The Hallway

Today was an incredibly stressful day for me.  In my 'pre-Dtour life' it would have been a day that would have called for massive quantities of chocolate and caffeine, immediately followed by the comfort foods of greasy and starch topped off with some sort of gooey ice-cream concoction (because I deserved it).  Not today!

Let me back up and start at the beginning.  The Boy had surgery today.  Nothing life threatening; it was some oral surgery necessary for his orthodontic treatment.  It is also necessary because his bite, his chewing and his stomach are all affected by the issue that is being corrected.  We came to Ann Arbor Michigan for the surgery because our Orthodontist recommended the surgeon - Who is amazing!

During his surgery, my mother 'suggested' that I eat.  We managed to find some healthy cheese, crackers, celery and dip at the cafe outside the waiting room.  I found it really easy to resist the chocolate croissant; after all, mom was there.  There was absolutely NO chance she would let me have something like that, no matter how much I whined.  Yes, I am not above whining if I really want a sweet.  It doesn't do me any good anymore, but I have to at least try, right?

After the very successful surgery; I had my first encounter with "The Hallway".  The Hallway is this very long corridor that seems to run the spine of the entire complex here at St. Joseph Mercy.  We discovered today that all roads seem to begin and end at The Hallway. I do not believe that there is really any beginning or any ending to The Hallway.   It just goes on and on and on and on and.. . .

Anyway, my first encounter was when The Boy was moved from Recovery to his Room on 3East.  This first trip was taken at a sprint!  The nurses were due to get off and I swear that we ran down that hallway!  I got the impression of signs and prints on the walls as we zoomed by, but I had to keep up lest I get left behind and left to wander The Hallway forever, never to see my son again!

Our second trip was from 3East (the boy's room) to the Inn (our room) in the Hospital.  This was our first experience with the Mysterious Morphing Hallway.  We were going down the same hallway.  I'm sure of it, but it didn't look anything like the hallway I had ran down an hour or so before.  We finally managed to find our way down a side corridor to the Inn.  I swear the only safe way off The Hallway is to jump onto these safe little off shoot corridors that save you from the big, bad, scary Hallway.

However, when we went back to go get dinner, we made the same turn we had made before.  But suddenly found ourselves standing in front of the Emergency Room!  Mom and I looked at each other.  We had no idea where that had come from!  The other weird thing, was that earlier in the day I had made the comment that it would be nice if there were little signs with "You are here" spots on them.  That way you would know approximately where you were in The Hallway.  As we walked down this new, different version of The Hallway, there were my signs, as if by magic.  I was beginning to feel like I was in an episode of the Twilight Zone!

Then when we attempted to get back to 3East.  Since we were on the fist floor that should have been easy, right?  Wrong!  While we started out on the first, or ground floor by the time we made it to the elevator, we were on the second floor!  I really don't remember a flight of stairs!  I am not even kidding!  I think that some Psychology Interns are conducting experiments on unsuspecting visitors by somehow changing The Hallway every time you go down.  Not only that, they make the damn thing at least a mile longer each time you traverse it as well!

Suffice it to say, that I didn't eat off plan.  I didn't even have the desire.  Grease turned my stomach and even the thought of ice cream turned into a cup of herbal tea tonight. Not only that, I had my mother along to keep me in line and make sure that I ate.  If she had not been there, I probably would not have eaten anything all day!  However,  I do believe that we have walked approximately 10 miles down The Hallway.

Hubby suggested that perhaps it is like Hogwarts!  The Hallway morphs and changes into whatever you need it to be!

Lesson for today, if you need to come to St. Joseph, bring your walking shoes and be warned; The Hallway is there waiting to swallow you up!