibrator. Goodbye men.
Roomie: You are so nasty – you do not have a filter, that person was right.
So you can see why Roomie and I had such fun. She was a gift. We were so good for one another. Unfortunately the first night we giggled all evening and did not get any sleep. But we bonded mostly because we both have a weird sense of humour and a similar view of life although we essentially do not have a great deal in common. She was in a long term marriage that ended with the tragic death of her husband, she has a son (me no kids), lives in a small town, has animals. None of this is me – that is for sure. We do have one thing in common which I will share, but only with her permission.
I woke from my solid sleep to a sunrise. Of course I had to take a picture of it which will be included on the blog. I repeated to Roomie and staff a saying from Brownie camp. We greeted the day with this.
Me: God has created a new day. Silver and green and gold. Live that the sunset may find us. Worthy his gift to behold.
They: That is beautiful, what a way to start the day.
Me: Yes, and it stayed in the recesses of my brain for years and years and years.
Then it was breakfast which was deftly ordered by me for the two of us. I became the food orderer. There is this massive menu, a patient calls a number, places an order and then it is brought to you. It is sort of a pain in the ass – but I was very good at ordering and Roomie had some problems in the past. I can be so helpful sometimes. Hahahaha
Then help was on the way. The first person to arrive was an Occupational Therapist. She asked me about my life, about the conditions I would face upon my release from hospital. I live alone so there are concerns. We walked around the fourth floor, she assessing my capabilities. We came upon an amazing work of art, a Chinese ink drawing with Chinese characters.
Me: Look at that! I did briefly try Chinese ink drawing. I was terrible at it. Those characters must say something.
Well, it was rather a miracle, because she was from Taiwan and could translate. .
She: It says: Everything Is Smooth
Me: OMG . That gives the drawing so much meaning to know that! Otherwise it would just be a graceful shape.
Then I went back to the room, showed Roomie a picture of the paining and the translation and she was SO impressed as well and we related this to the conversations we had been having over the past few days. One just has to get through the troubled times and then, if you are hopeful and optimistic, things will smooth out. The troubled times are actually part of the process. Optimism: hopefulness hope, confidence, buoyancy, cheer, good cheer, cheerfulness, sanguineness, positiveness, positive attitude. ANTONYMS pessimism.
It is so important to have a positive attitude, to be buoyant, to be of good cheer and not be pessimistic. What is an attitude? It is a point of view, view, viewpoint, vantage point, frame of mind, way of thinking, way of looking at things, school of thought, outlook, angle, slant, perspective, reaction, stance, standpoint, position, inclination, orientation, approach; opinion, ideas, belief, convictions, feelings, sentiments, persuasion, thoughts, thinking, interpretation.
So if one has a positive frame of mind, a way of thinking and looking at things, a belief that things are going to be smooth in the end – then your life works. On the other hand, if you are pessimistic it is going to be bumpy. Pessimism: negative thinking, negativity, expecting the worst, doom and gloom, gloom, gloominess lack of hope, cynicism, fatalism, depression, despair, melancholy, despondency, dejection, angst, distrust, doubt; German Weltschmerz; informal looking on the black side.
If you look on the black side you are going to have a bumpy journey down a black hole. I am actually too optimistic and need to develop some doom and gloom, just a little. That way I will not be too surprised or defeated when things do not work out. I am practicing gloom and doom.
You will NEVER guess what happened. CPI and I were, this morning, email exchanging our different experiences in the hospital. It was hilarious.
CPI: Bonding with a roomie would help the hospital stay – didn’t happen with me. Let’s see… particular memory of Robert who used his urinal and left it and contents on his bedside table just before dinner – thank God for curtains. He (Robert, not God) had a visitor who read from some sort of holy or inspirational text every day for a week. Robert had a melt-down in the middle of the night before he was to go home and received a stern and quite loud lecture from the night nurse about the difference between a hospital and a “home”. I had a nice view though.
Me: I had a nice view as well and took a photograph of the sunrise on my last day there. It was beautiful. But this is what happened yesterday.
I dutifully went to visit Roomie after my release. She was not there – I totally panicked because she was absolutely not ready for release. Therefore I reasoned she was dead. And of course, not being a family member, they could not tell me anything. I saw one of my favourite nurses in the lobby and was told that Roomie was released to a hospital closer to where she lived – a small town in central California. But really against her will because she had determined that she could not manage anymore living alone with all of her animals. She had a son – I guess the decisions were made by him. We were so smart not to have children. I got out because, although I lived alone, I had an elevator in my building, a concierge so incredibly helpful, arrange food delivery if need be and can afford to hire cleaners. All this is possible because I did not have children, allowing a huge retirement income because there was no ‘break in service”, I fund my own education (massive as it is) because I do not have to pay for someone else’s college expenses. I could divorce with impunity because no kids to worry about and I was smart enough to have a prenuptial agreement which meant that Husband #3 could not touch any of my retirement. I am actually going to blog this. If women practised what I preach their life would be a whole lot easier and they would not get kicked out of the hospital against their will.
The photographs are the sunrise that greeted me and the Chinese ink drawing.
