message from the broken-footed one

[fajrdrako]

Hi all - Elizabeth is comfortably ensconced in a comfy bed and the pain killers are working at the moment. She's written out a wee message for you - here it is:

"Yesterday I spent the day waiting for X-rays and surgery - which finally happened about 9:30 p.m.
"Today I spent in the post anaesthetist's room waiting for a real room - which I am now in. I have a real window and a more or less real bed, much better than the high-tech stretcher-bed that I spent a day in - which was called Stryker. Its name was printed on the side. This is frightening to an X-Men fan.
"Worse, my Stryker-bed was haunted. Too slowly to perceive, one end of it kept raising. I was supposed to be lying flat. I'd start out lying flat. After an hour or so, my head would be three feet higher than my toes. One orderly said he worried that I'd go sliding off onto my broken foot. I was worrying that I'd go the other way, landing on top of my head. Ouch. Concussion.
"And everyone who came by said, "What happened to your bed?"
"So now I'm in a regular room with four beds. One is empty--its inhabitant is still in surgery and the family naively believes she will be in the bed "soon". (Took me 11 hours to get from surgery to bed.) The girl across from me has just had thyroid surgery and is frightened. I didn't know what's wrong with the woman in the other bed, but her daughter has just been rushed to another hospital, bleeding profusely in a frightening emergency situation.
"Me, I feel comparatively lucky. Yes, my foot hurts. Hurts a lot. Last night after surgery it hurt enough to keep me awake despite Morphine and Percocet. But...thanks to Morphine and Percocet, it wasn't anything like as bad as it might be.
"I now have a plate with screws implated in my foot. I am a Cyborg, like Bannekaffalatta. (Yes, we have equal rights these days.)
"I don't know when I'm going home.
"Maybe not much walking for a while."

*The* doctor has not yet been in to see her to answer the important questions, and we are all hoping that tomorrow will provide the answers.

Comments

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear things are moving along, finally. Sorry to hear that hospitals still seem to be as hectic as I remember.

[threeringedmoon.livejournal.com]

I am glad you are recovering and able to communicate. I hope you can get home soon.

[takhys]

Well, I for one welcome our new cyborg overlords¹ and wish her a speedy recovery.


------
[1] I have two plates, 24 screws, and numerous other bits and bobs that they used to rebuild my arms/wrists. Yes, welcome your overlords. >_>

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Hooray for the League of Cyborgs!

[skywardprodigal.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're able to get us word and updates. I'm really sorry for the pain. Cyborgs rock.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, Cyborgs are good people. I'm home now and spending an awful lot of time sleeping.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Speaking of real-world "cyborgs"...you might check out George Strombolopoulos' interview with Aimee Mullins. Jamie Sommers should've been mentored by this lady.

http://cbc.ca/thehour/

[saffronrose.livejournal.com]

Best wishes for a speedy and sure and steady recovery, cyborg or otherwise.

[msilverstar]

Ack, sounds horrible and I'm glad you're getting better. I found recuperation amazingly tiring, so don't be surprised if everything is more exhausting than it seems like it ought to be. *hugs you*

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Glad things are on the mend, and yay drugs (despite the bad sleep).

[meri-oddities.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you're doing okay. I guess it's like that in hospitals everywhere. I know it's true about here, too. Wishing you the fastest of recoveries. We're both thinking about you.

[josanpq.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Going to be setting off airport alarms, eh?

How's the food? Or have you not felt like eating? Need to have chocolate snuck in?

Let me know when you get home, please.

(BTW: be glad you were hurt on your side of the river...on this side, it would have taken you 11 hours + just to be seen in emergency!)

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

oh, I have decided I am a cyborg as well, due to my mind-augmentation. *grin* Is the pin in your foot a temporary or a permanent fixture?

Wishing you the speediest of recoveries.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I don't know exactly what they did with the pin/plate/screws in my foot and I don't know whether they'll be removing it. Presumably I'll find out when I next visit my doctor.

[gillo]

As long as she doesn't become a Borg, assimilated by teh system too.

Glad she's managed to hang on to her wonderful sense of humour. Here's hoping for a swift release.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I don't think there is a system that could assimilate me. Hah! Many have tried, none succeeded.

[coffeegirl18.livejournal.com]

*massively big bearhugs* Feel better hon. Aww that's horrible. *sends cookies*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Thank you! *hugs back*

nibbles cookies

enjoys icon

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Saluton, mia kara... can't think of anything usefully, distractingly witty to say, so I'll just repeat (in articulate words this time) that you are never not in my thoughts. xo

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'm sure your thoughts are helping me heal.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

I am certain that they are. Energy doesn't travel 500 miles; it's just there.

Yesterday, last night, and today, the thought has been in my mind (on its own -- I didn't formulate this) of giving you a very gentle foot-rub in which skin is barely even touched, but energy is soothingly exchanged. Smooth. Careful. Soothing. Healing.

warm hugs!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Hee - the right foot would be kind of hard to reach just now. It's a rather spooky thought. I think that's because it reminds me of some of the creepier stuff in Anne Rice that I didn't like.

Think of my foot as currently being in one of those Torchwood cryochambers - not touchable, but just there, awaiting a return to life like Dr. Manette from the Bastille.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Anne Rice?!! Gad, no! I was just going with the "energy passes all physical barriers" idea. Ugh, don't like Anne Rice....

