Davida

One of the first room mates I met in the hosptial, and indeed the only one who was in the room with me from start to finish, was Davida, a fourteen year old wonder boy. He was there to have some fairly non life threatening problems taken care of, although the work to be done was important, and he had to have a lot of tests to get ready for his operation. Each test required recuperation time, so he was in the hospital for a good long stretch. He was also the glue that held the room together, indeed, from the patient perspective, he may have been the glue that held all sixteen patients together and gave them a good frame of mind.

Davida was like my favorite junior high school student - the smart one who could get along with adults and a wide variety of kids. He was always positive, always smiling, always helpful. The child of Giuseppe and Laura, he was obviously the product of wonderful Sicilian style parenting. He was always going here and there, carrying the drainage jug from his lungs by his side, seeing if anyone needed anything. He could tilt my bed up or down if I needed it, and even was seemingly happy to empty my parrot.

With all of this, he had some insecurities, but he did not like to show them,. He was happy that his father would spend the night by his side in a folding down chair. After his operation, when his father was asleep, he asked me to come over and just hold his hand for a while until he could go to sleep.

My first hospital meal was nothing to write home about, but Giuseppe had brought in a huge tray of pasta al forno that Laura had made. He insisted that I have some, and my goodness was it good. No matter how much I wanted more, I was able to convince myself to try to stay on my diet. I am amazed that Davida is so thin, with such a good cook as a mother.

He had what we hope will be his final operation two days before I left the hospital. I was happy that he was just getting up and around, and seemed to be doing well, before I had to leave.

When he gets back to school, he will be studying information technology, so watch out computer whizz's, there is another good one coming up.

Bravo Davida, tu e grande.