Status: Completed
'Cause the Hardest Part of This is Leaving You.
Sing. Part I
I know I'm in a Hospital as soon as I open my eyes. They all smell the same, and the line hooked into my arm is scarring familiar. After all this time, after all these test, you'd think I'd been immune to needles by now. But I'm not, and every time one comes near me, my throat cuts off and my hands clench. I try to sit up in bed, but my head crashes and bile crawls it's way up to my throat. A nurse rushes over with a sick bag, but she's too late. Most of it goes over me and the sheets.
" Never mind, " she says. " We'll clean it up soon. " She better hurry up because I can feel more coming up.
" Doctor will be here soon. " she says.
Nurses never tell you what they know. They're hired for their cheeriness and the thickness of their hair. They need to look alive and healthy, to give the patients something to aim for.
" Roll over. " she tells me with a clean gown in her hand. It takes some fiddling around but I'm now in a fresh gown. She whisks the bed sheets from under me and conjures up fresh ones. " Now let's roll you back again. Ready? That's it, all done. Ah, and what good timing - the doctor's here. "
He's bald and probably middle aged. He greets me polity and drags a chair from under the window to sit by the bed. I keep hoping that in some hospital somewhere in this country I'll bump into the perfect doctor, but none of them are ever right. I want a magician with a cloak and a wand, or a knight with a sword, someone fearless. This one is bald and as polite as a salesman.
" Gerard, " he says, " do you know what hypercalaemia is? "
" If I say no, can I have something else? "
He looks bemused, and that's the trouble - they never quite get the joke. I wish he had an assistant. A jester would be good, someone to tickle him with a feathers while he delivers his medical opinion. But he just flips through his chart on his lap and says " Hypercalaemia is a condition where your calcium levels become very high. We're giving you bisphosphonates, which will bring those levels down. You should be feeling less nauseous already. "
" Do you have any questions? "
He looks at me expectantly and I hate to disappoint him, but what could I possibly ask of this ordinary little man? he tells me that the nurse will give me something to help me sleep. he stands up, nods and walks out the door.
" Never mind, " she says. " We'll clean it up soon. " She better hurry up because I can feel more coming up.
" Doctor will be here soon. " she says.
Nurses never tell you what they know. They're hired for their cheeriness and the thickness of their hair. They need to look alive and healthy, to give the patients something to aim for.
" Roll over. " she tells me with a clean gown in her hand. It takes some fiddling around but I'm now in a fresh gown. She whisks the bed sheets from under me and conjures up fresh ones. " Now let's roll you back again. Ready? That's it, all done. Ah, and what good timing - the doctor's here. "
He's bald and probably middle aged. He greets me polity and drags a chair from under the window to sit by the bed. I keep hoping that in some hospital somewhere in this country I'll bump into the perfect doctor, but none of them are ever right. I want a magician with a cloak and a wand, or a knight with a sword, someone fearless. This one is bald and as polite as a salesman.
" Gerard, " he says, " do you know what hypercalaemia is? "
" If I say no, can I have something else? "
He looks bemused, and that's the trouble - they never quite get the joke. I wish he had an assistant. A jester would be good, someone to tickle him with a feathers while he delivers his medical opinion. But he just flips through his chart on his lap and says " Hypercalaemia is a condition where your calcium levels become very high. We're giving you bisphosphonates, which will bring those levels down. You should be feeling less nauseous already. "
" Do you have any questions? "
He looks at me expectantly and I hate to disappoint him, but what could I possibly ask of this ordinary little man? he tells me that the nurse will give me something to help me sleep. he stands up, nods and walks out the door.