Appendectomy

APPENDECTOMY

"Kiss your wife good-bye."
One last time he turns towards me.

His eyes fix on mine - please don't cry
"Kiss your wife good-bye."

With my clothes gripped tightly - a sigh
There's tears in his eyes - I can see

"Kiss your wife good-bye."
One last time he turns towards me.


Like a knife in my abdomen, the pain of my appendix attack was so great I totally ignored my husband's presence. I was unaware that he feared for my life, I just wanted an end to the pain. When the call came that the operating room was prepared for me, I said, "Let's go!"

"Where should I wait?" Jim timidly asked the nurse.

"Kiss your wife good-bye," she replied.

We gazed at each other across the spanse of floor, and he quickly walked toward me, as our eyes held. The pain was temporarily suspended in the tenderness that washed over me at his fear for my life. I hadn't thought I might die until that moment, when I saw the fear of it in his eyes.
He kissed me and we whispered, "I love you," and then I was whisked away to surgery, as he stood rooted, still holding my clothes to his chest.

I chose to write a triolet poem about that tender moment, and I still am filled with tenderness whenever I read it. My eyes are damp from sharing the memory. There would not have been such a poignant scene if the nurse had not told my husband to kiss me. Such a simple thing to tell a worried spouse, "Kiss your wife good-bye."