chapter 10: part 6

continued from chapter 10: part 5

We returned to our new house feeling exhausted but looking forward to settling in.

I busily set myself to unpacking, threading my way through the furniture to put things away. Blame it on the tiredness, but I stepped over Hal three times before I realized he was stretched out on the narrow corridor floor, since the bed wasn’t together as yet and he was beyond uncomfortable. I found the bed and the bedding and got him settled. His condition worsened during the day and evening.

The next morning, I packed him into the car and drove him to the emergency room back in our old neighborhood. His blockage had indeed re-occurred and he was admitted for further surgery, this time to do a by-pass of the old surgical site. This was considered palliative surgery; it was intended to make him more comfortable, at least for a while.

Early on the morning of Hal’s surgery, I dressed to prepare the drive to the hospital ; I was frightened and sobbing to myself. I had enough sense to know I had to get myself into a better frame of mind before I left for the hospital, so I pushed past the debris and settled in my favorite chair. When my body felt as relaxed as it was possible to be, I said to that inner light I knew looked after me, "Look, this operation is terribly serious and Hal has been warned there may be complications; what kind of strength can I bring to put him in the best frame of mind for this?"

The answer was short and sweet-- sing. Had I just been short-circuited? There isn’t anyone anywhere who will tell you that I should be encouraged to so much as hum. All right then, I’ll sing. But what? “Oklahoma” came into my head and I don’t know any words past the second line. Fake it. I began to sing at the top of my lungs and quickly the shaky sobs disappeared and the voice got stronger if not prettier.

I dialled the phone to reach Hal.
“Sweetheart, I can’t explain before I get down there, but there is something you must do immediately. Trust me. You must sing, you can sing in your head only but you must sing, and the tune I’m using is Oklahoma.'

He took this very well and promised to begin right away while I prepared to join him.

When I arrived at the hospital he had already been sedated, and as I approached his bed he waggled a finger back and forth and mouthed the words to the song. We sat together, holding hands and humming, mouthing the words we knew, until the porter came to wheel him away. He was smiling and his eyes were twinkling as he left.

His incision healed quickly and he was released in six days. My faithful inner friend had helped again.

Back at the new house I had to cope with deliveries of appliances, then wait for people to hook them up and the usual snafus when people didn’t deliver when promised. I shamelessly called on friends and relatives and they all pitched in without a whimper. This way, I could spend as much time as possible with Hal, and we were now about fifteen miles further from the hospital.

continued in chapter 10: part 7