Sunday, May 10, 2015

A Hospital Tradition

Twice now in our twenty years together, Madame Padre has had to spend a few nights in hospital.

The first time, early on in our time together, she was working in a garden centre and was required to wear steel-toed workbooks.   Her hastily purchased pair pinched her toes, a problem she solved by wrapping her blistered toes in tape and gauze and soldiering on, without complaining.  She’s a trooper, that girl.   However, I was increasingly concerned and on day four, noticed first that she was acting erratically, and second that her feet smelled brutal.   I rushed her to hospital and the verdict was compression gangrene.   Miraculously, she met a doctor who was willing to throw a broadband of antibiotics at her rather than consider amputation, which was a very real possibility given that she is a Type 1 Diabetic.   After a few days, things got under control, but for the next six weeks she took the drugs through an intravenous line, or PICC (peripherally inserted central catheter) that ran through her arm and up into her chest cavity.

Despite this impediment she sneaked out of hospital to sit an exam at the local college for her Landscape Design diploma, and afterwards, basically ignored her doctor’s warning not to do any lifting because the line in her chest could be disturbed and damage her heart.  One day I came home from work and found her moving 20 pound rocks to relay a garden bed.   Perhaps those sorts of antics are why I love her.

The first time she was in hospital, I would bring the Scrabble game and we would while away the evenings.  Scrabble is our favourite game, though neither of us is very good at it.   We have siblings who memorize ten words a day and play competitively.  We’re not like that.  We muddle through at between 200-300 points each per game.  I won all those hospital games, though she claimed the medicine made her lightheaded and she was at a disadvantage. I say I won, fair and square.

This week we had the chance to play Scrabble again in hospital.   Madame Padre had been experiencing cramps and pains in her nether regions form some time, and an ultrasound led her doctor to believe that the culprit was an ovarian cyst.   Best have the lady bits out, he told her, since you’re not really using them anymore.  It was a longer and more complicated operation than we had been led to believe, which meant an incarceration of three days and nights.   She felt up to a scrabble game on the second night.

Madame Padre’s game is not off to a good start.  Here she adopts the post of Rodin’s “Thinker” to intimidate me.


Here’s the reason for that furrowed brow.   What a terrible set of tiles to draw!   I almost felt sorry for her.

Madame Padre is home now and getting stronger and peskier by the day.  The surgery discovered a few more problems than we had been led to expect, and the way ahead will be arduous, but I have no doubt that my girl will push through in her own stubborn way.    I would be grateful if you would keep us in your thoughts.

Oh, I almost forgot.  I won that scrabble game, but in the words of the Duke, it was a damned near thing.

Blessings to us all.

MP+ 

24 comments:

  1. LUVIS - Says a lot.

    I hope she's recovering well.

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  2. My best wishes to Madame Padre for a full recovery. You "almost felt sorry for her," eh? You are, indeed, competitive, my friend!

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  3. Huzzah for Scrabble; Post-op recovery is no excuse for going easy on your opponent! ;-)

    Best wishes to Mrs. P.

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  4. We went through something very similar last year, followed by a couple of trips to the emergency room as she developed rashes, on the inside of her body. It took awhile to figure that one out, but happily once they did we can treat it with Benadryl. Best of luck to both of you, her on the recovery and you on surviving her determination.

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  5. Best wishes to Madame Padre as she begins the road to recovery.
    Alan

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  6. Mike, best wishes for M.Padre and for a prompt recovery
    You have to take her on a holiday.... May be to Spain next time? In addition to nice museums and monuments we have a very active Lardite community 😉

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  7. Wishing Madam Padre a speedy recovery and a more successful game of Scrabble next time. Solidarity among Garden Centre workers (past and present).

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  8. Isn't Uluuvsi a provincial town in Finland? If not then it ought to be!
    Best wishes to Mme Padre for a swift recovery. According to recent medical research which I've just invented, painting toy soldiers is an aid to convalesence....

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  9. I LUVS U. That's the way today's youngsters speak via their newfangled electronic text thingies. Or so.
    All the best to you and Mrs. P! I know how boring hospitals are, games are a good way to distract from the dreary surroundings.

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  10. Scrabble. I like the game, but can't win it as I always tumble on weird sequence of high point letter.

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  11. May she recover swiftly and live long with you at her side.

    I found our dusty Scrabble game at the back of a cupboard last fall. Been decades since we played.

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  12. Best wishes to both of you and I hope for a fast recovery for Madame Padre.

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  13. Having just spent a few days unwell myself I find this story a mite too touching. Perhaps its the codeine typing but those U's look like W's.

    Best wishes to you both. Let her win a game next time!

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  14. Oh man she deserves a medal for going through all that. All my wishes for a speedy recovery from the surgery.

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  15. Best wishes for a speedy and full recovery. I do hope you've given her a bell to summon you appropriately.

    After my strokes, I had my Dr write a PX for a bell as a joke. Sadly, it wasn't ever filled....

    Best of luck

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  16. Sending lots of healing thoughts and wishing for a speedy recovery.

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  17. Best wishes indeed to your brave missus Mike. Am sure with you by her bedside, she will have all the support she'll need though. :)

    That Scrabble draw was indeed ugly. Best I could come up with is "luvs", which I'm not even sure is a real word. (7 points)

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  18. Please send along a get well soon from me.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

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  19. Best wishes and a rapid recovery to Madam Padre. Respectfully, Scott

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  20. All the best to you both. Your missus sounds like one tough lady, Dude. 'VIS' as in 'vis inertiae' probably won't do for a word, and all... Maybe play 'IS' and pretend she's going second might be the way to go... :-) I'm not that crash hot at scrabble myself.

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  21. Many thanks to each and every one of you for the kind comments and thoughts. Madame Padre is indeed doing well, and not a word of complaint or self-pity has escaped her lips, just determination to beat this thing. The day she came home from hospital, she insisted on a tour of her garden, with my hand on her arm to steady her. Now she doesn't need the hand, and she's out inspecting the plants three or four times a day by herself As you can tell, I LUVS her a lot. :)
    Cheers,
    M

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  22. Just catching up on my blog reading - glad to hear she's making a good recovery. In terms of that scrabble draw, surely there a word she can make in elvish?

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  23. 'Uulusiv' - a Clingon word meaning 'Uulusiv'.

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