ch21:ALONE;partII

Ch21;continued;part2;

this was the CHEST TUBE, that hadn't been in long, but it WAS driving me crazy, it was making me neurotic, i was always checking it to make sure it was not clotted, and i was afraid to lay in the bed, thinking fluid would pool up in the bottom of my lungs...strange though, it didn't hurt - at all - but still, i knew i'd feel better when it was out, i'd feel a little more normal and less jittery and anxious.




yes, it WAS their voices i heard, but it wasn't ME on their list, not until about 2pm or so, and the spaghetti had gotten cold anyway, too bad too, because i WAS hungry and i could have gotten away with eating....anyway



M eventually came in, smiling and being good - bed-side manner-wise - and the nurse came in too, i have to give her credit, G I'll call her, i didn't trust her at all when i first met G, but she ended up doing a REALLY good job that day...so thank goodness for her...



ok, so M said she'd get the chest tube out of me. 'good!' i thought to myself. i was nervous, but i trust M, i know she'd do a good job, she was there that night when Dr. A had to put it in, oooh (shivers....)



so i rolled to the side and talked to them. 'i'm nervous,' i said, i was even shaking a little, trembling even. 'i want to make sure everything's sterile and everything...' M and G, they were kind and reassuring and M said, 'remember how to do this? take a deep breath IN, then blow out...'



i told her yes, but asked M to do it with me, and she was kind and she did, she breathed in, and breathed out with me as she pulled the thing out of me. I was relieved. It didn't hurt, but still, i said, 'GOSH, it's like pulling a snake out of me!' M just smiled, and G did too - she was busy holding me to the side so couldn't really do much more than that.



then M put a good, sturdy bandage over it. then she explained, in her thick, but kind accent, 'now, you might expect a little drainage from that wound. but that's ok, you'd want that stuff OUT of you instead of IN you, right Joanna?' i just nodded, i was still kind of out of breath from the trauma and being so nervous about her taking out the tube...



ha ha...the minute G let me go and i rolled back into the regular position, i could feel the warm fluid gush out of the wound and pool around inside the bandage.



'i can feel some of it come out,' i told M. She was just taking off her gloves and took a quick look and said, 'well, there will be a little drainage, but it hasn't soaked through the dressing, it's ok...' i knew she was already on to her next task, in her head at least, and was on her way out...



so M and G left. I felt a little more of the warm gush coming out, but i tensed up because it was making me nervous and i didn't want to say anything.

JOANNAJEAN
(Part III next...)