An operative interlude…
Archive post January 26, 2019…
In other words, Il Poggiolo Grand Projects are temporarily held up. We hope…
I dottori said the tumour needed to be removed. Located at the nape of the neck. A day- hospital op. Simple. OK. D-hospital was booked until late May-June. No way to bring the op up towards January? February, maybe? Il dottore said… Listen, we do the op as a normal surgery. No exams. Just show up with an empty stomach. Could happen in a couple of weeks. Wait for a call. OK. Call came. Appointment for 9:00AM, Wednesday, 23rd of January. Great!
It was said the tumour was fatty. Touching the lump, I thought cottage cheese. No problem. Easy. Let’s do it! OK. Spent an hour plus face-down on an operating table. Could only see the plastic clogs of il dottore and nurses. Thanks, to the All Mighty God, numbed where I needed to be numbed. Horrifyingly, could hear everything else. The conversations of il dottore and the nurses… and visitors!!! Had heard there was an American in Sala 3. Worse were the noises of extracting what did not care to budge. The tumour. Consistency of cement. Stone. Very hard stuff. The thing had grown off my cranium and around a top bone to my spinal column. Dottore had to dig to China. He sweated. A jackhammer would have helped. Not enough room for that. OK. Ghastly experience. Not what I had imagined at all.
Op done. Il dottore left to do paperwork. The nurses kept me company. Asked me questions of why, how, when I had ended up in their part of Italy. Am used to this sort of congenial interrogation. The entire staff saw me to the door. Gave Thanks. Felt nothing. Drove home.
Two crazed Weimaraners were desperate to see me. Could have nearly cared less. The local had worn off. Can deal with noble stoicism and patience any discomfort. You would disagree. Nobility is not just a tag or title. OK. I CANNOT DEAL WITH PAIN!!! You would definitely confirm this. OK. What evaporated left me with the distinct sensation someone had attempted to decapitate me. It got worse. And who thinks aspirin is an adequate pain-killer should be shot. On sight. No questions. Just shoot. Called You… a general dottore, surgeon, a head of ophthalmology at a hospital… to consult and, more importantly, TO COMPLAIN!!! An aside…
My name is Forrest Charlton Spears, Esq. My father used to say Charlton was another spelling for to complain. Pegged that correctly. Had had lots of experience with Charltons.
The Kind & Goodly Dottore You reminded me that I had in my medicine basket a supply of what is a hydrogen bomb posing as an anti-inflammation drug. Volteren 75. Cryptic name. But all medicines have spooky names. And their spelling!!! Thought to chuck the aspirin down the toilet. Quickly reached for The H-Bomb. Pain didn’t vanish. It did subside. OK. Was able to walked the Dogs without giving injury to anyone or anything, anywhere.
More problems… the architecture of padded bandages detached… thanks to my .003 high five o’clock shadow at the back of my head… and flew away. Into the Winter winds. With it went the silk drainage tube of the incision. OOOPS!!! High risk of hematoma. Dealt with it all night long. Went to the Emergency Room at 6:30AM. No-one around at home to help me. Back of my head thing. Holding a mirror in one hand… etc. The available E-staff could not do anything about the lost tube. They did re-build the padded bandages reinforced with more adhesive tape. By Noon, the engineering had flown away… again!!! I was only getting out of my car. Into the Winter Winds. Got back in and drove to see our pharmacist friend for a big band-aide. No more padded bandages held with tape. Simplicity ought to be a viable medical art. Got a big band-aide. The Hydro-Bomb could not deal with the pain of the hematoma of accumulated blood inside the stitched-tightly incision. No escape. PAIN!!! DISCOMFORT!!! REALLY BAD MOOD!!! Felt my blood-pressure climb too. Sure sign is a frontal lobe headache and icky nausea. Pharmacist confirmed this. Off to my general dottore for new meds on that. Felt everything. Drove home. Exhausted. Hysterical. Called You to…
Dawned on me that there was ONLY ONE TRUE THING TO DO: watch The Sound Of Music and drink white wine. Took more of every pill, tablet and drops… tranquillising drops… in my house. Built a fire, Dogs arrived to share the sofa and off we went…
Worked like a dream.
My Plan was after cottage cheese, I’d begin to hit the list of il Poggiolo Grand Projects. How about the ramp pergola to start? Thought… Sun’s been shining too long, mildly not freezing outside, got all the materials, let’s do it! And I will when the feelings of an axe at the back of my neck takes a hike… forever!!!