Some very weird weirdness is afoot!

Well, hooray, I am home - relatively unscathed, except for my very sore, bruised arms and veins that have been bleached up the wazoo. But something very, very strange happened on Saturday night.

I spilled very hot water everywhere as I was carrying two jugs en route to doing my nebulizing. That was a bit unpleasant, to say the least!! I had a tiny refrigerator in the room (all the rooms have them), but there was no ice (really, they are there for medication that needs to be refrigerated). There was a banana, though - and here is a cure for burns (unless they are serious enough for a visit to the hospital): cold banana skins. Truly!! I discovered that by accident, because that was the only thing I could put on my burned hand. It stopped me from blistering, although my hand was red and sore. An accidental discovery!!

But that wasn't the weird thing. That happened much later.

I went to bed around 11-and in the middle of the night, all the lights in the room went on. All of them-and I nearly jumped out of bed. I thought someone was there, but the room was empty. Now, the way these siderooms are constructed, there are two sets of doors, with a sink in between; the only way to switch the room lights on is to actually come into the room, because the light switches aren't near enough to the door-unless you have arms that are about eight feet long.

I sat up, said hello (well, what do you expect for the middle of the night?), and got out of bed and opened the inner door. Perhaps that wasn't the best thing I could have done-who knows what I might have found? - but  there was nobody there. I opened the outer door, and saw that the corridor was empty. If there had been anyone there, I would have seen them.

So I then went to the little dresser and looked at my watch: it was exactly 1:15AM. I thought - hmmm, this is very strange! So I sat on the bed and wondered what was going on - and the lights went off. By themselves. There was nobody there, and no way of anyone coming into the room without my hearing them.

On Sunday morning, when the nurse came in to give me my antibiotics, I told her what had happened. She said that someone was saying hello (or goodbye), and someone wanted to get my attention. She then said that her friend had the experience of her youngest child dying suddenly, and they were miles away from each other-and at that moment, a picture went flying off her wall, and the lights went on and off several times. The nurse went on to say that in Africa they all believe in spirits, and I should find out if everyone I care about is okay. She gave me a look to see if I thought she had lost her marbles-but, really, I believe her and I have had some strange, unaccountable things happen before - but not for years. So this was - interesting. I will have to start calling home (like E.T.!).

On Sunday, my cannula blew my vein, and I had to have a new one inserted-just for two more doses of antibiotics. I wasn't pleased, I can tell you that :(  but I did get to wash my hair in between having the offending one removed and the new one inserted, so that was the upside of my day. I stayed in the shower until my skin was all shrivelled up like a raisin-but it felt great not to have to stand with one arm held above my head!! Simple things, but they certainly make a difference!!

I finally got home yesterday - what a huge palaver!! I had to wait for the registrars to parole me (!!), and then wait for all the paperwork, and then I was allowed to go to the patients' departure area until a taxi arrived to get me home. But, before I could leave the ward (which ended up to be at around 2:30), I was given lunch. Two of the nurses said I should try the Afro-Caribbean meal, because it actually didn't taste like cardboard-so I said okay. Oh my God!! It was curried goat - and it was absolutely disgusting. I went out to the desk and told them that, and they were laughing at me, because they had never tried it themselves. Funny-and the cleaner who came into my room was African, and she stood there and watched me as I tried to get the stuff down. She was trying not to laugh, too. Was I set up, or what!!

A word of advice: NEVER eat curried goat. It is truly revolting. From now on, I am vegetarian. And it is all thanks to curried goat.

Pass the Kettle Chips!!