Use the words: disclose, fatten, hackle, irksome and
sphenoid in your story.
The Operation
©2004 by Mae Ondracek
“I want to disclose something to you
that maybe you won’t like but it is irksome not to know. You have a very bad sphenoid bone at the base
of your cranium,” Dr. Spell said to me as I sat their, hardly able to move my
head.
“But doctor, I
only have a strange crick in my neck.
Oh, you know what I mean,” Mary answered truthfully.
“My dear Mary, it
needs to be taken care of as soon as possible,” the doctor said.
But doctor, can’t
you just work my neck like others have done and it will be alright, for
awhile?” Mary answered.
“No, I will not,
Mary. This needs to be done right away
and I don’t mean to be rude about it.
But your sphenoid bone is missing one side and it is getting worse, that
is why you can’t turn your head,” Dr. Spell said seriously.
“
“No Mary, I will
not say anything more, but you need this operation and you need it now,” the
doctor said. “I know you are scared but
I will do everything I can to be careful.
You understand, don’t you?”
“Yes, Dr. Spell, I
know what you mean. It is driving me
crazy when it gets like this,” she answered.
“Can you come into
the hospital now and we’ll set you up to have this done tomorrow afternoon?”
The doctor asked.
“Whatever you say,
Dr. Spell. Today is fine with me,” she
said.
Mary didn’t have
anyone at home to take care of, all the lights were off, and nothing was cooking
on the stove, so she guessed it was time to work on her neck. The doctor was looking at Mary, to be sure
she understood him, when at the same time, they both said, “Okay, we’ll do it.”
They both looked
surprised and started to laugh. “Well,
that really tells you what we were thinking, doesn’t it?” Mary said to the
doctor.
“Yes, it does,
Mary. I’ll call in the nurse and she can
take you to a room and get you ready.
We’ll take care of that sphenoid in quick order and have you up and
about real soon,” the doctor said.
“I’m so relieved,
Dr. I knew it should be taken care of
but I was just too scared to agree,” Mary said.
“Thank you for everything.”
“Come in,” the
doctor stated as someone rapped on the door.
The nurse came in
and asked the doctor what he wanted.
“Mary, this is
Miss O’Neil. She’ll take you to room 120
and get you in bed. I’ll leave
instructions for her on what she has to do and tomorrow afternoon, we’ll get
that sphenoid taken care of,” the doctor said.
“Miss O’Neil, please take Mary to room 120 and put her in bed. I’ll write up the orders on what I want
done. Thank you.”
“All right, Mary,
you just come with me and we’ll get you settled in a bed.” Nurse O’Neil said.
As Mary got out of
the chair, she stretched her neck around and screamed. That really hurt and the doctor rushed to her
side. “What is the matter? Are you going to be all right?” he asked
Mary.
Mary was sitting
on the floor in a daze, afraid to move.
“Oh, Doctor, my neck
really hurts. I hope we can get it done
tomorrow. I’m sorry for putting you
through this,” she said.
Both the doctor
and the nurse helped her to her feet and the nurse told her to wait while she got
a wheelchair. The doctor made her sit in
a chair to wait, “Are you sure you’ll be all right, now?” he asked.
“Yes, I didn’t
mean to make such a racket,” Mary said, “But that really hurt in my neck.”
“Well, we’ll take
care of it tomorrow afternoon. Now here
is your wheelchair. You get to bed and
stay there, you hear?” he said.
“Boy I sure
will. I don’t want another spell like
that one.” Mary said. “Okay, Miss
O’Neil, let’s go.”
The doctor moved
to the desk as Miss O’Neil wheeled Mary out of the room and down the hall into
room 120. “Here we are, Mary. Do you think you can make it into bed alone?’
the nurse asked.
“Boy, I sure don’t
know,” Mary answered, as she slowly stood up and started to remove her
clothes. She screamed again when her
sweatshirt caught her arm and wouldn’t let her pull it out. “Oh, no, now what will I do, nurse?” she
asked.
Miss O’Neil looked
over everything and said, “I guess we’ll have to cut it off, Mary,” she
said. “I hope you don’t mind?”
“No, just get me
out of here. Boy, I’ll never wear one of
these things again,” Mary cried.
“Okay, just hold
still and I’ll cut it off,” the nurse said.
The nurse
carefully cut the sleeve and down the side, then up to her neck and asked, “Now
do you think you’ll be able to get out of there?” She asked.
“I’ll sure try,”
Mary said as she slipped it off her other shoulder. “Oh, that sure is a relief to get that
off. I’ll never wear another one, that’s
for sure.”
Mary got into bed
and lay down as best she could. She
said, “Thanks so much for being here to help me. I know I’d never have gotten it off by
myself. Thank you.”
“Do you want
something for pain, Mary?” the nurse asked.
“I would like
something but maybe you better ask the doctor first,” Mary said.
The nurse left the
room and called the doctor and he told her she could give Mary a sleeping
pill. That would help her to sleep
better. Mary was trying to get up when
the nurse came back and she asked Mary where she was going. “Well, I thought I had better use the bathroom
before I went to sleep. You know, I can
hardly stay awake,” Mary said as the nurse grabbed her.
“Here, you sit in
the wheelchair and I’ll wheel it near the door.
You sure are weak,” the nurse said.
“Thanks, nurse, I
don’t know what I’d do without you,” Mary said.
“Well, about now,
you’d probably be hollering because you fell on the floor,” Nurse O’Neil
laughed and patted Mar’s shoulder. “I
came in to give you a pill.”
