Everything seemed to be going well with Merrym's healing process. Asab and Courtney loved watching the bed of sand. They would pull the edge of the sheet back so they could see the sand erupt into what seemed like a sand bubble. This would entertain them for quite a while.
Since I was staying at Merrym's, I deep-cleaned her house. The kids helped me move furniture and appliances. We cleaned every where we could think of. Of course the worst place to clean was Courtney and Asab's rooms. Since Merrym couldn't really get her wheelchair through the bedroom doors and couldn't check on the rooms, things were a disaster. But we had it really clean for any Christmas company.
Looking around, I was feeling proud of our accomplishments. I thought now we can just relax into a routine, when Merrym told me that her bandage had to be changed. I hadn't been there when they discharged her from the hospital, since the paramedics brought her home. No one had given me any instructions on when and how to change the bandage. Apparently on her fourth day home, it had to be changed. Why hadn't Merrym told me before this? Then I realized she didn't want me to stress until the time came.
It sounded pretty easy to do. Just take the bandage off and put a clean one on. The one on her stomach went smoothly, but on to the hip. I hadn't seen it yet. Merrym described it as looking like a small roast with staples. As I began to take the bandage off, I ran into a problem. The gauze was hooked onto the staples. I slowly worked the gauze from each staple prong and was ready to lift the bandage, but it wouldn't come off. I lifted the edge and realized the gauze was stuck to the flesh with dried blood. Tears began to come to my eyes. How would I ever get this off, without hurting Merrym or damaging the surgery?
The wound was about the size and shape of a cupped hand laying on her hip. I worked around the edges gently pulling the gauze from the blood. About a centimeter in I ran into more trouble. The blood was very thick and bonding the gauze to the main area. I really started crying then. "What am I going to do, Merrym? I'm afraid I'll cause damage, and you'll need to have surgery again."
An idea finally came to me. I called one of my best friends, who is a registered nurse. Through my tears I explained the problem to her. She had me get a cup of warm water and some cotton. She told me that wetting it a little would be OK. I dabbed the water onto the gauze and after a few minutes the blood softened. I was able to pull the gauze off and replace it with a clean bandage. My friend stayed on the phone with me until the process was finished. Thank you God for friends, who are there when you need them.
And it came to pass, when he made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.
I Samuel 18:1 & 3
Love, Mother Hen Glory
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