Free A DEATH TO DIE FOR by Geoffrey Wilding Page B

thought great not only am I going to die soon and at this rate I’ll be crippled as well.
     
    He went through the whole process once more but again all I could feel was the grating on the surface of the bone but thankfully still no pain, all the time Tingha and Tucker’s mumblings became louder and more agitated but still at a level where my less than acute hearing could not discern the meaning of the flow of words.
     
    Tucker then removed the needle and I heard the syringe clang into the metal dish, he said that he was having some difficulty and needed to discuss the matter with a colleague and that he would be back shortly.
     
    With that he left the room instructing Tingha to stay and keep an eye on things, I stayed as tightly curled up as I could manage because I was worried that if I moved that I might cause myself further injury, I said to Tingha that I supposed his mate had gone for the instruction manual, but the attempt at humour fell on deaf ears.
     
    Maybe twenty minutes or so passed by during which time Tingha who seemed to be getting anxious at the length of wait went across to the door on a couple of occasions to see if Tucker was coming, I think maybe he thought he had done a runner leaving him with the problem, anyway Tucker eventually reappeared at the door followed closely by a Chinese gentleman, I heard him ask the other two quietly what my name was which received a mumbled answer and then he said that Doctor [ Tucker ] has asked him to assist with this procedure and could I please curl up really tightly and stay very still.
     
    With that the new doctor took the syringe and with no problem at all felt along my spine, inserted the needle into the spinal cavity, removed the required amount of fluid and replaced the syringe back in the metal dish all within a minute I should guess.
     
    I then heard him tell Tingha and Tucker in a low angry voice that he had helped them out this time but if ever either of them called him out again he would report them and with that he left at some pace.
     
    Tingha and Tucker finished off by wiping my back with a swab and applying a dressing, they said that I should lay as I was for a few minutes and then carefully roll onto my back and that I would be alright to move in about an hour.
     
    I found out later that because Tucker couldn’t find the place to insert the needle he had gone to the maternity department and summoned the assistance of the anaesthetist who was experienced at giving epidural injections to pregnant women, I suppose I should thank him really for not trying to stumble on with the procedure himself and possibly causing me an injury, it can’t have been easy for him to go to another department and admit that he was unable to complete the lumber puncture.
     
    Anyway I was emotionally exhausted and completely knackered after all the goings on and fell asleep on top of the bed in the foetal position and I was still asleep when the nurse came to administer the sleeping draft and apply the atropine patch, she woke me up and then helped me into my nightshirt, I got into bed and then she connected the NG tube to a new food bag.
     
    I woke in the night again and rinsed my dry mouth out with cold water but the rest of the night past without incident.
     

Friday 2 nd December 2005
     
     
     
    I came to when the early nurse entered the room, my tongue was seemingly super glued to the roof of my mouth and I felt  that I had to swill my mouth out with cold water and get some flexibility back into my tongue, so after carefully unplugging my food pump from the wall socket I wheeled the drip stand into the shower room, acknowledged myself in the mirror, probably to confirm that I was still here and then bent over the wash basin and set to slurping water from the running cold tap.
     
    I was starting to get concerned that I wasn’t getting enough fluids and although having past the SALT test earlier in the week albeit with some difficulty I was still anxious that