It was a Tuesday morning, another day in room S8-42, still feeling the pain of open heart surgery, and at this point was forgetting about all the other important things in my life, but just thinking about if I’ll ever fully recover from this critical operation!
You try not to think about it too much, but you just find yourself wondering when this recovery process will all end, and when you will feel more like “yourself” again.
The usual routine in the hospital ward would go on, with small victories of getting something to eat, or doing something easier today than what it felt like yesterday.
You just want to take a shower, get dressed and just feel normal again!… but alas, there are still many more treatments, daily physio-therapy, breathing exercises, more medications for one thing or another.
My scheduled “zipper” removal of those 50 (or so) surgical staples was finally going to happen… although the mere thought of that was a bit un-easy, as I thought that it would be quite uncomfortable to go through.
The nurse on duty had come to do this treatment in the afternoon, and with some special medical supplies, and then began to remove those staples one by one. It was somewhat uncomfortable for sure, but not unbearable. The nurse asked me if I wanted to keep the staples as a “souvenir”… but no thanks, I was just glad to be rid of them. The nurse used a special tool, something shaped like nose-pliers, and a tin container to drop the heavy staples in… it was like “clip, clip, clunk”… for each staple being removed. It’s like I really needed to hear that? Afterwards there was some type of small “bandage tape” (sutures) that was put near each spot where the staples were.
Anyway, after that ordeal was done, I just settled back into bed, did some reading and falling asleep to catch up on the much needed sleep… as you get so few hours of real sleep in a hospital. Just when you’d be falling off to sleep, something would wake you up, or the nurse would stop by to bring you medication or take your blood pressure & temperature, this could happen at different times of the day.
Evenings were always something to look forward to… as sometimes family and friends would visit, or there might be a Canadiens hockey game to watch. Time felt like it was “standing still”… all the time you just keep feeling like will this ever end, when could you finally get back home and start your life again. The thought process would be difficult at times, especially when you’ve had an active and busy life to all of a sudden come to a screeching halt!… it was strange to process and try to be positive on things… and the medical system can help heal you of the physical problem you’re going through, but the psychological side of things, tend to be forgotten.
Later that evening, I was taking my exercise walk in the hallway and noticed two police officers just sitting outside a patient’s room… a bit strange I thought, as they would stay near that room and were watching carefully everyone who came near the room. My guess is that there was a certain police matter about the man. This went on for the remaining week, as different police officers would come and go, and guard this patient’s room. Perhaps the man was a criminal who was critically wounded, or maybe he had to be protected from someone, not sure. I was somewhat of a worrisome thought
Well the next day would be another day of recovery, and just trying to build up some strength again with certain physio exercises and walking up and down the hallway and breathing exercises. Always connected to an IV unit, and rolling it around with you all day.
Thanks for reading… until another day then, and still another week or so to go before I finally return home for good! 
