Forced quiet time

I thought I would wrap up the tale of my thumb today with the last thoughts on hospital stays. Some nurses were very nice but, if you do not have an advocate for you on a long stay( a week), they really control your comfort for good or bad. Now morphine is a wonderful drug but I do not tolerate it very well. Early on in this adventure a kind nurse said if she diluted it and gave it to me slowly, then it shouldn't be a problem. She was right . No more upchucking, thank god. So, I was very careful to tell every shift of nurses to please dilute the morphine. Most did just that and I as fine. However, one rushed soul didn't really listen and just grabbed my IV and proceeded to shoot me up with "straight" morphine. I know I am a light weight in the drug department but it feels like a great rush up your neck and then a kind of exploding lightness and warmth in the head. I hate the feeling . It makes my head slam back on the pillow and I'm in la-la-land immediately. Then I start to throw up for hours. Really unpleasant. This nurse realized what she had done, apologized and was nice to me the rest of the time, but I paid for that little lapse in her listening to a repeated request by throwing up for 6 hours!

There were other similar incidents, small but significant to me in terms of comfort levels. The nice young surgeon did have to come back and really operate on my thumb because the joint was infected. They put me under because I would not let him touch me otherwise! It went smoothly and he says successfully. He butterflied my thumb and lavaged the joint and then put it back together. I now have what looks like Frankenstein's thumb attached. He says it will all be fine in about 6 weeks. I can only trust- it looks awful and it stills hurts a lot.

The real bummer is I can't hunt, I can't even ride. My hunt was invited to an Away fixture today with a hunt from Delaware. It was a lovely day and I couldn't go. Oh well.

I did go grocery shopping with a girlfriend who really appreciated my company this morning. She is having a tough time. We went to the fancy "gucci" whole foods store and spent too much money on exotic cheeses and pumpkin mousse pies but it was fun. I listened to my son's basketball game on the internet, he won!! The puppy is a delight and life has taken a jog. I will just have to enjoy the new scenery for a while.