MY HOSPITAL ROOMIE---PART 3

****UPDATE: The energy is coming back to me.....thank the Lord. I am home today with all 3 kids, because none of them feel well. As soon as the cabinet men (who are here installing some things in my laundry room) depart, we are heading to the pediatricians to have everyone checked out. And I might make a stop at the grocery store on the way back home......I have been surviving on valentine pixi sticks and leftover spinach dip (from the Holiday Shower here at the house on Sunday). Neither of which fall into any food group that is very noursihing. So, as I know you are so eager to anticipate the ending.....continue on with Part 3......

• It turned into Thursday alright......Yep….it was all good until it ended. But isn’t that how it is with everything else? So, around 2:30 a.m., I hear ‘click’. It takes me a few seconds to realize what has happened, but I soon gather all my senses and access the situation. I can hear, and feel, that the air is still flowing on high across the room. I did not hear any noise of Ms. Nettie getting out of bed, so what was the ‘click’? Then I open my eyes…..and am blinded by what seems to be the paparazzi in fluorescent bulb form, hovering over head. She had turned her side of the lights on. click.

Now, really, have you ever been in a semi-private room. It’s not semi-private. Basically you are just as well to draw an imaginary line down the center of the room and call it the same thing. Because whatever happens on either side, happens to the other as well. The bright lights were not in any way subdued by the lovely curtain that hang between us. Not in any way. So, I wait a few minutes, quietly in my bed. Ms. Nettie doesn’t stir around. I had thought maybe she needed to take a trip to the bathroom or something. But nothing. It’s just silence and light. Lots and lots of light. After about 15 minutes, I speak up….”Ms. Nettie, are you okay over there?”…….”oh, sure, I’m fine.”…….”do you need me to help you get to the bathroom or call the nurse for you or anything?”…….”no, I’m fine.”…….

• So, she doesn’t sleep long at night. Lovely. That’s so what I was looking forward to…..a party in our room around 3 a.m. I lay there thinking of all the reasons why I really need a private room, and all the reasons why I really need my rest, and all the reasons why I just love it dark and cold. I also took lots of deep breaths. Inhale. Exhale. And then I decide to crawl out of bed and check on her. I gather my IV pole and walk around the curtain to see what’s up.

And it’s just as I suspected. Ms. Nettie, like many elderly people I know, only need 3 hours of sleep at night. She looks bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and ready to go. I don’t think she has any idea it’s 3 in the morning---although clearly, outside her window it's pitch black, the sun is still asleep. There’s nothing I can do. She’s not going back to sleep, which means, I’m not going back to sleep either. I think about the fact that I could possibly buzz the nurse and ask to go back on the clear liquid diet. And this time, I’m asking for a glass of white wine…..it’s clear, and it’s liquid, where’s the harm in that?

Realizing they won’t bring me wine, even if I say it's for medical reasons (you know it's good for your heart), I devise another plan. I offer Ms. Nettie my 2 magazines a friend brought. You know, sometimes when you read, it tires your eyes and you can go back to sleep. She smiles and takes them. I lay back down. And hear the flipping of pages. Realizing I am not going back to sleep, I get up and busy myself. I read for a while. It doesn’t look like the light’s going back off anytime soon on Nettie’s side, so I break out the laptop.

It is then that I realize I am going to need something to drink & a snack, if I’m gonna burn the midnight (or 4am) oil. So, I ask Ms. Nettie if she needs anything. I call to the nurse and order us a cocktail. Welcome to happy hour in room 514. They promptly come in with drinks for everyone, a Dr. Pepper for Ms. Nettie and a Mt. Dew for me. We are the only ones ordering from the bartender. Kudos to the night shift’s fast service. It seems everyone else is, you know, sleeping. What a novel idea.

• I did hop up and decide to grab myself a little chocolate from the hiding spot on my side of the closet. Okay, now I’m all set. Drink, chocolate and the laptop. I try to ignore the feeling that something isn’t right, although it seems I have all I need. The seconds on the clock seem to last for hours. I realize that maybe, just maybe, I need to ignore my needs and see about my roommate. I know, I know, it was one of those moments the Lord was not gently guiding me….he was giving me a big shove. I speak up again….”Ms. Nettie, are you feeling sleepy?”……”no, honey, I’m wide awake”…….”would you like a piece of chocolate?”…….”that sounds good”…

So, I put away my little snack bar set-up and wheel my IV pole around to her side of the room. I drop a couple gold foil-wrapped goodies on her lap as I prop across her cart. We chat a while….mostly talking about our children, her grandkids, her daughter-in-laws, the town she lives in, her favorite foods, the foods she hated today from the hospital tray…….... And I realize, that maybe she just couldn't sleep, for whatever reasons, she may have just wanted someone to talk to….she may have just wanted a neighbor.

• So, I tried to be neighborly. I look closely at her incision from the previous morning’s surgery. It’s in the crook of her arm…...and it’s the 3rd time they’ve had to do surgery to find a site for her dialysis. They are trying to find an area on her body to be able to go in for the dialysis because they can’t continue to use the tubing in her chest area. I learned all about when she started dialysis, how she had to quit her job because she has to have dialysis 3 times a week, her arms are all scarred up where they have tried and failed on previous surgeries, etc.etc.etc. And in those moments I realize how thankful I am to have been awakened for just this time….. for just this purpose to listen…..for just this small semi-private room to see the work of the Lord…..it was a blessing in my heart. A thankful reminder to be grateful for my health.

Eventually, as the rest of the hospital “greeted the morning sun”, and folks were scurrying about, I went back and settled into my bed again. The lights stayed on…..the sun was rising anyway. And so I prayed for Ms. Nettie and her dialysis. I prayed for her strength. I prayed that this time, the surgical site would work as it should. And I thanked the Lord, for sending me a roommate to show me the truth written right in HIS living WORD…….

• “The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ~~~~Galatians 5:14

Ms. Nettie left around 7:30 that morning, for a 4 hour round of dialysis downstairs, before she could leave the hospital to go home. I ate a bowl of grits and crawled back under the covers for some rest. But I left the lights on. A gentle reminder of the night.

~~The End