howiecobb

“You will look down at the floor for fifty minutes of every hour for the next seven days. You will also sleep face down at all times.”

Auschwitz 1942? Guantanamo bay 2010? No; it wasn’t spoken with quite that much frost, but when Staff Nurse Anne Bowers, at the RoyalExeterHospital delivered her terms with a sympathetic smile, it was most definitely non-negotiable.

Lying prone, still wearing my operation theatre stockings, drip tubes and an eye patch, and staring at the ceiling – the last time this would be possible for a week, I heard her unleash her next salvo…

“They have inserted a gas bubble in your eye; you will be unable to fly for roughly 4 – 6 weeks.”

This new snippet swirled slowly through my still muddied brain like a stick through a murky pond, until realisation splashed through… our plane leaves the ground for Ho Chi Minh…