August 25, 2016

  • Watching Her Sing

    The first words out of her mouth were uncharacteristically strident. She had spent the last two days struggling to make people understand what she wanted and needed. With her voice restored she was able to communicate; she demanded something to eat. Moments later the nurse produced some juice and jello with celery and raisins trapped inside. She drank eagerly but had to perform a dissection on the jello to pick out the celery. Celery in jello was unnatural. As she spooned the last remnant of lime gelatin from the dish, the tall doctor arrived. He seemed especially pleased that she could now speak. He proceeded to examine her mouth and throat as a small group of medical students crowded around the bed. The doctor asked her to sing. The doctor suggested she sing “Happy Birthday” or the “ABC Song”, whichever she preferred. She hesitated for a moment before belting out “Shake It Off”. She surprised herself with the clarity of her voice and the richness of the melody emanating from her throat. Her eyes widened and her smile grew. She finished after the refrain. The medical students burst into applause and the nurses in the back flashed her thumbs up. She hadn’t felt that sure of herself since before starting the job at the call center. All her practice singing in the shower paid off! Even the doctor appeared to have enjoyed her performance.

    He left orders that she be given a regular menu and he prescribed milk shakes between meals. Liz stopped him before her left the room. She wanted to know why the scabs had formed in the first place and what she needed to do to keep them from coming back. The doctor took a seat next to the bed. He had become serious. He chose his words carefully. In short no one knew the cause but they were looking at her blood samples and analyzing the scabs in search for an answer to that very question. Should the scabs reappear, he assured her that they now had an effective method to soften them to allow removal. He started to stand up but changed his mind. He looked troubled as he suggested that perhaps the scabs were an opportunistic condition related to anorexia nervosa. Liz assured him that she loved to eat and would willingly eat most foods. He didn’t look all that convinced as he stared at the little pile of chopped celery on the tray. She knew that the nurses would be watching her carefully to make sure she was eating and keeping it down. A few short days ago that would have bothered her but now she didn’t care. In fact, she realized that she didn’t care much about what anyone thought of her.

    This is for the Laziest Summer Scavenger Hunt using prompt #63 - dissection. Only 3 more prompts left! I hope I can wrap this up in only 3 more prompts. But rest assured that if I have to do a few more episodes to make it come out decent I will!

Comments (6)

  • I have made one kind of jello salad with celery. We also used to make carrot jello salad a lot and put celery in it. Don't eat jello as much as we used to. Medical people don't like when they aren't listened to. :P

    • My mother liked to make jello with cottage cheese in it - and celery and nuts and I don't know what else. It was disgusting. She still makes it and likes it! ick.

  • What a wonderful outcome -- she can sing again! Too bad about the celery, but that has the least possible impact on her weight of most foods she could have left on the plate!

    • I wouldn't fault her at all for picking out the celery! I think she surprised herself when she sang - on several levels!

  • I agree with Liz about the celery in jello. Jello is supposed to be squishy and just slide down, not have to be chewed. Besides, I'm not a fan of celery unless it's cooked, like in a stew or something.

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