Wounded Knee

A hummingbird flits at the feeder. Unaware that the rains of fall have come. The coolness of day changes green to orange red. Falling to earth like a shredded patchwork quilt. The flowers are few and nectar is rare, but those flying dynamos carry on. Such persistence. Such dedication to a singular effort.

The cats nuzzled together. Keeping warm through their union. The hummingbird persists. The cats unaware and uncaring of their industrious friend’s progress. They’ve had their fill. First eating. Then cleaning. Then sleep.

And here I sit. Friday mid-afternoon. The couch. My nest. Sleepless. How I wish I could be as industrious and relentless as that hummingbird. Or as unaware as said cats. But here I sit braced from pain. The pain of a wounded knee. It’s no allusion. No intimation. Just fact dressed in a black supportive shroud.

I was walking through the park one day. Well okay. Not so much a park, as my living room. And it was Tuesday of last. October 13th 3:30 PM to be almost exact. All I did was try a short excursion from my desk to the bedroom. And all it took was one tiny misstep. That was it. P. A. I. N. Ouch! Motherfucker! Motherfucker! Ouch! Motherfucker!

It took over an hour to be seen at the Northwest Hospital E.R. In a wheelchair with wounded limb aloft I waited. Hoping the unwashed crazy woman with the scraggly hair and the fashionable electronic ankle bracelet got her ‘meds’ …. real soon! Or the kid coming in with the H1N1 cough stayed masked and far away from me! And there we waited in the petri dish of NWH.

Once we were called. Things progressed. Not so hummingbird and more snail-like. But there was progress. A little poking. Motherfucker! A little prodding. Ouch! A little bending. Mother fuckin’ Motherfucker … ouch! Then came relief. And how do we spell relief? IV dilaudid! Yeah for I.V. narcotics! Woo hoo! Pain? What pain! Once the happy juice was administered and took effect … it was off for an MRI.

The MRI showed no torn ligaments, no torn muscles, no damage to the meniscus. The only thing it did show was a bone contusion, knee effusion, and an osteochondral defect. The defect which the attending called a bone cyst could have been there for ages. So I do need to follow up about that. Other than that … go home and rest. Take a boat-load of ibuprofen and follow up with my orthopod. So I was wrapped up in my protective shroud of metal bracing, foam padding and crutches and sent off to be productive. Not hummingbird productive. But wounded knee productive.

Chris took off from work Thursday to make sure I was taken care of. Is he sweet or what! He even canceled his trip to Oktoberfest out in Leavenworth this weekend. So all I have to do is rest and let my knee mend. Saw my orthopod on Wednesday, he has recommended physical therapy. So now I have to set that up for twice a week. Yippie! And so it goes.

This also means the gym is on hold until my knee heels. Oh … and I can’t drive until the shroud comes off and I can bend my knee again. So that will mean cabs to PT. More expenses I can’t afford right now. Oh well.

I am on the mend. Slowly. While the gray of the day continues. The rain will not relent. Much like the buzz of the hummingbird at the feeder. Though the cats have been rousted from sleep. Only to eat, clean and sleep some more. Such persistence.