recovering .... a slower road than I remembered

Recovering from a recent operation and unused to any illness in recent years I recalled an incident from my youth ....

In my youth after a car vs bike incident, and yes I was on the bike - for a moment at least, before being thrown 'roughly to the ground' by a passing vehicle. My slight frame briefly flying then rolling to a stop against a roughcast brick church wall,  (Anglican I'm fairly certain). The moment when a face meets a solid wall (all this prior to helmets being worn) and the crunching sounds, not just of bike and gutter, but of face and stone... the small pieces of gravel and rocks that wedged themselves into my face and head.... ("another few centimeters and well!.." I recall my mother telling anyone who called for the next few weeks). My face, head and other related injuries added up,  as yet another member of the family would become a familiar visitor to the local hospital, who had already set aside a filing cabinet for our family (and it was filling fast).

However the moment I am referring to was during the recovery that followed my release, blinded with gravel in the eyes etc, that could not immediately be removed (and here may be an example of how I remember my history compared to others) I lay in what was my older sisters bed in her room. My room was too crowded with my three brothers and being a bunk was difficult to access for the family and doctor to visit. So I was given the special treatment and space to wallow in my pain.... and then the door handle broke.

Not a big issue perhaps....except the handle broke on the outside. So there was I, unable to see my way around the bed, little own to the door of the room, with family, I recall my mother's voice, particularly vibrant, issuing mildly panic instructions to try and access the room. And lets be honest. It was funny.

Trying to get someone who could not see and found any movement painful, to find the door and handle, which I recall was somewhat above my head height (not being a particularly tall person...ever). It took another family member (whom it was I don't recall but my thanks), to climb through the front window, which had fortunately been left ajar to 'air the room' (I obviously smelt somewhat...yet I know it wasn't gangrene setting in) and climbed in and accessed the room. I was saved! But the moment I was referring to came a few days later......          (continued tomorrow)