Read Online A DEATH TO DIE FOR by Geoffrey Wilding - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Geoffrey Wilding
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was the nearest I had seen myself looking like a punk with the NG tube reminding me of a body piercing.
I thought that I had better tidy myself up a bit before everyone came in so with my good arm I wetted down my hair immediately changing my look from ‘Johnny Rotten’ to the keyboard player from ‘Sparks’ and then managed to lather and wet shave my face carefully manoeuvring the razor around the sticking plaster and the NG tube, as I reviewed the now amended reflected image I thought not bad considering I had only been able to use one arm.
I managed to get my gown on by pushing my right arm down the right sleeve of my gown and then feeling around the collar and pulling the rest of it over my left shoulder and then I sat in the chair and waited for Helen to arrive during which time the bed linen duo undertook a fascinating and efficient sheet change, in hospital you will watch anything even mundane tasks with an all absorbing intensity just to help time pass by.
It was not long after I had got dressed that Helen entered the room, she smiled and was a real sight for sore eyes, she has always been a smart elegant woman and now the tear stained cheeks and untended hair of the previous couple of days were gone, she had made sure that she looked her very best for me.
She came across to the chair and gave me a big hug and kissed me on the shaved cheek she then stood back and admired my efforts at sartorial splendour and to her credit she managed to keep it to a smile and didn’t actually laugh out loud.
My voice was still no more that a husky whisper but I managed to explain to Helen what had happened during the night, she was concerned but could also see the funny side particularly as no harm had been done and she was also pleased that I had managed to get some decent sleep and that I was feeling a bit better this morning.
I had been told that I was supposed to be getting all of my sustenance from the balanced food supplied by the NG porridge but whether it was the atropine patches or just that I couldn’t drink anything I didn’t know but I still had a raging thirst.
Helen then said that she had managed to make some phone calls and that Bill would come to see me this afternoon but that the solicitor was on holiday until the following Wednesday and she had been asked did I want to see anyone else in his absence but I said that I would rather wait as I didn’t want to discuss our private matters with someone we didn’t know.
The consultant came into the room doing his rounds, he said that as my condition was going to have an effect on my brain and nervous system that my case was to be taken over by a specialist neurological consultant who split his time between Hereford and Birmingham hospitals, and only came to Hereford two days a week and so he would be calling in to see me later when he had finished his morning clinics, he also said that he would be keeping an overall watching brief out of interest as it was an unusual medical condition.
Just about lunchtime the new consultant came in, he smiled and introduced himself, I was by now sitting in the chair while Helen sat on the bed holding my hand, he explained in more detail how he thought the condition had arisen and in what way the symptoms of the growing cancer might develop, he said that there would probably be more extensive paralysis which eventually would lead to a final closing down of my lung and heart function, he leaned closer and his voice became quieter as he said that he couldn’t give any definite timings because it would depend on how aggressive the cancer turned out to be but that he thought that what I had already been told was about right.
At this Helen’s grip tightened, she could no longer maintain her stoicism, her shoulders heaved and floods of tears came, all I could do was reach across with my right arm and pull her head onto my shoulder and try to comfort her, I think that the consultant was
I thought that I had better tidy myself up a bit before everyone came in so with my good arm I wetted down my hair immediately changing my look from ‘Johnny Rotten’ to the keyboard player from ‘Sparks’ and then managed to lather and wet shave my face carefully manoeuvring the razor around the sticking plaster and the NG tube, as I reviewed the now amended reflected image I thought not bad considering I had only been able to use one arm.
I managed to get my gown on by pushing my right arm down the right sleeve of my gown and then feeling around the collar and pulling the rest of it over my left shoulder and then I sat in the chair and waited for Helen to arrive during which time the bed linen duo undertook a fascinating and efficient sheet change, in hospital you will watch anything even mundane tasks with an all absorbing intensity just to help time pass by.
It was not long after I had got dressed that Helen entered the room, she smiled and was a real sight for sore eyes, she has always been a smart elegant woman and now the tear stained cheeks and untended hair of the previous couple of days were gone, she had made sure that she looked her very best for me.
She came across to the chair and gave me a big hug and kissed me on the shaved cheek she then stood back and admired my efforts at sartorial splendour and to her credit she managed to keep it to a smile and didn’t actually laugh out loud.
My voice was still no more that a husky whisper but I managed to explain to Helen what had happened during the night, she was concerned but could also see the funny side particularly as no harm had been done and she was also pleased that I had managed to get some decent sleep and that I was feeling a bit better this morning.
I had been told that I was supposed to be getting all of my sustenance from the balanced food supplied by the NG porridge but whether it was the atropine patches or just that I couldn’t drink anything I didn’t know but I still had a raging thirst.
Helen then said that she had managed to make some phone calls and that Bill would come to see me this afternoon but that the solicitor was on holiday until the following Wednesday and she had been asked did I want to see anyone else in his absence but I said that I would rather wait as I didn’t want to discuss our private matters with someone we didn’t know.
The consultant came into the room doing his rounds, he said that as my condition was going to have an effect on my brain and nervous system that my case was to be taken over by a specialist neurological consultant who split his time between Hereford and Birmingham hospitals, and only came to Hereford two days a week and so he would be calling in to see me later when he had finished his morning clinics, he also said that he would be keeping an overall watching brief out of interest as it was an unusual medical condition.
Just about lunchtime the new consultant came in, he smiled and introduced himself, I was by now sitting in the chair while Helen sat on the bed holding my hand, he explained in more detail how he thought the condition had arisen and in what way the symptoms of the growing cancer might develop, he said that there would probably be more extensive paralysis which eventually would lead to a final closing down of my lung and heart function, he leaned closer and his voice became quieter as he said that he couldn’t give any definite timings because it would depend on how aggressive the cancer turned out to be but that he thought that what I had already been told was about right.
At this Helen’s grip tightened, she could no longer maintain her stoicism, her shoulders heaved and floods of tears came, all I could do was reach across with my right arm and pull her head onto my shoulder and try to comfort her, I think that the consultant was
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