“Oh, I’m so glad I
came in today. I don’t think I’d be able
to make it tomorrow,” Mary said.
After the nurse
helped her back in bed, Mary took the pill and within five minutes she was
sleeping. The nurse filled in Mary’s
chart and then wrote what the doctor had said about getting Mary ready for her
operation.
At
The doctor said
he’d be over to look at Mary right away.
Within 10 minutes he was there and saw Mary was in a coma, “Nurse,
please get Mary ready for surgery, now,” and he ran out to the doctor’s lounge,
grabbed his surgery things and changed. The
nurse pushed Mary by on her way to surgery and the doctor was ready within ten
minutes. “Poor girl,” he said, “If she’d
have been home, she’d be a goner.”
He carefully
rolled Mary over on her side and he could see the puff of the sphenoid coming
to the surface. He took charge of
getting everything ready and within minutes he was cutting into her neck. He performed the operation in record time and
with every bit of expertise. Then he
said, “Close her neck, will you John?” and he noticed it was past
He said, “Man, that
took longer than we anticipated. I sure
hope it does the trick.”
In two hours he
was in Mary’s room again. She was still
in a coma but he was hoping she’d be all right.
He went back to the doctor’s lounge and sat down in a recliner. He put his feet up and lay back, thinking
about Mary, It was such a relief she had come in to see him yesterday. What would have happened if she hadn’t come
in? She’d be lying in bed until this
thing killed her. He would call her son
and ask him to come take her home with him.
She needed a good place to live and then he was sleeping again.
He slept for two
hours and awoke with a start. My gosh,
he had better go in to see Mary and he was up out of the recliner without
thinking about it and he hurried down the hall to Mary’s room. He listened outside her door because he
wasn’t sure he was hearing right. That
was Mary’s voice singing, “Our Father,” wasn’t it? He pushed open the door a little ways and saw
Mary sitting up in bed. He called the
nurse to come into Mary’s room and he hurried over to have Mary lay down. “Hello, Mary.
It’s good to see you awake. How
are things feeling this morning?” the doctor asked her questions but she didn’t
answer, she just kept singing.
The nurse entered
the room and took one look at Mary and asked the doctor what she should give
her. He said, “I’m a little afraid to
give her anything but maybe liquid Tylenol and for God’s sake, tie her hands
down. She’ll be ripping out the
stitches.”
“Yes, Doctor,” the
nurse said as she left the room and was soon back. She gave Mary a spoonful of Tylenol and
efficiently tied her arms down. “My
gosh, Doctor, what made her do this?” the nurse asked.
“Well, I don’t
really know. Maybe it’s a sign to let us
know she’ll be all right or maybe it’s a sign to let us know she’ll not be all
right. I really don’t know,” and the
doctor sat in the chair in Mary’s room and waited. He fell asleep again and soon was awaked by
Mary tapping him on the head.
“Oh, Mary, are you
all right? You’ve given us quite a
scare,” he quit talking when he saw Mary’s hand tapping the bed. “What is it, Mary/”
Mary kept tapping
the bed like she wanted something but he couldn’t make out what it was. He went to the door and called out, “Nurse
O’Neil, would you come in here, please?”
“Nurse, what is
wrong with her tapping all the time,” the doctor asked.
The nurse watched
Mary for a few minutes and then asked the doctor to please wait outside while
she used the bed pan.
That done, Nurse
O’Neil asked the doctor back in and told him that Mary was starting to come
back around. The doctor looked at Mary
and said, “Thank God. I’m sure she has
needed this for a long time. Every time
those quacks gave her a neck treatment and fixed her up, it got a little
worse. I sure hope she pulls through
Okay,” the doctor said. “I’ll sit with
her for a little while, yet.”
The nurse went out
and Dr. Spell sat down next to Mary’s bed.
He pushed her hair off her forehead and took her hand and held it. “You know, Mary, I kind of like you. You better hurry up and get well so you can
leave here before I become too attached to you,” he smiled and held her hand.
He kissed her
fingertips and then admonished himself for being such a fool. She probably had a lot of men friends all
ready and he covered her up real good and sat back. He was surprised to see her hand creep out of
the covers and reach for him. He took
her hand again and she lay still and comfortable. After a half hour, he got up and said he had
to stretch his legs, but he’d be back.
He went out in the hallway and stopped to talk with the nurse, then he
went down to the doctor’s lounge and went to the bathroom. Then he made himself a cup of tea. He drank half when the nurse came in and said
he better go to room 120. He wanted to
know why but she would not tell him. He
hurried to room 120 and as he opened the door, Mary was sitting up in bed. She slowly said, “We made it, Dr. Spell.”
“Well, my
goodness. Do you ever look good. How are you feeling?” he asked.
“My neck hurts,
some,” she answered slowly, “But I won’t complain. You did a marvelous job.”
“Well, I am very
happy to hear you say that. Now, it
won’t be to long and you’ll be up and out of here. This is great,” the doctor said.
“Can you eat
supper with me? I told Nurse O’Neil she
could bring your supper here, too. Hope
you don’t mind?” Mary said slowly.
“No, that is all
right. I’m a little hungry, anyway,” and
the doctor sat down beside her bed. “You
know, all your troubles start tomorrow.
You’ll have a lot of tests and exercises to do.”
Mary shook her
head ‘yes’ and was happy that she could shake her head, if only a little bit.