cinco de mayo

it's not really a holiday i observe, but i couldn't resist having an entry with the date on it.

it's been quite a day up on shep 6.

this morning the IV meds were less painful than usual, but it took me honkin' FOREVER to wake up in recovery and when i got back upstairs nobody had ordered my breakfast. usually my nurse orders it up for 1030, so it's here when i get back and i can choke it down before i crash.

so today i was already crashed when breakfast came. and i was still crashed when lunch came. and every time someone came and knocked on my door i woke in a panic. you know, the kind of waking up ou do where you scream and fly vertically right off the bed?

you'd think that after a half dozen wakings like that they might just let me sleep. you'd think it, but you'd be wrong.

i have the feeling back in my right arm, but i have small red splotchy patches.

and the other patients are driving me nuts. the TV is too loud, and for some reason somebody likes the canned auto-play music on the keyboard. there's a woman up here in what appears to be moderately advanced stages of dementia and sometimes at night she weeps and howls with such ferocity that it sounds like her soul is coming unhinged.

there are a couple of other patients who are, uh, intense and challenging to be around. one has a lot of anger that's partly political and another has echolalia. go ahead. look it up.

there's one patient who is quiet and no trouble at all, except i think he has a little crush on my mom.

i have a really brutal headache; one that is accompanied by both visual and olfactory "enhancements". there are bright, sparkly lights and i keep getting that feeling you get when you get water up your nose. on top of that, the headache is so bad that it's actually nauseating. i have felt sick all day. and none too stable on my feet, either.

the weather was nice, though. breezy and sunny on the porch. and when my mom came to visit, she took me for a walk outside and we looked at some pretty sculpture. we like sculpture.

well, my nurse du soir has tracked me down and given me my night meds, so i don't have long before i pass o