Tubes

During most of my time in the ICU I was hooked up to a dizzying amount of machines, tubes, monitors, drips and more. Being on a liquid diet didn't help, just another tube inserted wherever there was space. Post-Op I think the list went something like this:

1.) Oxygen tube in the nose.
2.) IV for PCA (Patient Controlled Analgesia) or a morphine system to kill pain.
3.) Heart Rate Monitor
4.)Blood Oxygen Monitor
5., 6., and 7.) IVs for various bags of Fluids, Drugs, and Nutrients
8.) Urinary Catheter
9. and 10.) Small Side Spinal Drains
11.) Main Spinal Drain

Over the course of the two plus weeks at LICH in the ICU and the Neurosurgery Wing the tubes and IVs slowly came out. An IV here, a spinal drain there, until the day before I moved to Mt. Sinai when out came the last tube. I remember my mother walking in and shrieking when she noticed the last tube was gone and I have to say it felt pretty good, knowing I wasn't attached to any machines or devices anymore. Felt good to have my body back.