Last night they shanghaied me back to the hospital and shoved me into an unlit room, couldn’t see a thing. No call button to press. No light fixture. I yelled for help, louder and louder, but nobody came (“‘Cause no one would’ve come if I’d yelled ‘Chocolate!'” –The Smothers Brothers).
First I sleepwalked, then fell back on the bed. It struck me that this was way too big to be a regular hospital bed. When I finally did get the shade up, it looked like my neighborhood outside. Then, shambling around in the dark, I found a door and opened it.
Eureka! I cautiously went down the stairs, hoping to wake my wife so she could tell me what was going on. There we were in our living room. The clock read midnight.
Okay, it was a dream–a frightfully convincing one. It certainly took me a while to realize that it was a dream. If you have a nightmare set in Macbeth’s Castle, that’s bad enough.. But when the monster’s already in your bedroom, then you’ve got a problem.
Gonna take me a while to get my head straightened out.
It’s strange how that works. I occasionally have dreams about a frustrating employment situation I survived, and will wake up thinking about workplace responsibilities and frustrations which are behind me. That’s just the way the mind deals with frustrating, even emotionally traumatic experiences. It will get better. It’s good to have you back.
Wow, what a horrible experience! And yes, those nightmares that are so close to the reality we’ve experienced or feared are the hardest to shake off. Sometimes it takes listening to good music and eating a good meal to chase the mental monsters away. Which reminds me … are you able to eat normally now, after your surgery?
They won’t let me eat fresh fruit and vegetables. It’ hard to bear.
Is that forever, or just for a specified length of time? And is it only raw veggies that are on the verboten list, or cooked ones as well? If the latter, my heart goes out to you. I can’t imagine life without veggies.
Supposedly they’re gonna take me off this confounded diet next week.
It’s not uncommon to restrict fiber after intestinal surgery. They’ll lift this restriction soon.
I fervently hope so.
Stay positive. You’ve come through a lot, successfully. I have every confidence in your recovery.
Gee, I don’t. My morale is shot.