Part 44

Three days to T-day. It had been three weeks in the hospital. Sam had been home alone with the three girls for the past three days. Getting them up, making the breakfast, packing two lunches while overseeing the third, putting them on the bus, well two of them, then going to his two to three meetings a day, food shopping, laundry, cooking or buying dinners, then tucking the three into bed. Three was a magic number. And today, three days from the family feast at three o'clock Charlotte was going home.

"No cooking, cleaning, lifting anything heavier than a cup of coffee..." Her discharge orders were three pages long and it seemed like Dr. Houseman was hell bent to read them all to her.

Charlotte interrupted trying for a bit of levity, "I can't have a Ben and Jerry's Vermonster?"

Without missing a beat he replied, "Keep it resting on the table until you get to the bottom of it. Then you can tip it into your mouth to drink the last remaining three drops."

There certainly were a lot of threes in her life right now.

"No driving, no laundry, no stress..." the doctor paused and looking over the top of his glasses said, "if you can't write without stress -- no writing." He continued on, "No volunteering at the school."

"Why, all I do is read at the library, shelve books..."

The doctor wrote and recited, "No shelving books."

He then switched his tune. "You may: rest, eat, sleep, sit at the computer for 3 minutes at a time, get yourself a timer."

Charlotte started to protest, but the doctor interrupted her. "You can get a lot done in three minutes," then continued his list, "watch TV, knit, do crosswords that do not come in books heavier than a cup of coffee. Am I making myself clear?"

His patient nodded. If it was the only way for her to get home, she would agree to anything.

"And no stairs."

"But my bedroom is on the second floor."

Doctor and patient stared at each other. Was this the straw that would break the back of the camel that was going to carry her home? Houseman sighed and pulled on his lips with his hand. He sighed again... "You can go up and down the stairs three times. That's 6 trips a day. After that no more.

There is a lot of power in the number three.

(15633) -- Getting there...