The Past

It is April 2000. I am shuffling along the hallway on the 14^th Floor of Mt. Sinai hospital in Toronto.  I am pushing my pain pump with my right hand and a pole, with a couple of bags of this and that hanging from it, with my left hand.  Shuffle. Shuffle. Shuffle. I am in the South ward of the gastro intestinal surgical ward recovering from surgery for colorectal cancer. Others are recovering from surgery for Crohns or Ulcerative Colitis. We will be in the hospital for about 10 days after surgery. Shuffle. Shuffle. Shuffle.  I make it  to the North ward.  These patients are here for longer. A month. Maybe more, recovering from their surgeries. I get to the end of the hallway and ease myself down onto a chair. I congratulate myself for possibly having set a new speed record for the South  Ward to…