My Alaskan mountain man

Cammie’s point of view

Waking up for the first time, it feels like my whole body is weighted down and is made of lead. I open my eyes and wait for them to adjust to the light. Looking straight up I can see the yellow-brown-red of the wooden struts holding up a wooden roof. From what I can tell the walls are made of the same wood. It looks like I must be in a wooden cabin of some sorts. I try to lift my head, but only manage lifting it the tiniest way before the effort of using my stomach muscles send shooting pains up and down my body. Not to mention giving me a woozy head.

“Isshhhh” I wince and lay my head back down.

“Your awake!”, I hear a soft woman’s voice say.

I move only my eyes in the direction of the the voice. An older woman with a broad smile and a kind face stands up and walks to me. “Shh, hush now, don’t try to move too much. You are safe and we are taking care of you. You may feel a little confused, but that is completely normal. I am a doctor, my name is Doctor Willow Penser and you have been in a terrible accident.”

She smiles again, “do you remember what happened to you?”

I try to remember, but nothing comes to me and I shake my head no, as best I can.

“That’s okay, it’s to be expected after what you have been through. Don’t you worry, it will come to you with time.” Doc try’s to reassure me.

The doctor is right, I am confused, “why?..”

Urg, my throat is dry and the words get stuck..., “why am I not in a hospital?” Is all I manage to say.

Doc walks over to the window and pulls the curtain aside, “we are in the middle of the worst snow storm of our lives dear. Stuck on the side of a mountain until this weather improves.”

I can see that it is snowing a blizzard outside. Huge flakes of snow are swirling around and around in a white haze and I can hear the wind blowing violently, it definitely is a terrible storm.

I feel so tired, I relax my head and close my eyes again.

“That’s it dear, you go back to sleep, you need rest in order to build up your strength. I’ll go and make you something warm to eat.”

***

It’s some time before I’m woken by a loud swoosh. I hear voices but can’t make out what they are saying. I lay and listen and wonder what on earth has happened to me? Why can’t I remember? Did this woman have something to do with my accident? Is she really a doctor? I look around and see various medical paraphernalia in the room. I have a drip in my arm and I can see a tube coming out from under the quilt, I presume it must be a catheter. I conclude, she must be a doctor, or how else would there be all of this hospital equipment in this strange room in a cabin on a snowy mountain.

I look down to where the pain seems to be radiating from every time I try to move but there are quilts over me and I don’t have the strength to move them so I lay my head back again and wait for the doctor to come back.

“I have some lovely warm cinnamon porridge for you to eat”, I hear the doctors soft voice say as she comes into the room with a bowl of steaming hot porridge. “This is going to help your body recover.”

She places the bowl on the table next to me, “here, let me help you sit up a little, it will hurt when you move, but the bleeding seems to have stoped and the antibiotics I have you on seem to be keeping any possible infection at bay for now.”

She puts her arm behind my back and lifts my head just enough to help me sit up just far enough so she can stuff a green and red tartan cushion behind the back of my neck and head. “There you go, that will do for now.”

She reaches for a glass of water and offers me a drink, I’m so thirsty I could down the lot if I had any strength in me to lift the glass. She puts the glass to my lips and I wince as I feel the cracks on my lips tear slightly when I go to drink.

“Hang on dear, I saw some lip balm around here earlier”, she says while moving around all the clutter on the bedside table.

“Aha! There it is”, she picks it up and I remember something. I remember a man with a big bushy beard put that same lip balm on my lips. I remember that he layered it on thick but he was gentle and I remember the instant relief it brought my sore dry lips.

I wonder where that man is now. Is he the other voice I heard not long before? He was kind to me.

“Is there a man here?” I ask.

Doctor replies, “yes hun, there are two men here at the cabin. The man who’s cabin this is, is called Robin, and the other is my husband, Henry.”

She picks up the bowl of porridge, “come now, have something to eat and then we’ll lay you back down, I can see you’re in pain sitting like that and really, you need to rest.”

The lip balm has softened my lips and I’m able to move them and open my mouth wide enough for the spoon of porridge to not cause too much discomfort. I only manage about six or seven small mouth fulls before thanking the doctor lady and asking her for another sip of water.

She helps me lay back down after and it’s a relief to get the pressure off of my abdomen.

I close my eyes and let sleep take me.