風信子(ヒヤシンス) hyacinth

　線路端にピンクのヒアシンスが咲いています。電車が通るたびに風圧で揺さぶられます。
　
　少し前のことになりますが、ハローベスト (Halo Vest)と呼ばれる医療装具を着けた患者さんが、同じ病室にいました。ハローベストは、重度の頸椎骨折や損傷に対し、頭部と胴体を完全に固定し、首がぐらつかないようにする装具です。頸椎手術前の数ヶ月間使用し、その間に首の骨の癒合の促進を狙います。最初にこれを見たときは、その特殊な形状に驚きました。
　装具を固定するには、ドリルで頭蓋骨を削り、そこにネジで締め付けます。ドリルで穴を削るときは麻酔をかけますが、後日、ネジのゆるみをとるために、まし締めを何度かするときは麻酔を使いません。このときは、強烈に痛いそうです。

　どのような状況で、首の骨を折ったのか、衝撃受けたお話しだったので、簡単に触れておきます。建物内の設備の点検中に、階段から転落しました。運悪く階段の下には溝があり、そこに頭が挟まり、そこを支点に体が回転したそうです。
　現場は地下室で、普段人が来る所ではないので、このままでは死んでしまうと、必死に地上に這い出たそうです。最初に運ばれた病院では、手の施しようがなかったため、専門医の居るこの病院に再搬送されて来ました。

　Pink hyacinth is blooming by a railway track.  It sways from the wind pressure every time a train passes by.

　A little while ago, but there was a patient in the same hospital room who was wearing a medical brace called a halo vest. A halo vest is a support used to completely immobilize the head and body in cases of severe neck spine fractures or injuries, preventing the neck from wobbling. It is used in a few months leading up to cervical spine surgery to promote the bones union. When I first saw it, I was surprised by its unusual shape.
　To attach it to the head, drill a hole in the skull and screw it into it.
The patient will be anesthetized when drilling the head, but anesthetizing won't be operated when to re-tighten the screw each times to remove the looseness.　This re-tightening procedure is extremely painful.

　I would like to briefly mention what kind of situation caused him to break his neck.　He told me that he fell down the stairs while inspecting the building's equipment. Unfortunately,  there was a ditch at the floor, and his head got stuck there, and his body turned around using the point as a fulcrum.
　The scene was on a basement floor, a place where people don't normally go. He desperately crawled to the above ground, realizing he would die if he stayed there. There was nothing they could do at the hospital where he was taken first, so he was re-transferred to this hospital where there are specialists.