I have spent the last three weeks or so in hospital – no, not prison as some would have it – although it did feel like a life sentence at one point. My fingers are tingling to get back to my keyboard after this enforced break; I feel like Stevie Wonder would be, getting twitchy about being separated from his piano.

Broken Leg

I broke my leg, and of course, not just any old bone, but the femur – the thigh bone - and I feel almost proud that I managed to break the supposedly strongest bone in the body. It was funny looking back - though not so much at the time - after an X-ray and a CT scan revealed the damage, I was shipped up to the ortho ward, where I lay almost immobile for 2 weeks waiting for surgery.

I would lurch upright at the sight of a doctor, and plead respectfully with an arm outstretched as to when I would be ‘done’, and the question was avoided by the shift of their eyes, or they were sidetracked by one of my roomies. The enforced wait was due to the surgeon himself being on holiday - hey, everyone is entitled to time off, but I seethed at the thought of him on a beach somewhere having a ‘Sex on the Beach’ cocktail while I waited plastered up like a mummy from King Tut’s tomb.

But I was fed, watered and cleaned, and felt that I had won the lottery in that I had a window seat, a bit like being upgraded into First Class on a long-haul flight. I wistfully watched the sun track across the sky, and set my imagination into a frenzy at cloud formations – wow, a giant turtle talking to a bear cub with a snake growing out of its back, a figurehead from an old ship that changed into a dog, etc., etc.

Hospital Food

On the subject of hospital food – I am not complaining about the quantity of it, as it was obviously well balanced and nutritious, but how do they make it so tasteless? Do they have something special they sprinkle on it before you get it that makes it taste so inedible? I have never seen grey meat before either, and sniffing it didn’t help reveal what it was. I don’t really eat fish, and didn’t want to lie there like a burping seal, so I elected for meat and chicken dishes, and I guess I was lucky to even get that choice. And don’t even talk about plastic cutlery - forks that break before you get the first morsel of grey stuff into your mouth, and knives that break and leave half a blade in a hard pear, making it look like you were a trainee surgeon on his day off.

Credits: envato elements;

State Hospital

This was a State hospital, but I can’t tell you which one, and although a lot of folk will knock the system, the care was second to none. The bed linen may have been tired, but it was impeccably clean, and the paintwork needs refreshing, but the staff were experts in what they did, whether it was a doctor, nurse or a ward assistant. The theatre was spotless, gleaming, and the staff took the time to explain who they were and what their function was, even getting a colleague to act as a translator to make sure I understood. If there was money in the pot for something, I am sure most would agree that investment in modern hi-tech equipment would be more important than a lick of paint here and there.

Home at last

So I am now recuperating at home, wobbling about trying not to put weight on the affected leg for a few months, and getting the hang of an electric wheelchair without gouging holes in the walls and cutting off my own feet. Jeepers, it is either juddering along in slow motion or going at warp speed – very hard to control. The Husband said if I can master the joystick, flying a 747 would be a doddle!

Set The Portugal News as your preferred source for news on Google

GoogleAdd as a preferred source on Google