Family members and friends waiting for their loved one in surgery at Parker Adventist Hospital will be distracted and, I hope, soothed by the art in CREATIONS. As will the cancer patients as they come from the changing rooms and head for the treatment room. In the main lobby are more pieces from the show, including some of the most colorful of the group.
Possibly the one that will first grab the visitor’s eye is Charlie and the Ball by Darlene Determan. This dog is a riot of color and so intent on the ball that you just know Charlie is ready for another game of fetch. “Please, please!”
I was pleased to find that my piece, The Healing Power of Touch, was chosen to hang in the surgery waiting area. I hope that it will help ease the anxiety and make the time fly by for anyone waiting to learn of news about a loved one. I wish I had had beautiful artwork to look at as I waited for my husband, Jack, to get out of surgery back in 2002.
After an accident on the job, four weeks in the hospital, and many, many appointments with specialists, it was finally time to do the tissue and skin grafts Jack required. I don’t remember the times exactly, but I had to leave home about 4:00 AM to arrive before Jack was taken into pre-op. The surgery was expected to last about 14 hours. As the day wore on, people came and went in the waiting area. Soon it was just a few of us waiting, and then it was just me. That was when the real waiting began. Then, at last, Jack was in post-op/recovery but was not coming out of the anesthesia. I waited. And waited. I paced and paced some more. I read all the magazines. Knitted. Finished my knitting. Called back to see if they had just forgotten about me.
The nurses finally took me into post-op. Jack was awake but wouldn’t answer the questions required before they could release him to the ICU/burn unit. When I explained to Jack that Wiley had been in the house without relief since 4:00 AM, and I couldn’t go take care of him until he was settled in a room, Jack finally cooperated. I pulled into the driveway 23 hours after I had left it the morning before.
I’m not sure who was happier, Wiley so he could go outside and then get some dinner or me so I could just fall into bed.
