Chapter 40
March 13, 1998
Randy's POV
I have an oxygen mask on over my face. A layer of freshly warmed blankets cover my body. I open my eyes. I wish I hadn't. The light, while fluorescent, is still bright and burns my eyes and hurts my already in pain head.
I hear a nurse talking to another patient coming out of anesthesia.
'One more question. What year is it?' he asks.
'2025' the nurse answers. What?!
'It's been twenty seven years since I went under?' I try shouting, but with the mask, it sounds more like random mumbles.
'Heidi ho good patient' another nurse, dressed all in blue with a white mask over his face says.
'Wilson?' I ask.
'Absolutely. Don't worry, those two were just joking around. It's still 1998' Wilson says.
I point to the mask and raise an eyebrow. Hey, it's easier than trying to be heard through the freakin' thing.
'You can take that off once you get back to your room' he answers.
I point at my wrist, where a watch would normally be, using my IV free hand.
'Any minute now' Wilson tells me. I nod my head once.
Sure enough, a few minutes later, another nurse arrives to help Wilson move my bed back to my own private room. As soon as we leave the recovery room, the temperature drops to the subzero feeling temperature these wings of hospitals are normally kept at.
We take an elevator to the sixth floor. We turn right then go all the way down the hall. My room is the last one on the left, number 697.
To my surprise, mom, Mark, Brad, and grandma are all waiting for me, wide awake.
Wilson and Marsha, the other nurse, wheeled my current bed to the right of a fresh one without wheels.
'As soon as you're ready Randy, slide yourself over onto the other bed' Wilson says after he and Marsha adjusted machines, wires, and tubes that do God only knows what. Using hip action I never knew I had, I finally get scooted all the way onto the other bed.
'We're going to put this pulse ox on to check your oxygen saturation level. If it's normal, then you can take the mask off' Marsha says. She puts a small machine kind of shaped like a clothes pin on one of my fingertips.
'Alright, your oxygen level is right on target' Marsha says. She then reaches around behind my head and takes the oxygen mask off of my head.
I glance over at mom. I wonder how she's been doing through this whole process. Wilson is over there, explaining something to her right now. He finishes up talking to mom and grabs a blood pressure cuff.
'I just need to take your blood pressure, then we'll leave you alone for a little while' Wilson says. I grimace as the cuff tightens on my arm. It doesn't hurt, it just isn't comfortable.
'120 over 80' he mumbles while he writes something on my chart.
'Is that good or bad?' mom asks.
'That's generally considered to be normal' Wilson tells her.
'If you need anything else, just push the white button that says nurse's station. I'll be on well into the morning' he says before closing the door and leaving.
'How do you feel Randy? Are you in pain?' mom asks after taking a seat in the chair to the bed's left.
'I don't feel perfect. After all, I just had surgery. I'm not in pain, they're giving me something for that. Mainly, I'm just tired' I answer.
'Are you hungry? Wilson said that if you are, you can order off of the soft food menu' mom offers.
'No, like I said, I'm mainly just tired right now' I say.
We all sit and talk for another half hour, before the pain medicine starts really taking effect. Without meaning to, I doze off while in the middle of a conversation with grandma.
A/N: Sorry it took so long to update everybody! I couldn't make up my mind about what this chapter should be like. Thanks to randyiscool for helping me get my butt in gear to finally make a decision. (And by the way, you weren't being rude at all by asking. I'd hate to wait this long too).
I will eventually return to the normal journal format, but the next couple chapters will probably be like this one and the past couple, since Randy won't be writing while he's in the hospital recovering.
Please R&R, and thanks for both!
-Yours truly, Randy Taylor
