Wednesday, January 08, 2014

the 3 ghosts of zimnoch { غزل‎ : an audio post}

"Once More we come like dust adance in air........" (Rumi:Ghazal :1720)
1962 school photo.

 
Two old men are sitting in a cafe. Gideon says to Dave , "Did you come on the bus?" Dave  replies, "Yeah, but I made it look like an Asthma attack."

As it happens, the story begins only a few hours after the photos in previous post..... taken on New Year's Eve....
At 5am on Friday 3rd January 2014 i was in the middle of a severe asthma attack.Over just 2 days this had developed into something scary.I was afraid.
When I was ten ,an older lad in the swimming pool (Woodside Baths)had put his big hand ontop of my head ,and pushed me down ,my head underwater...& held me there.Maybe he had attention-deficit,because he seemed to forget about me...but his hand didnt........
.I can still remember my childhood panic.The situation returned on Friday 3rd January 2014.Nothing ever really leaves us does it?
That same year (it must have been 1962?)I swallowed a big boiled sweet whole..Had I been alone, perhaps i would have died?Luckily,my big Brother Ziggy was nearby & he manage to get the sweet out.
Heimlich maneuver or a simple kick in the bollocks I cant remember.it doesn't really matter in the end.The main thing is it worked.
So i was rushed by ambulance to A&E in Halifax.I stayed  in hospital for 3 days.I was proper poorly.Perhaps not as sexy as a Stroke or a Heart Attack....but serious enough to these old bones..
I'm home now ,still on gardening leave & swallowing a shed load of antibiotics & steroid tablets (where is that damn Heimlich when you need him?)
I,ve been wallowing in my excitement on facebook .i know i tend to get manic & obsessive when something important happens to me.I also dislike the way i insist on turning everything into some sort joke or jolly caper.It's a way of avoiding i suppose
Anyway..........what i tell here for the first time,is 3 linked portraits/vignettes about my stay on the ward .Things that happened in our 4 -man sideward during my weekend in hospital.
Although not directly to do with my illness (you must be sick of hearing about it)Some extremely poignant  things occured.Some  ghosts past ;present & future.arrived.A reunion of sorts.The whole affair seemed like some  planned  Pagent's rehearsal.................
click bar directly below to hear the post /dont forget to turn on your audio:
You know ?I havnt walked out of doors since 1a.m. on the 1st of January 2014.......
3 Little Known Zimnoch Hospital Facts:
1962 was  the last time i ever stayed in hospital (6 weeks in traction with a fractured femur)
1965 in Poland.The only time I ever met my Polish grandmother.just the one occassion, on her hospital deathbed in Białystok
1952.six of the first nine months of my life were spent in hospital in Huddersfield. with Meningitis .


Me in 1960 (?) in a Leven,Fife  garden.From my Auty Brenda's photo album..
This is a Sepia Saturday post.


18 comments:

Little Nell said...

The whole hospital thing sounds like something out of a nightmare Tony. I’m not a fan of hospitals anyway (although I fully support the overworked and underpaid staff). Couple with sleep deprivation it must have been terrible. I hope you have a happier and healthier 2014 and that we’ll soon see you fighting fit for your regular Sepia Saturday posts.

Brian Miller said...

oh dang...glad you made it through tony...that is scary stuff....being unable to breathe....i had asthma as a child...grew out of it as well...

Postcardy said...

I'm sorry to hear about your attack. Hope it doesn't happen again.

I happened to see a TV show about childhood asthma a couple of nights ago. It seems a lot of it is being caused by mold accumulating in bathrooms that have leaky pipes.

La Nightingail said...

Sure sorry you had such a scare. My husband's brother used to have bad asthma attacks when he was younger & he remembers his parents taking his brother into the bathroom & running a hot shower to steam up the room. Apparently it helped. But your experience sounds a little more dire! Glad you're okay now.

La Nightingail said...

Sorry you had such a scare. My husband's brother used to have serious asthma attacks but a bathroom filled with steam from a hot shower usually did the trick. Your experience sounds a bit more dire than that, however! Glad you're okay now.

Kurt said...

I had a very bad asthma attack in 1989 - laid up in bed, taking meds, etc. I was visiting the east coast. I wasn't getting better, so the doctor told me I needed to leave and get away from whatever was irritating my lungs. I flew to London and felt much better after that.

Kristin said...

I'm glad you are still among the living. I'm listening to you recounting the experience. My daughter is just recovering from an asthma epidode too. Not quite as serious but also full of antibiotics and steroids and all that.

Wendy said...

Three frightening episodes for sure! Glad you're ok. Your opening story / joke is hilarious.

Bob Scotney said...

Sorry you have had a scare, Tony. Get well soon.

Barbara Rogers said...

Geese, me too, breathing difficulties...due to change meds soon, asthma is scarey stuff. Hospitals are where almost sick people get sicker, so it's always a toss up whether to go or not. Glad you're back joking about! That's definitely a good thing. (And I still hate word verification to make comments, but will make exception this time.)

Helen Killeen Bauch McHargue said...

Better breathing in 2014. Glad you're feeling better.

Mike Brubaker said...

You win a prize, Tony, for the most dramatic post of the new year, including the extra stories on your audio post. Get better soon.

Unknown said...

Ahhhh, Tony! Be well, be better, and, for crying out loud, stay off those buses!

Unknown said...

Yikes, scary, you could post that on Halloween, glad you are at home and I hope on the upswing of health. Yes, not being able to breathe is scary as are hospitals. Be well

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy said...

Dang, Tony! Last I knew, you and Cath had a great time with Bob Dylan and now this? I must have missed a bunch of your FB posts. That is really scary about your asthma episode. I'll listen to your audio in a bit. I am so sorry that you had to go through all of that.

Sending you up some prayers.

Hugs,

Kathy M.

Alan Burnett said...

Glad you are on the mend. Thank goodness for the NHS in spite of all the bastards who keep trying to persuade us it is a failed system. Woodside Baths (and even more, Ackroyden Place Baths) still feature prominently in my nightmares.

Boobook said...

We know all about asthma in my family - my brother has permanent brain injury because of it.
Take care.

Joanne Casey said...

Hope you're feeling better, Tony. Happy New Year x

Phil's Birthday

  My friend of 60 years Phil got married just a week ago to Iris . (He died last Sunday ) .  Today was Phil's Birthday . We went o...