4 Days after Surgery

A fully stocked pantry, 2 bags of frozen peas to keep my hip iced and percoset to relieve the pain are all I need to get me through until Wednesday, when Tom, Magda and Zoltan's father, will pick me up in his jeep around 11 a.m. and drive me to Bernardsville for the next 5 nights.  I check my e-mail at work.  It ends up irritating me to no end so I decide to lay low until after the Christmas holiday, during which time the Senate, unbelievably, actually passes the 9/11 health legislation.  By a voice vote, no less.

My entire day is spent anticipating the home nursing visit.  Although I have no idea what to expect, I want to know when the nurse will be arriving.  At noon I call the number I have been given and am told that I'm on Valona Fleary's schedule and that she'll be calling me soon.  At 3:30 I call again and am told the same thing.  Finally, at 4:30, the phone rings and Valona says she'll be arriving within the hour.  At 5:45 the phone rings again while I'm watching "Baby Doll" which I've never seen from beginning to end.  "I can't find the address," she begins, before stopping herself and telling me she's a few minutes away.  I sigh in disgust and return to the welcome distractions of even bad--very bad--Tennessee Williams.

I'm exhausted and irritated when Valona, after climbing the stairs more slowly than I did, enters the apartment with some story about how hard it is get to my apartment from 72nd Street and West End Avenue.  She removes a laptop from one of her 2 heavy bags but as soon as I mention that I'm leaving for New Jersey the next day she tells me she won't be able to open a case because her agency can't be liable for what happens to me there.  The news infuriates me and I inform her that I had made this clear to her agency's representative at the hospital.  She insists on calling the agency, but her supervisor already has left, upsetting me even more.  "If you had shown up a little earlier, we might have been able to avoid this," I accused.  So she has her boss paged and he validates her decision without a 2nd thought.  I erupt in frustration and Valona agrees to take a look around to see if she can offer any advice.  From her vague responses to my questions, I get the sense she isn't even familiar with my THP.  I definitely have hit my first bump in the recovery process.