If We Were Having Coffee – June 13/2015 :Guest Post

The New Patient

Afternoon Tea

Welcome to Willow’s weekly coffee and tea garden. My name is Paul, I’ll be your barista today. I’m happy to see you have come for a cuppa and a chat. Please come into the garden and make yourself comfortable. Willow has put out the cushions on the chairs and set the table under the canopy so we can have a cuppa and chat. As usual, I’d be pleased to bring a pot of whatever beverage you prefer – we have a wide range of teas and coffees to satisfy our world-wide readership. Also available is a large selection of spirits for addition to your cuppa or in its place. We can relax amongst the flowers while we discuss the affairs of the week both personal and/or worldwide. How has your week been?

Friday evening I walked into dialysis in a good mood – humming under my breath. I was early and my chair was empty, which meant I could take my time and arrange the chair and sheets and pillows to my liking while I got ready for treatment. My regular position is adjacent to the nursing station and admin area. They will often line up in-patients on stretchers or wheelchairs next to the desk and tonight was no exception. Most times the patients are either lost in their own thoughts, asleep or in pain. Tonight as I walked by the station a gentleman on a stretcher called out to me and asked if I was a dialysis patient. I answered in the affirmative and walked over to lean on the desk next to him. He asked how long I had been a patient and I told him 8 years. He told me that this was his veryfirst dialysis. He was in his late forties and had an air of authority about him. He showed me the perm catheter they had installed for dialysis – the usual starting point for new patients. I showed him the scar where my original perm cath had been installed, and then my fistula. I asked how long he would have to be on dialysis (some patients have temporary treatment during times of kidney infection or other issues) and he told me he was a permanent patient. He wanted to know about the treatment and pain control and worst side effects. I, in turn, emphasized that the dialysis personnel, nursing and admin strived to make the unit feel like a safe place for the patients and he should speak up if he had any concerns or questions or felt any pain. I could feel that he was understandably nervous and I worked to assuage his concerns. I tried hard not to lie to him and simultaneously not to alarm him. And he was asking questions about far future events – questions that made it clear to me that he didn’t quite get this yet. Dialysis treatment is not a fix for a problem that puts things back on course- dialysis is an alternative to death and so there are continual and recurring issues that pop up like dominoes falling. The train of his life had just made a turn at a switch and would never again be on the original track – as much as he could temporarily still see the original track, he would never return to it.

Would you like another cuppa while we chat? Perhaps a sweet? I hadn’t really noticed my change in attitude over the years as I slowly came to realize that what happens next isn’t really important – what happens now is the most important. Focus on now and everything else will eventually work out. When I spoke to Ken, it was like looking back in time and speaking to myself 8 years ago. It was an interesting conversation. I had always griped about the doctors and staff not being open about warning of the coming future, but now as I stood in front of this frightened man who was seeing all his life’s plans and his future change, I couldn’t help but edit my own words to remove the coming angst. There was no way that in his frame of mind he would have been able to properly process those words. I wonder, does that make me hypocritical? Here I was doing thevery same thing that I most detested in others.

The nurses came to roll Ken to his dialysis and one nurse, Tau, quipped that I should write a book. I teased her that I would be sure to include the night she hit the back of my dialysis machine with a stretcher, breaking off a water line and creating Lake H (H is the dialysis unit). She laughed so hard she turned beet red. Ken and I exchanged good-byes, leaving me thoughtful. I hope that I gave him some small amount of peace about his coming life without omitting too much or alarming him. It’s a fine balance. I learned a lot about myself in that conversation with Ken.

On that note, that’s about all we have room for this week, so it’s time to settle in with another cuppa and enjoy the garden. Sweets anyone? Please join me in thanking Willow for her invitation to tea. We are all honored that you dropped by today to visit. I hope you’ve enjoyed yourself and the conversation and please look around at Willow’s other posts while you’re here. Willow is over there serving her guests and chatting it up. Let’s go see how she is today. Have a great week. We look forward to seeing you back here for sweets and beverages of your choice again next week.

Homemade Pink Cupcakes Await a Birthday Tea at School for a Young Girl’s Sixth Birthday Photo by : Belinda Borradaile

 If we were having Coffee Original idea  from  http://parttimemonster.wordpress.com/

And of course  the

IF WE WERE HAVING COFFEE:  WEEKEND COFFEE SHARE

over at Part Time  Monster  and Gene’O’s

Three Day Quote Challenge : Day 2

 

The rules of the challenge:

Post your favorite quotes or your own quotes for 3 days in a row.
Thank the person who nominated you
Pass it on to 3 other bloggers.

So  a  big  Thank  you  to  Lisa  at Underground  Energy   who  nominated  me.

I nominate Paul Curran   Let’s cut  the  Crap and The Curious Archaeologist

 

Helen Keller

Stream of Consciousness Saturday: Onomatopoeia

 

This  is  part  of  LindaGHill‘s Stream of Consciousness Saturday

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Boom bang  crash  went  the  thunder, the  windows  thudded  shut, the  house creaked!

Lightening  filled  the  room  with white light making  everything  look  ghostly.

There  was  a  deafening  crash  that  shook  the place until the pip  squeaked!

I was  not  afraid   because  I  am so brave ….. mostly!

 

The Birds  had  stopped  their  twittering  but  the  animals were  going mad

The  dogs  barked, the  cats  meowed  the  mice had  run off  sqeaking   see ya!

It  was like a mad house  full of noise  and  fear things  going from worse  to  bad!

A clap of  thunder, the  dictionary  fell to  the floor  revealing  the  word  ONOMOTAPOEIA!

Zoom in

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance,  Linda  will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” or “Begin with the word ‘The’.”

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that Linda  and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of Linda’s post into yours.  Your link will show up in Linda’s comments, for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on Linda’s post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. Have fun!

Badge by: Doobster @ Mindful Digressions