So this Saturday I visited my little bro Nick in the hospital. It was good to see him, even if the reason I was seeing him wasn’t all that great. Nick has terrible scoliosis and had a metal rod put in his spine when he was seventeen. The doctors believed that if he did not get a rod, he would most likely end up in a wheel chair.
Well…a couple of months ago the rod broke. He’s actually been able to get around just fine, but been in quite a bit of pain too. The surgery was to repair/replace the broken rod, and fortunately it appears that everything was successful. They actually had to clamp a new rod alongside the lower section of the existing one. Fortunately, they only filleted him up to his shoulder blades this time around (instead of the entire length of the spine as before).
When I first saw Nick Saturday morning my first thought was…wow life has been beating this guy up. The pain was definitely visible in his face. But, we had a really good time chatting and what not. His mom, Terri, (my former step-mom) was there too. As a matter of fact, ends up it was her birthday. When she stepped out of the room, Nick told me to come closer and he quietly explained that there was a birthday card he wanted me to sign, and that a cake would be arriving shortly. Apparently, around 4 am the night before as he was unable to sleep (presumably due to pain) he had remembered it was his mom’s birthday. As she was sleeping on the couch, he dragged his sorry ass out of the hospital bed, chased down a nurse and made all of the arrangements.
It took a little longer than expected for the cake to arrive, so ended up visiting for a few hours. I couldn’t help but have a big smile on my face after we sang Happy Birthday. Nick even asked me why I was smiling so much. Didn’t quite have the balls to tell my baby bro who had just undergone a fairly agonizing endoskeleton replacement (without the assistance of Skynet) just how proud I was of him, but I did manage to utter a “good job Nick” and continued to smile.
Well…a couple of months ago the rod broke. He’s actually been able to get around just fine, but been in quite a bit of pain too. The surgery was to repair/replace the broken rod, and fortunately it appears that everything was successful. They actually had to clamp a new rod alongside the lower section of the existing one. Fortunately, they only filleted him up to his shoulder blades this time around (instead of the entire length of the spine as before).
When I first saw Nick Saturday morning my first thought was…wow life has been beating this guy up. The pain was definitely visible in his face. But, we had a really good time chatting and what not. His mom, Terri, (my former step-mom) was there too. As a matter of fact, ends up it was her birthday. When she stepped out of the room, Nick told me to come closer and he quietly explained that there was a birthday card he wanted me to sign, and that a cake would be arriving shortly. Apparently, around 4 am the night before as he was unable to sleep (presumably due to pain) he had remembered it was his mom’s birthday. As she was sleeping on the couch, he dragged his sorry ass out of the hospital bed, chased down a nurse and made all of the arrangements.
It took a little longer than expected for the cake to arrive, so ended up visiting for a few hours. I couldn’t help but have a big smile on my face after we sang Happy Birthday. Nick even asked me why I was smiling so much. Didn’t quite have the balls to tell my baby bro who had just undergone a fairly agonizing endoskeleton replacement (without the assistance of Skynet) just how proud I was of him, but I did manage to utter a “good job Nick” and continued to smile.
Este sábado visité a mi hermano pequeño, Nick, en el hospital. Fue bueno verlo, incluso si la razón por que yo estaba viendo él no era especialmente bueno. Nick tiene escoliosis terribles y había una barra de metal puesto en su columna vertebral cuando tenía diecisiete años. Los médicos creen que si no reciba una barra, muy probablemente iba a necesitar una silla de ruedas.
Bueno…un par de meses atrás, la barra se rompió. Él ha sido capaz de moverse bien, pero tenía un poco de dolor también. La cirugía fue de reparación / sustitución de la varilla rota, y, afortunadamente, parece que todo fue un éxito. En realidad Tenían que adjuntar una varilla de nuevo junto a la sección inferior de la existente.. Afortunadamente, sólo se lo cortó hasta sus hombros esta vez (en lugar de toda la longitud de la columna vertebral como antes).
Cuando vi Nick por primera vez el sábado por la mañana mi primer pensamiento fue…wow, la vida ha maltratado a este tipo. El dolor era claramente visible en su cara. Sin embargo, tuvimos un momento muy bueno en el chat. Su madre, Terri, (mi madrastra anterior) también estaba allí. De hecho, era su cumpleaños. Cuando salió de la habitación, Nick me dijo que se acercara y él tranquilamente explicó que había una tarjeta de cumpleaños que él quería que yo firme, y que un pastel llegaría en breve. Al parecer, alrededor de las 4 de la noche anterior, como no podía dormir (presumiblemente debido al dolor), se había acordado que era el cumpleaños de su mamá. Como ella estaba durmiendo en el sofá, se arrastró fuera de la cama del hospital, persiguió una enfermera e hizo todos los arreglos.
Tomó un poco más de lo esperado para la torta en llegar, así que no terminamos de visita por unas horas. Yo no podía dejar de tener una gran sonrisa en mi cara después de que cantó Happy Birthday. Nick incluso me preguntó por qué yo sonreía tanto. Yo no lo tiene los huevos para decirle a mi hermanito que acababa sido objeto de una sustitución endoesqueleto bastante dolorosa (sin la ayuda de Skynet) sólo lo orgulloso que estaba de él, pero me arreglé para pronunciar un "buen trabajo, Nick", y yo seguía sonriendo.
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