It's Wednesday February 10th. I didn't write yesterday. It seemed like there was so much going on and the action lasted until late last night. You see, we are in a private room now! We left ICU last night after 4 days and 4 nights. David's release papers were signed by Dr. Wudel (stating his heart was normal even without the high powered ICU only heart medicine). After all that waiting, no beds were available upstairs. The lovely Michelle, however, pulled a few strings and a bed became available late in the evening.
Moving from ICU or Isolation to the regular hospital compound was much like being a death row inmate getting a pardon. David had not seen out a window for 4 days. His soundscape had been the beeps, bleeps, coughs, and moans shared by ICU ward (countered by much laughter from the nursing staff). All privacy is stripped away in ICU, and all is done in the open, a 24/7 strip search. The care was great in ICU mind you, and many of the nurses had been so caring and generous, but that didn't change the isolation of the situation. We were now free. David was escorted by our guards, one on each side of him, and restrained by tubes in a plastic straitjacket of sorts. We were escorted past waiting families, watching the hands of the clock tick by until the magic moment when they could visit their imprisoned loved ones for precious moments that would go by only too fast. Now we were moving on up! Back to where we started (actually down the hall form 789 to 796 now).
Last night we were able to recline side by side (David in his bed and me in the chair) and hold hands and catch the news. It was almost like home.
Today is Wednesday and we have made so much progress. Things seem to move in fast forward now. Dr. Wudel pulled David's nose tube out right in front of me today. Then the nurse took out the catheter. We have walked the hallways twice and David is reading the newspaper now. He is started to look like my David again. I have learned how to unplug him myself and get him to the bathroom which seems to give us even more independence. It has been a good day. More after the barium swallow tomorrow.
Oh, one very strange thing is the music played in the hallways of St. Thomas on the main floor. I have taken to jotting them down. I know it's just Musak, but they seem to have some weird pattern in terms of styles. Since I started paying attention a few days ago, I have heard "Blue Danube" by Strauss, "Raindrops Keep Fallin on My Head", "If" (instrumental version), "It's Now or Never...My Love Won't Wait" some random Shawn Cassidy tune, and "I Could Have Danced All Night". I am not sure why I want to write these down, but I thinks it's great that the nurses, doctors, cleaning staff, and patients seem to sing along with these, even if they are alone or possibly in pain or suffering. It seems contagious and I wonder if research was done into the best feel good music for the average age of the St. Thomas constituents. Strange.
Another ICU reflection before I forget...there's some music in this place that I want to experiment with at some point. This interest has grown and grown in the past several days and I am actually relating and documenting all the different beeps in all the places we've been and paying attention to the polyrhythms that form between the machines over time. They of course, cycle out of phase with one another. The pitches add another interesting aspect as they have certain pitches depending on the particular alarm or device, but then in ICU, I could also hear far away sounds from the rooms next to us with different machines. These were at different volumes from the distance of course, and then there is the Doppler affect for same machines that sound different because of their proximity (this was especially apparent in ICU) - micro tones form from my perspective instead of whole notes and half notes. This has created a good deal of musical interest on my part in both rhythm and pitch. I am afraid my normal need for groove will not be satisfied, but maybe I can find something deeper in life support sounds - there is sure to be a different groove of sorts created.
No comments:
Post a Comment