She's A Lady

9

I hate hospitals. I really fucking hate them. Every time I am at the hospital I want to leave every minute of my stay. It isn't the boring blue walls. It isn't the smell of chemicals and sickness. It is the fact that every time I am here I am in a boatload of pain and it takes them forever to do anything about it. If I was at home, I could take a couple painkillers and try to sleep. Here I have to be seen by a nurse, then a doctor, then be prescribed something, then have it delivered, then wait for it to work. Forget sleep, it was too noisy.

I lay in a bed, covered in bruises, after multiple tests to make sure I didn't have internal bleeding or broken bones. My 'next of kin' was taking forever to get here, no surprise. My purse had made it into the ambulance with me, thanks to Liz, and I was grateful since it gave me something to do. I texted Max and Damien, since I knew they would kill me if I didn't tell them I had been in here. I played games that didn't require much thought or movement as I waited for my results.

A female doctor came in with my chart. My head was fine. My wrist was fractured. I would have to wear a cast for four weeks. I had ruptured some blood vessels, needed to ice my groin and no sex for a month. That wouldn't have been a problem if I hadn't had a boyfriend I had the hots for right now. I sighed sadly. She told me I would be wheeled over to have my wrist looked after shortly, but to sit, drink water and rest until then.

Right on cue after the doctor left the room, my grandpa waddled into the room. He grumbled about me looking awful, grumbled about the traffic, and gave me a kiss on the forehead before asking me what the bone-crackers had said. I laughed. I told him about my head and wrist, but left out the other details. Until a nurse came in with a sack of ice and told me where to keep it. My face was twenty shades of red and my poor grandpa had a strong case of coughs. God this was embarrassing.

Next, a pair of police officers came in. They had already talked to Liz and the other neighbour. I went through what happened, identified Bill as my attacker, and explained or history. They took notes and asked if I wished to press charges. I hadn't the first time, but this was not just a shove down some stairs. Grandpa patted my arm and told me I really should, so I nodded with little reluctance. If I didn't stick up for myself, then who would?

The pictures the nurses took when I first came in would be used, plus I had to fill out a whole bunch of paperwork with one hand, and I had to answer a slew of questions from the police. Some of them seemed repetitive or stupid, but I answered them calmly until the nurse came in and told them to let me get some sleep. They went out into the hall with my grandpa and talked for a few minutes. I really couldn't even begin to sleep in the little curtained ER area. It was too loud, I was too sore, and I saw my friends walking in through the crack in the curtains and the glass of the doors.

Max saw my grandpa and waved to him. He finished his conversation with the cops and went out into the waiting area to talk to them. Max introduced Damien, which made me a little sad since I wanted to do that bit. They shook hands. My view was blocked as an orderly came in and undid the brake to wheel me out of the cubby. I tried to watch but I was carried down the hall to a room where another doctor fitted my cast on my wrist and gave me instructions for the next four weeks.

I wasn't listening as closely as I should. I took the prescriptions he gave me, laid my arm in the sling I was supposed to wear for the first week minimum, and sighed as I was wheeled out into the hall. My grandpa came up to the bed and took the slips from me. Max and Damien were going to get us all sandwiches while he went to get my pills. It was harder to play on my phone with one arm immobilized. I was bored. I was hungry. I was tired. I was cranky.

It took everything I had not to cry from sheer joy when the doctor came and told me I could go home, provided I wasn't alone. If not, then he wanted me to stay for the next three nights. The horror!! My grandpa to the rescue, telling him that I had people to care for me at home. I was free! It took a great amount of effort to get me into the wheelchair, but I helped the whole way. Anything to get out of here.