9th Floor – Royal Free Hospital

The 4th of February was a dramatic day for us.  Thanks to Valerie’s clear thinking and action, it started with an appointment with a duty doctor who sent me to Barnet A&E and then the Royal Free Hospital.  The experience prompted a short poem.

and  these are the evening and daytime views.

So here is the poem:

Ninth Floor

For me, the fourth of February
began at the duty doctor
and ended, via Barnet A&E,
on the ninth floor of the Royal Free;
the ambulance crew pointed out
the magnificent view over London.
A massive infection kept me there for six nights.

That first night I felt oddly secure
even though I was without
my instruments of support;
spectacles, hearing aids, watch
wallet with cash and cards,
my phone off as the battery was low.

I thought of how Valerie had come back
to see me leave in the ambulance,
glad that she was now safe at home.
Shrouded in a yellow-grey miasma of nausea,
time for me was distorted-
Valerie came each afternoon
and the children on separate days.

Elwyn witnessed my examination
and claimed that my right testicle
was the size of a grapefruit
though goose egg was more likely.

My daughter brought me home,
sent a laconic text to her brothers
“Grapefruit back in fruit bowl.”

© Anthony Fisher March 2108

View from the fruit bowl.