The yesterdays are past. Today is here. What I have to say to the woman who follows me is what the wobbly old wheel said to me: Be not afraid. While you reach for recovery, have faith in God's goodness now and in all the days to follow.Spring 1976
A Flashing Memory Of Days In A Hospital
By Eleanor S. Martin
Coffee, Coffee! Morning coffee! The aroma drifted into my room.
It's early morning and dawn is just breaking over a Humana Hospital Suburban in Louisville, Kentucky.
I remember entering the hospital Easter Sunday. I had a mastectomy.
My son, his wife and my two daughters were there to sustain me. "They are my bridge over troubled waters".
I asked myself the same question that hundreds of other women before have asked: Why me, why me?
God is my refuge and strength.
Then I remember being lifted on to a stretcher and being wheeled down a long corridor. One of the wheels on the stretcher began to wobble. It went this way, it went that way, all the while playing a tune.
Am I dreaming or is it really saying, "Be not afraid, Be not afraid."
There was a big ka-plunk as I passed over the threshold.
It said, "I am afraid."
Many shadowy figures were hurrying around, Angels of Mercy, that's what they were, Angels of Mercy.
Someone bent over me, to reassure me, my doctor of course.
I felt myself being lifted again. It seemed as though fleecy white clouds were floating by me, one, two, and three. I’ll wait for number nine and then hold on, then oblivion.
After several hours, I'm on my way back to my room. Was this the same stretcher that brought me down? I listened to see if the wheels had another message for me.
The coffee cart is gone now but in the distance I hear a paperboy. I hope he brings one by. I have to keep abreast of what is going on, outside these hospital walls.
Is Nicaragua still in the news? Will we see the Berlin Wall fall? Will Secretary of State George Shultz be visiting more communist countries? Is the sixth fleet still patrolling the Mediterranean? Is Vice President Bush waiting in the wings with his hand on the pulse of the nation?
Now for the home front.
Are the petunias blooming in the onion patch? Are the azaleas still blooming? Have the robins flown the nest in the lilac bush outside my window?
Answer all these questions and give yourself an A+.
The yesterdays are past. Today is here. What I have to say to the woman who follows me is what the wobbly old wheel said to me: Be not afraid. While you reach for recovery, have faith in God's goodness now and in all the days to follow.