A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow.
~Charlotte Brontë ~
10:00 PM last night
Younger daughter ill. Stomach pain, nausea, upchucking. Flu? More pain. Pressure on the abdomen produces yelp of pain and tears. Off to the ER. See Nurse 1. Wait, wait, wait. IV fluids and painkillers. Nurse1 off-shift, enter Nurse 2. Doctor – “textbook case of appendicitis”. Surgery? Not yet – need CT scan to verify. Wait, wait. CT results are sent to Australia for interpretation (true! They labor while we sleep.) Appendicitis confirmed. Next in line for surgery after another (ruptured) appendix is removed.
Big commotion in ER! Lots of EMTs! All doctors, nurses, orderlies rush to new patient! “Ruptured aneurysm with a belly full of blood”! Zoom to top of OR charts!

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Surgeon 1 still operating on big case. Transfer to pediatric floor. Meet Nurse 3 and Trainee-Nurse. Watch full moon set and sun rise. Promised Surgeon 2. Promise evaporates before it leaves the lips of Nurse 3 who is now off-shift, enter Nurse 4. Wait, wait, wait.

Surgeon 3 appears! “Surgery will be soon.” Soon = 4.5 hours later. “Surgery will take 20 minutes, total of 1 hour with recovery.” Watch her roll through the OR doors at 11:00 AM, Surgeon 3 re-appears at 1:40 proclaiming success.

Back to pediatric floor. Meet Nurse 5. Painkillers wear off and are replaced with incessant complaints about the TV remote not working. Kiss her goodnight and leave her with her teddy bear, her Elmo balloon, the tulips from her best friend, and the non-functional remote.

10:00 PM tonight
Home to sleeping lying down instead of sitting up, leaning against whatever was nearby. More tomorrow when coherence returns on the tides of sleep.