Unfortunately, Leona wasn't done with misfortune yet. With huge progress made in stroke recovery and mobility, so much so in fact that she could now walk down the front steps and out to the letterbox using only a walking stick, the wheelchair quickly becoming a thing of the past. Or so she thought...duh da da dah! For the non-musicians among you that's a loud Brass Section fanfare designed to build tension and trepidation.

During one of these treks, she made it all the way to her front door when her brain said very clearly "you're going to collapse now & there's nothing you can do about it".

After a lifetime of creative inner chatter, it had been quite a blessing to have had a complete reboot in the brain department and to finally experience some inner silence. Hence the clarity, and volume of the message.

And so she passed out, collapsed to the floor on cue, and on gaining consciousness wondered what had happened. She pressed her medical alarm and waited. Passing out again while on the floor, the time ticked on. There was no pain, only confusion as to what had happened. She hadn't tripped or fallen and she wondered why, after all her diligence she'd ended up in this situation but that was rhetorical and to be studied later.

Eventually the ambulance turned up and once more she was ferried to the hospital. She woke some time later, thankfully oblivious to the hip operation that had just taken place. There was no pain, thankfully, but of course that was due to the intravenous Morphine that was being administered. If Marianne Faithful hadn't already written Sister Morphine, Leona may have given it a shot as it very quickly became her drug of choice for pain relief.
She was transferred to Hawera Hospital for rehab and having fallen in love with Morphine, the rehab irony hadn't escaped her. The patient transfer was a bit of fun. Having had a few laughs with the guy pushing her in the gurney, they got to the lift and he asked "the lift or the stairs?" The Stairs movie started playing in her head and quickly became a comedy skit. "What could possibly go wrong, she thought?". Never mind the tooth-crunching bouncing, what if he slipped and lost control? The imagined consequences, while dire, produced a very funny movie scene in her mind, probably starring John Cleese and Rowan Atkinson.However, discretion being the better part of valour, she chose to travel in the lift, and was soon on her way to Hawera.
The bone-rattling roadworks hampered their speed somewhat, and if it hadn't been for the morphine it may have been the worst, and most painful trip of her life. But they finally arrived and she was ensconced in a single room, much to her relief, and so she proceeded to acclimatize herself to the new environment.It was a small hospital and if one were in vacation accommodation it would perhaps be described as Boutique. Such was the feeling the surroundings produced. However, any thoughts of holidays were soon dispelled when the physios entered the room to discuss her rehab.

She thought it must be a strange profession in which to work as only they know, from experience and training, that they are actually helping you. The patient, however, can only feel the pain and really has no idea why they're being forced to go through all the torture. And the phrase "digging deep" doesn't even come close to the internal process the patient  must go through to obey their instructions. Of course it doesn't help that they're all lithe and young and fit, with really supportive personalities. You just really want them all to shut up and go away, although just the latter would kill the 2 birds with one hefty stone.
But of course you have to trust them, and somehow summon the belief it's all for your own good, although all you want to do is lie down and rest. So the process to get back home began.
She made good progress and enjoyed the trips outside in the wheelchair, to sit under a big tree, listen to the birds and feel the wind on her face once more. She made many new friends during these sojourns, accosting people on their way to A&E with her ceaseless chatter. "Good call Leona! Do you have any understanding of the words "Accident" or "Emergency"? At times she was also  accompanied by some old friends to sit in the sun and talk. Her sister also came to visit as there was a campervan park right next to the hospital.All this got her through the days, and with the aforementioned morphine getting her through the nights, time ticked slowly onwards. Unfortunately the morphine had done her internal organs no favours, and she was soon jolted out of her complacency when all hell broke loose internally.
Prior to her fall, she had done well retraining her brain and body to work together for the common good. All that work now amounted to nought as the brain, in vain, battled to get back in sync with its vehicle. And then the Dr gave her a drug to get things working again, and it was the equivalent of using a sledgehammer to kill an ant.
The hell that had previously broken loose, seemed paltry now when faced with this new one. OK, the judges having reviewed the competitors and scores arrived at the supreme winner in the Worst Hell Awards. It was now! It was this!