treasures

When a man gets up out of a comfortable bed and drinks a cup of beef bouillon soup for breakfast, there’s got to be something wrong with the picture. Tuesday was the day and clear liquids were the diet of the day. The two big-ticket items on my menu were the bouillon and ginger ale. I did try a can of chicken broth and while it was OK, my taste buds seemed to detect the flavor of feathers.

Mucho veggies were picked on Monday so I set about putting some of these in the freezer – to keep my mind occupied. Okra was cut up and brought to a light steam in the oven – then cooled and bagged. Then the squash was cut up, blanched, spread to dry and cool and then they were bagged. There was only one bag of okra but I got 4 quarts out of the squash.

At 4pm it was time to start drinking the “to-go” juice that I mixed up that morning. The regimen was to drink 8 oz of the cleaning out fluid every 15-20 minutes. This was done in the back bedroom that just happens to be very close to a porcelain fixture that we all know and use. Several hours later I was feeling very “washed out”. That room does have a TV, for what that’s worth.

Wednesday began for us at the surreal hour of 5:45am and we got up and headed to the hospital for the colonoscopy. We checked in and went up to the proper department for the “look-see” to be done. I was soon called back to get into the proper attire and to have my vitals checked. An IV with tubing was inserted for the “don’t care” juice to be administered later.

Two of the nurses that took vitals and information and input it into the computer did little to reassure me that all the staff was highly qualified. The thought crossed my mind that these two just started that morning and their first patient didn’t make it. One of them pushed the gurney over to the procedure room and when we started moving I knew we were going to collide with something on the way.

We were almost to the room and I was starting to think I was wrong when we hit the wall – so that’s what those rubber bumpers are for. The doc arrived and these two tried to get the “out like a light” juice to flow a couple of times before it finally went. One moment I was happily chatting with them and the next I was back in the recovery stall with the Spice – having some terrible gas pains.

The report was good, I was glad and we headed back to the home front with only a few scattered memories. There were no diet limitations now and the first thing I checked out was to see if the leftover banana pudding was still good – it was – the whole bowl. I was a man on a mission with a lot of catching up to do. Several leftovers and a fresh salad later, the raging hunger was sated.

Many things in life are not appreciated until they are no longer available to us – this is true for food and also for family relationships. I find it so sad when families feud and don’t realize what they are missing until it’s too late. Relationships are way more important than pride, money or anything money can buy. My relationships with Jesus and with my family are my greatest treasures. ec