Monday, September 01, 2008

See CH Break 2 Bones Pt. 5 of 6 - Friday

On Friday, Manny was kind of enough to drive CH to an appointment with the hand specialist that he had been referred to while I attended a recording session at work. 

I met him at the doctor's office, which just so happened to be in the same building as another specialist that I'm seeing right now (more on that maybe later), and one of the nurses led me to an examination room where the doctor was putting a neat little half cast on CH.

As it turned out, CH's hand was broken -- not his finger. The ER doc hadn't told us that, but I'm assuming that why he had put CH in the cast, and no, CH probably shouldn't have been using only a finger brace for three days now. 

But the new, slicker, lighter, MPIH cast was much better and allowed CH to move his fingers and perhaps more importantly "wipe my butt." Like I said, CH was a great patient, but he had his limits. 

Plus as soon as he got cleared from the shoulder doctor, he could start driving, "Just to work and back," he assured me.

The shoulder doctor wasn't quite as lovely as the other MPIH cast -- I mean crew. It took forever for them to usher us in to an examination room, then forever for the doctor to actually see us, only to find out that he wanted CH to get a cat scan at St. Joseph's.

So we went to St. Joseph's and that took awhile, and by the time we were done, we were both hungry and cranky. 

However, in the X-Ray/cat scan waiting room, there was an older woman reading a book. I wondered who she was waiting for, but about 15 minutes later they wheeled a woman on a hospital cot. She laid on her side, obviously weak or in pain, and the woman immediately went over to her cot, took her hand, and started bantering with her. Within 5 minutes, the sick woman had perked up and even laughed weakly at a few things the other woman said.

Oh, it must be her mom, I thought to myself. But after several minutes of eavesdropping on their conversation (I'm a writer, it wouldn't even occur to me not to eavesdrop, sue me), I realized that this wasn't her mother or even relative. She was a friend. And she was there for her friend in her time of need. And her friend was feeling better because of it.

I know I was tired and worn out, but I love people. They never cease to surprise, impress and touch me. And I know terrible things happen, I know we do terrible things to one another, but I think we're all beautiful at the end of the day. I hope you know that.

The cat scan wouldn't be available for hours. "I can pick them up before Janice's bridal shower tomorrow," I said, just so we could get out of there. 

As many of you know, I have the worse sense of direction. But my friend Debra was hosting the shower at her apartment, and when I first moved to Los Angeles, I stayed on Debra's and Janice's (she was Debra's roommate back then) couch for ten days, so I knew it was close by.

What's strange is that I never asked her for this favor. I came to L.A. on a vague visit with my grad school program, which provided a hotel for 3 days, and then I would be on my own. I still remember Debra, who had graduated from the Dramatic Writing the year before me,  sitting beside me on a bench at the Alumnae Welcome Picnic for the new grads and asking me if I needed a place to stay while I found an apartment. It was the first in a Series of Fortunate Events. 

Like I said, people are wonderful.

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