I like the notion of seeing your foot safely being taken care of in a Torchwood cryochamber. That's an excellent place to start.

(And you did know I meant the foot-rub to be totally meditative, right? I wouldn't dream of touching your injured foot in reality, could I even get to it. that's rather a scary thought.)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Anne Rice had her moments, but whatever scene I am half-remembering of the Mayfair Witch books, I didn't like it at all!

The foot can use all the meditating it can get, poor thing. Touch - not yet.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

I got sandalwood incense and a smooth, lovely wooden tray-type burner, today after talking to Rita and then (for briefest moments) my lawyer (meeting with her at 11 tomorrow morning, when she has time), and I'll be lighting some when I get home. I will meditate soothing non-touch foot-rub energy in your direction, ok?

By the way, I took myself out to a movie tonight. I could have gone "cute and fun and lots of Jodie Foster eye candy" and done Nim's Island -- but, no, I went "try mighty hard to gross myself out to get my mind off other things" and watched The Ruins. Gadzooks, was that one for the books! Joe Anderson from Across the Universe was in it, playing a German very sweetly. And people got eaten alive by killer vines on a spooky Mayan pyramid. Put this one on your list next to Eastern Promises, mia kara: in no way do you ever want to watch this movie.

But it did hold my focus, which is what I'd wanted. Quite a character study. And I think the Lead Mayan, whose name I memorized but not totally forget, played the Portuguese pirate captain at the Brethren Court in Pirates III. Calderon was his last name.

Now that I've chased some demons out of my psyche, home to meditate and hug my little cats!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Soothing incense and violent archeology-adventure - what a combination! Hope it goes well with your lawyer tomorrow.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Soothing incense and violent archeology-adventure - what a combination!

I know. I know. But I was in a... mood. And this fit it. Imagine it as the mental equivalent of running a mile, then pummelling the heck out of a punching bag, and then collapsing on my sofa to listen to Kate Bush sing the Dublin phone book [g].

Soothing incense and violent archeology-adventure - what a combination!

thank you. I do, too. Probably will. It's just that things got unexpectedly complicated, with the other lawyer from mid-March not following through on faxing something to my lawyer, and thus the hearing they'd threatened me with actually somehow went on as planned -- um, yeah, without me!!! My lawyer was quite dismayed to see the paper in my hand. I imagine she'll be upset with her counterpart. My lawyer can beat up their lawyer, thank goodness. She is a solid advocate, and I am so grateful that I met her.

Thanks. Think me good thoughts at around 11 AM! (and all through the day, if you can spare them!)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I was in a... mood. And this fit it.

Go for it, then!

My lawyer can beat up their lawyer, thank goodness. She is a solid advocate, and I am so grateful that I met her.

Sounds as if they're hardly paying attention on the other end. Idiots!

Think me good thoughts at around 11 AM!

Will do.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Heh. Yeah, I was in a mood, all right. I didn't question it; I just went with the impulses. Total catharsis. But next time, I go see the cute & cuddly Jodie Foster movie!

Yeah, they clearly didn't come through with their side of the issue. My lawyer got all icy-voiced on the phone with them. Archly proper and professional. Hee. Get'em. (Imagine if I'd been trying to do this on my own. Confusion, plus being brushed aside -- damn, wouldn't be working at all.)

I did feel your support. I do thank you, and send it back in the form of warm energy bathing your poor foot... feels good?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Shall we make a pact never to insult lawyers again? Obviously they are important and good! At least, the good ones are.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

And this one is a good one. I regret any bigotry I previously had for "lawyers -- non-differentiated by individual."

I saw a cute t-shirt in a catalog the other day: LAWYERS, OR PISTOLS AT DAWN: YOU CHOOSE. hee

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I've always liked the idea of pistols at dawn.

But I've certainly come across good fictional lawyers! And some I've liked in person, even in a professional capacity.

[mad-jaks.livejournal.com]

My sister is also a Cyborg. Cyborgs of the world unite!
Hospitals!! It doesn't matter where you are in the world they're all the same ♥ Hope you get home soon and for pity's sake take it easy when you get there, okay?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Cyborgs are good people.

Yeah, I'm taking it easy... keep falling asleep. And I want to write. Soon I'll find the right sleeping/waking pattern.

[mad-jaks.livejournal.com]

And I want to write
That's lucky sometimes pain med will knock that right out of you...

Soon I'll find the right sleeping/waking pattern
*crosses fingers for you*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

sometimes pain med will knock that right out of you...

So very true. Even when I imagine stories right now... they aren't coming in words they way they usually do. Hard to describe. Just ideas. More dreamlike than usual. That... goes with the pills, yes.

[itsarift-thing.livejournal.com]

Hard to describe
Oh I know how it feels just fine *snuggles*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Makes for nice daydreams and fantasies. Not so much for actual written production.

[cionaudha.livejournal.com]

Another cyborg here (Franken-kneeeeee!).

We have come to claim you for our own.

Resistance is futile, but I don't need to tell you that Jack likes it when you put up a bit of a fight. ;-)

Enjoy your non-Stryker bed, and glom all the morphine you can.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Good advice, all of it.

[of-too-minds.livejournal.com]

Cyborgs are awesome. :D

Feel better soon, honey! *hugs*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Already feeling better and I'm only taking half as many painkillers now. Life still seems a little surreal.

*hugs* back and thanks.