"I went down to the River to Pray" vs. Mitch McConnell; screams of agony in the middle of the night
Tuesday, July 3, 2012 at 3:51PM ;)
This is Holly, one of several very excellent nurses who have cared for me through my stay so far here at Alaska Regional Hospital here in Anchorage. I do not use the word, "excellent," in hyperbolie. I mean it. All the accidents I have had - trying to fart but then blowing out blood and liquid poo all over the place - my own legs and balls, the bedsheets, the gowns, the electric massaging mechanical leggins that keep my blood circulatiing when the motion of my body is not equal to the task... that's what she is doing here, resituating me, after such a clean up.
Nurse - the often under appreciated treasure of our medical system. Today, I sing your praises.
I got a number of comments on yesterday's post and some emails, too, from readers who were distressed to see Sen. Mitch McConnell gazing out at me from the TV screen in my hospital room. I was warned that I could slow my recovery by unnecessarily subjecting myself to such "crap" and stress. I was advised to turn my attention toward more pleasant distractions.
Sometimes after midnight, my friend Edite Haberman of San Francisco who went through the Loft workshop with me reminded me of something that I had planned to do here but, somehow, in the process of going through the surgery, getting all drugged up and then going through the awful episdoes I faced yesterday, had completely forgotten to do.
Before I left home, I had made certain my iPhone was loaded with plenty of music that would be good to listen to in the hospital. I had brought my headphones with me, but had never unpacked them. Now, Edite gave me some instructions of how to go about bringing music into my my iPhone and strong advise that it would do me much better to listen to music on my iPhone than to listen to the ugly words spewed by Mitch McConnell on TV, who made it clear that he does not give a damn if people less fortunate than he die because they do not have accesss to the health insurances companies whose high profits he so wants to protect.
;)
So I retrieved my headsets, plugged them into my iPhone and gave the phone a shot at choosing what I sould listen to. It chose Creedence Clearwater Revival. I love Creedence, but in this situation, the phone was wrong. So I pulled up the album from the soundtrack to the movie, "O Brother, Where Art thou?"
I played it through - 61 minutes, then backed up to the beginining and gave it another run, this time on "shuffle." When it got to the song, "I went down to the River to Pray," I put that song on loup, because I wanted to hear it several times,
It was so beautiful, so soothing, to lie here in my drugged-up state, listening to those lovel female voices backed up softly by an acapella choirc in the background. "As I went down to the river to pray..."
There would be a moment of silence each time the song came to and and then went back to the beginning. During one of those moments, after several plays, the silence was suddenly filled by the agonized screams of a man in another room: "O God! Slow down! Slow down! Please! Slow down!" Then the song started again, "As I went down to the river to pray, studying about that good old way and who should wear..." projected by my headphones directly into the middle of my head with just enough force to suppress the sounds of the man's screams.
I heard those screams through the pauses of two more cycles... beyond that, just the peace of the music.
Then this morning about 9:30, I lay sleeping, dreaming, seeing images put into my dreams by the music of the night before. I badly wanted to photograph some of those images and put them into this blog, but I knewI was dreaming. Still, I thought, there must be way to take a photograph of a dream image, transmit it out of the dream and put it on my blog.
I kept working on the problem, finding no answer. Then suddenly I was awoken by a familiar voice. I opened my eyes and there was Margie. Hers was an image I could photograph and put on my blog.
Folks, I have no energy to proofread. Putting up a post totally wears me out. Allbert, I will still include your corrections, but at a later time, when this is behind me.
Reader Comments (10)
Bill, concentrate on the music, Margie, and the healing process...I went through this (a time or two) and your words need no pictures, they are still vivid in my mind...11 years ago, then 6 years ago...I wish you weren't having trouble, but the world awaits your full recovery and you are now on the right side of the whole event. Best wishes, good thoughts and prayers to you and your family during your recovery!! bw
Margie, your Angel of Mercy..... What a wonderful thing to wake up to. So glad you have good nurses. And you don't need to proofread! And so nice to know that God gave you peace. Continue on your path to recover. God bless.
I'm so glad it worked better Bill :) images of those dreams sound a lot better and definitely a lot more soothing. If you have a couple of mini speakers like the iHome mini ones that sound incredible, that could also come in handy to not only give your ears and brain a brake but also it will allow you to have music in the background and talk to people at the same time.
Keep on dreaming ...
Oh, Bill, I'm so sorry for your misery there in that hospital. It seems like you remembered your music just in time to help you get through the trauma of the other patient's screams. What a terrible thing for him to suffer like that, as well as all who heard him suffer so.
I'm hoping that your body will heal quickly and so well that you can get out of that place and continue your recovery in your own home. We'll be here when you get back to your new-and-improved self, however long that takes.
Thank goodness for your soothing music, your good nursing care, and your sweet loving wife, not necessarily in that order!
I hope you get well soon, Bill, and I also hope your worries concerning medical bills etc won't be overwhelming when you've recovered. By the way, I agree with you that the song you're listening to is a great song. There's always some solace in good music.
Get better, feel better, Bill. No need to worry about my contributions. I'm in the mountains (what pass for mountains here in New York state) and don't have my usual access or tools, but my wife and I are thinking of you and hoping for all the best for you and yours.
Sending you good wishes Bill. Music is the best medicine isn't it? And Allison Krause has the voice of an angel.
Music and Margie, an unbeatable combination. Love all your posts, mistakes or not.
In early June I had cataract surgery and for 20+ minutes after being prepped found myself waiting with the TV there set to Fox.
I had my cell phone w/ music on it, but did not have ear buds. So, I sat there unsuccessfully trying to block out the TV.
I am not exaggerating, but when I think back to that day being captive to Fox was the worst part of the surgery for me.
I go in for eye #2 in late July and had already planned have music at the ready this time just in case the same scenario plays out.
The comments here only strengthened my belief that music is the way to go.
Wishing you well from California
For the good Lord's sake! I lose track of your blog for a week and look what happens! Bill, I am glad for your 'NO CANCER!' Way down here in Pennsylvania, I will do a little tap dance for your 'NO CANCER'. Sometimes the best word in the whole wide world is 'no'. Unless, of course, you are under the age of five. "NO!" kind of sucks at that age.
Take care of yourself.