A rest in my bed

I’m resting in my bed. Normally this wouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary. Except, it’s Friday and 11:57 which means school is still in full swing. Another reason this fact is so glorious is that I’ve spent three nights in a hospital bed. A very hard, orthopedic hospital bed.

Obviously, there are missing details, but I’ll fill you in on those right away. Monday I was feeling great and back to myself after resting during the weekend to get rid of the stomach bacteria. I felt well enough to do some excising with Mary Ann. So, we loaded up the DVD and lifted and crunched away. There is three levels to this DVD and we had just spent two weeks on week one and now were advancing to level two. Well, I over did it. But, I didn’t know this until Tuesday. I had just gotten done reading aloud a chapter from 26th Fairmont Ave by Tomi dePaola. I got up and that’s when I felt it; the extreme pain in my lower back. Not wanting to alert anyone or make a big deal out of a small thing. I tried to stretch, walk slowly, not sit down and just make it until lunch.

At home during my lunch period I immediately passed by the guys working in our bathroom on our airport internet system and laid down on the tile with my two orange massage balls. It hurt but I knew it would. Only problem was when I tried to get up to take a pain killer I couldn’t. It seemed like my mobility was becoming more limited by the minute. Eventually I was on the floor and calling our Mary Ann’s name. We agreed there was no way for me to return to work. I called Justin and arranged for my class to be covered. He sent over the school nurse who together with Mary Ann lifted me onto my bed. I just rested until that night. I tried five times to get up to go the bathroom and every time ended in tears of pain and frustration.

At 5:00 Lily came to give me a massage. I thought this would loosen any tight muscles and help me to heal quickly. It actually made things worse. I was in shooting pain and was screaming in agony. I began to get a fever and this is when Mary Ann came home to see how I was doing and we quickly concluded I should be taken to the hospital. We were worried it was a kidney infection.

Tom called an ambulance and loaded me in a wheelchair. Then he and Jon lifted me down the six flights of stairs to the stretcher. It was not a pretty sight as they loaded me on and took me on the bumpy roads of Lagos. It had just rained which meant very bad traffic. No one heeded the flashing lights or screaming siren. Instead they followed closer on our bummer or darted into the space up front.

My time in the hospital began in ER with a shot in the bum and a specialist came in to check on me. They concluded even though the x-ray didn’t show it I had slipped a disk in my lower back. His order was for bed rest. Mary Ann stayed with me the whole time, toting our bags and my big poofy blanket and pillow everywhere with us. She was a great comforter and a consistent friend. The situated us in the Baba Tunde ward where we spent the night. Me flat on the orthopedic bed, she scrunched up in a plastic arm chair.

The next day our sink in the bathroom broke in two while Mary Ann was washing her hands so we were moved to another room. That afternoon they told me I had to get an MRI. At first I was terrified. I pictured those big, hollow tubs of plastic and light that surround you and get inches from your face. No way! I wasn’t going to do it. They also told me that their MRI machine was faulty so they had to put in an ambulance and take me to Lagoon hospital in Apapa which was about an hour away. Even getting me out of bed made me sick and so they gave me a shot in my thigh for nausea. They almost dropped me twice while putting me in the ambulance but I was so grateful that most of my back pain was gone because of the rough handling. There was no way I could have handled that the day before. Even though their shouts to be careful and the looks on Mary Ann’s face made my heart drop my back never hurt.

We had to wait a long time at Lagoon for the machine to be ready. I had started to get panicky on the way over due to the heat and the closet feel of the ambulance. I tried to talk them into letting me go back to Reddington without doing the MRI. But, cool icepacks on my head and neck and Mary Ann’s affirmations about the machine not being the type we thought, and our encouraging nurse Grace, made the task seem do able. So, in I went and 40 minutes later, out I came. I think I dozed through the whole thing. Even with the big thuds and loud banging of the machine there was something relaxing about it. And that night talking with Mary Ann about the highlight of her day she and I agreed that it was the MRI. That it went so smoothly and that it wasn’t scary at all.

Mary Ann went home that night and I was hoping to follow her soon. The next day I waiting all day hoping the specialist orthopedic would come to discharge me. While many other people walked in and out, taking care of my needs, he never came. I spent the whole day napping, reading and trying to watch snippets of CNN.

Then this morning he came and he said I shouldn’t be standing up and that I was still on bed rest. I told him I was fine and that I was about to take a shower but that I would really like to go home. He gave me permission to be discharged. I waited another two hours for the paper work to be completed and then I walked out the doors into the muggy air and Kolade was waiting for me. He inquired of my well being and then drove me through the muddy streets fresh with rain.

So, that brings me to where I started. I’m resting in my bed and this indeed in an extraordinary fact and one that makes my heart sing.