I woke up and groggily stretched out my arm, wincing as a jolt of pain ran up it.
‘What the—’ I mumbled, blearily looking to see what had hurt.
‘Easy now, easy now,’ a familiar voice drifted over to me. ‘Take it slow.’
‘Where am I?’ I asked. The face of my husband swam slowly into view, clearer and clearer as I blinked away the sleep. The punctuating beep of medical equipment clued me in to the answer before he even said it.
‘The hospital,’ he said with a tired smile. Clearly, however long I’d been here had cost him a few days of showering and shaving. ‘You’re going to be okay though, there’s no need to be alarmed.’
‘What happened?’ I asked him, my throat scratchy.
‘You had a fall,’ he told me. ‘In the bathroom. Do you remember it?’
‘No…’ I frowned, scrubbing back through my foggy mind. ‘I think I remember… dinner? Thursday night dinner?’
‘That’s more than they said you might remember,’ he said, seeming pleased. ‘You’re going to be okay, though. They’ve already put me in touch with some of the best community nursing providers around Adelaide, and they’ve got really impressive—’
‘Community nurses?’ I frowned, forcing my aching body to sit up slightly. ‘Christ David, I’m not an invalid! I’m not, am I?’
‘No, no,’ he shook his head, leaning forward to grasp my hands tightly. ‘We just might need a little bit of help from now on.’
‘How much is a little bit of help?’ I asked, dancing between scared and angry. He just smiled sadly at me.
‘I’m not getting any younger either, Lynette. We both could use the help. Look, these people also do lots of support coordination for disabled people in Adelaide, so there’s lots of different ways they can—’
‘Oh, this is ridiculous!’ I snapped, throwing back the bedsheet and swinging my legs over the side of the bed. I immediately regretted it, as a wave of nausea hit me and darkness pulsed at the edge of my vision.
‘Nurse!’ I heard my husband yell. ‘Nurse, in here!’
And then it was all black again.