Next Days at Hospital

The stomach is indeed not very smart. It was the last part of the body to wake up after a drug-induced sleep. I threw up most of the things I ate on the second day. The nurses gave me anti-vomit pills to take with the painkillers. They also gave me several kinds of laxatives. I normally love food, but even a whiff of food made me sick. This must be what it feels like when you're pregnant. Very sad. In the meantime, the bruises and swelling began. After fighting the pain for hours I gave up. That night I put on my most pathetic face and asked for morphine. The nice nurse who smelled like Body Shop’s White Musk injected some into my stomach. It worked wonderfully and I slept comfortably through the night.

There was no drama after that. I learned to raid the pantry for Arnotts biscuit to eat with my pain killers. It kept me from throwing up. The next night nurse was a young Asian guy. He looked a bit like Tuo Ming Se, with Hwa Ce Lei’s haircut. I guessed that he was from Thailand or the Phillipines. When I saw him I immediately thought of my dear friends back home who are big fans of F4 and I tried very hard not to grin too widely.

Days began to pass more quickly. I couldn’t wait to get the drain off. The good doctors visited me throughout the weekend. On Monday the nurse announced that the doctors said it was ok to go home. Yeeeiiy!! She would take the drain out soon. Yippie!! (Actually I was also a bit scared of the procedure.) She left and I watched TV absent-mindedly, and trying not to panic. I heard the nurses chatting outside my room.
“Can I watch? I’ve never taken a drain out…”
“Sure.”
When a nurse came half an hour later, I recognized her voice. She was the one who said “I’ve never taken a drain out..” and she came alone… That freaked me out a bit. I asked her where she was from. 'The Phillipines.' I told her she looked like an Indonesian. 'Many people said that.' Then I asked her if she had done this before. She was miffed.
“My dear, I have been a nurse for years!”
Ooops. But my dear, I heard what you said, with my own ears. What were you talking about, then?
“I’ll just cut the stitches here (snip) and here (snip)… Now take a deep breath. I will count to three and then I will pull it out.”
“I don’t like the sound of that…”
“I’ll give you some pain killers later if you need it.”
“OK. I’m ready.”
“One, two, three …” the tube came out, then the absorbent tape. It looked like a big, fat fettuccine. And about that long, too.
“Wow, that’s long …”
“I’ll put a bandage over it. Place your hand here … Yes. And put some pressure on it for five minutes. OK?”
Big sigh of relief. “Thank you.”