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| Cup of Couple |
First Night
Oxygen whistling, pumping moist air
to a cup clasped over my husband’s mouth,
monitors beeping, flashing his vital signs,
an IV taped to his wrist slowly pumping saline
into his veins, in a private room on
the critical cardiac care unit,
one nurse to every two patients.
Just this noon, surgeons inserted
a stent to open his blocked
left descending artery, a heart attack
often referred to as a widow-maker.
It’s two in the morning, and I’m holding
an emesis basin below his mouth
as he retches. The night nurse, Nancy,
enters, says, “The doctor left an order
for an anti-emetic, but let’s see
how he does. His body is adjusting
to the medicine, and the after-
affects of anesthesia.” She goes out,
returns with a heated half-blanket
that she lays down over him,
covering his waist to feet.
“He’ll love that,” I say. I must have sighed
because she offers, “I can get you one.”
“Really? Yes, please.” She returns
with a heated blanket, wraps it around
my shoulders, sets the blanket in place
as she squeezes my shoulders from behind
as my hands are full, holding the basin.
“Thank you,” I say, “All better now.”
She leaves to attend to her other patient.
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| Laura Rodley |
Pushcart Prize winner Laura Rodley's latest books are Turn Left at Normal by Big Table Press, Counter Point by Prolific Press, and Ribbons and Moths Poems for Children, winner of the Children's Nonfiction International Book Award and medalist for the Moonbeam Book Award for Children's Poetry.
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