I have no idea what all has happened to
me over the last few days. My doctor said the procedure would be a
simple one. While I would have to stay in the hospital overnight, it
shouldn't have been more than a day or two. I checked in almost a
week ago and they still haven't given me a definite release date yet.
I have a grasp on most of the medical
issues that have kept me from going home. They are all dictated
clearly on my chart. An unexpected allergy to the anesthesia caused
some complications during the surgery. It took me an extra day to
recover from the anaphylactic shock before they could go to an
alternate anesthesia and actually perform the surgery that I first
needed. It took me longer than normal to completely wake up from the
alternate anesthesia The doctor had actually told me this was a
possibility with what they had experienced during the first attempt
at my surgery. It was what happened while I was in and out of it
during the day it took me to wake up that has me confused.
I only remember flashes and bits and
pieces. I was on a gurney and being wheeled down a bright hallway.
There were lots of people and noises. I can only guess that
something major was happening. Next thing I know, I'm still on the
gurney but in a darker part of the hospital. I'm being wheeled into
a room with yellow walls instead of the white I've seen everywhere
else. The attendant rolls my gurney into a space by the window and
quickly leaves. I was too in and out of consciousness to realize I
was now completely alone. At least I thought I was.
I couldn't tell you how much time
passed while I was alone in that room. I just remember waking up to
voices and nobody being there. Generally, it was only one person
talking. It was difficult to make out his words, either from his
soft voice or because the drugs in my system. I did think I heard
the name Dr. Rizowski. I got the impression he was speaking to me,
but I couldn't see him to be certain. Sometimes, I would hear more
than one voice. Whole conversations passing back and forth over my
sleeping body. I understood none of it.
Finally, I was starting to have more
waking moments than not. The voices were still there. I looked
around the room and saw nobody was there. I looked over the walls
for a television or radio, there wasn't one at all. The only other
thing I could think of was a loud TV or radio in another room. An
orderly eventually came into the room and apologized for me being
left alone for so long. Apparently, there had been a major accident
involving a cattle truck and a passenger train. The hospital staff
had been swamped with injured people and a couple of officers that
were hurt by panicked cows. What happened next extended my stay in
the hospital for a few days under observation.
The orderly repeatedly apologized for
me being left in an abandoned wing of the hospital. It was little
more than a mumble, but I told him I had heard voices in that wing.
The orderly only shook his head. He said the entire wing had been
unused since the hospital expanded. The previous guy had been in a
rush to help with the people hurt in the train and had left me
somewhere he felt would be out of the way. It had taken the majority
of the day for someone to realize I wasn't where I was supposed to be
and start looking for me. I mentioned that Dr. Rizowski had visited
with me. The orderly suddenly stopped and asked me to repeat the
name. I did and he was silent the rest of the trip to my new room.
I was watching some pointless show in
my new room when someone from the psychological department came to
visit me. The orderly had mentioned what I had said to her and she
wanted to check on my mental faculties before signing my release.
She informed me that there was no Dr. Rizowski currently working in
the hospital. The only doctor with a name like that had been killed
by a patient's disgruntled family member years ago. The hospital
kept me three extra days to ensure my reactions to the anesthesia
hadn't done any permanent damage to my brain. I quickly realized I
didn't want to tell them about all of the other voices in that room
so they would let me go home sooner.
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