I Came Back Again©

I Came Back Again©

Copyright© 2017

By Felina Silver Robinson

Goodbye to my old hospital roomie

She came in as I did to have surgery

In different beds

In different ORs

Each of us had something removed

She had a double mastectomy

I had part of my skull pounded to remove a cyst infested bone

Asleep we were unknowing of what was to come

Now sharing room 536 we each licked our wounds

Known to others as, by the door, and by the window

Those who need to, know our names

We comfort each other’s pain bouncing our words off the curtain that separates us

536 by the door, begins to whimper heavily, I ask if she’s ok

She shares that her favorite uncle has just passed of level 3 lung cancer

She’s trapped in a hospital bed states away not allowed to travel to his funeral

I can’t even imagine her pain

We say our goodbyes as she’s released to start the remainder of her recovery at home

I slip into dreamland and wake to the sounds of my new roomie

Who we will call “COPD L”.

A sweet, petite older woman from Londonderry

As sweet as she is, I couldn’t get far enough away from her chronic nagging COPD filled cough

Somehow the rythym of her cough continues to send me off into deeper and deeper periods of sleep

One such time was so deep I almost didn’t return

I saw myself dangling off the side of the bed

As doctors yelled my name

I’m running as fast as I can from the beast that’s chasing those behind, beside and in front of me

We’re all looking for cover as the beast stomps his giant feet through the ground we try to land on

In the blink of an eye

I’m awake now attached to pumps and tanks

Being queried about my breathing

It takes me a minute to realize I’m no longer being chased by the beast

I again hear “COPD L”, but am now weary of sleeping to the beat of her cough

The darkness continues to follow me two nights in a row

Each time allowing the breathing that was previously taken

I run frantically still trying to escape the beast waking each time in a cold sweat

Grateful for the sun of the next morning and the words “you get to go home this morning”

I quickly clean, dress and sit waiting to sign my way out of room 536 by the window

I’m once again free from the beast that follows me

Could it be Leviathan?