Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette

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The Old Soldier has been MIA for over a week now because of a bad right knee.  Some how I must have sprained it or twisted it or bruised it.  All I know is that for days if I tried to bend it the sweat would pop out on my face and I had to catch my breath the pain was so great.

When you are the Old Soldier’s age and you live alone and it’s painful to move, life soon becomes a struggle for survival.  Several times I was close to calling 911 and having the paramedics take me to the Veterans Hospital.  But the Old Soldier was not going to give up that easily.

First, I had to figure out how to get off my back on the sofa and up to the refrigerator and the stove.  I had to figure out how to get in a standing position and to stay there for a while.  The first few days of the crisis I survived on milk and cold cereal.

I had to figure out how to get to the bathroom.  (Being on my feet any length of time left me weak as a kitten and I had to retreat back to the sofa to get that leg up and to keep it straight.)

Once I figured out how to do those two things, feed myself and get to the bathroom, I knew the knee would probably heal itself if the injury was not really a serious one.  Lucky for me that I keep a stockpile of can goods and dry goods in the apartment.

Yesterday was the first time I left my apartment in over a week to check my snail mail in the lobby downstairs and today was the first time in over a week that I went outside to get some fresh supplies from the store across the street.

So, the Old Soldier is back in action.  I am still far from 100%.  It will take me several more days to recapture the ground that I lost; but the counter attack has begun.

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Filed under: Commentaries | Tagged: 911, apartment, cold cereal, friends, life, MIA, milk, old soldier, Online, paramdics, Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette, struggle for survival, Veterans Hospital, writing | 1 Comment »