Ben was conscious for about five days in ICU. For the first few days he wasn’t allowed to eat or drink anything except what went in via the tube.
On the third day the doctor announced that he was allowed to eat normal food again. It was just after lunch so he assumed he would have to wait till dinner time. But the nurse from the patient next door came over with an untouched tray of food because his patient wasn’t allowed to eat it. The tray had sandwiches, soup and the ingredients for a cup of tea on it.
Ben ate the sandwiches but was advised to stay away from the soup. When he had finished them he asked Dad to make the tea up for him. Dad looked at him a bit strangely but complied with the request. “What do you want in it?” Dad asked. “Just chuck it all in,” Ben replied. So Dad put the water, tea bag, milk and sugar in the cup and passed it to Ben. As he started drinking it he looked over at the nurse with the smile of a naughty boy and said, “I never drink tea.”
I don’t know whether this was Ben desperate for anything he could get his hands on, or if it was just him enjoying anything put in front of him, but either way something so small seemed to entertain him despite the circumstances…
Tim
Saturday, May 23, 2009
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2 comments:
I am sitting at a staffroom table in the remote NT community of Timber Creek. The tuck shop lady offers me a helping of spag bol with carrot and zucchini in it. Another unexpected teary time, as I remember all of the Mulherin family sitting around the Tallandowring dining table, with Ben leading the arguement about how WRONG it is to put vegies in Spag.
:(
xxxxxx love to you all xxxxxx
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