No news
Some of you may have noticed that I haven’t posted anything for a couple of days.
This is in fact because I haven’t posted anything for a couple of days. This is down to a simple problem in that I really have fuck all to say.
Most of us are familiar with hospitals. They come with their own hard and fast rules such as the basic truism that the very first casualty in any hospital is dignity. Anybody who imagines that they can retain a shred is on a hiding to nothing. How many microseconds before your bare arse is put on splendid display in a hospital “gown”?
And then there is hospital food.
Actually I have sort of missed out on the hospital food bit as for the first two weeks I have been on a liquid diet; not alas of the alcoholic variety but consisting of liquid food. that comes in a syringe. Yes, fucking revolting.
So what have I been up to? Well, nothing. I have been spinning out the endless hours, staring out a window in the hope of seeing a passing seagull. Maybe I check to see if there is fresh news breaking in the last two minutes since i last checked.
Time to check the news sites again…..
Can you not have one of the personal entertainment things with headphones maybe with a radio or music CDs or whatever? I am an ancient old git so have no clue what is available but in this day and age there must be something suitable, I hope you can get something soon otherwise the minutes seem like hours. All the best and hope you have a speedy recovery.
The Old Fogey
Pleased to hear from you, I was getting worried. I hate hospitals and hope I am never in one again. Hospice has been told not to take me unless I break a bone.
Get well soon and hope you will be home very soon. Hope your wife is doing ok too.
Hospitals are indeed dire places for all the reasons you identify but they are also a necessary evil and can often achieve remarkable improvements, sometimes life-saving, to faulty human bodies.
One measure of that improvement may be in the recognition and strength of expression of the sheer boredom and the abysmal nature of the catering, so maybe the recovery of that natural cantankerousness is actually a positive sign that things are going well. Stay cantankerous and you’ll soon be out of there.
Alternatively, form an Escape Committee and start digging.
At least it sounds like you are not in pain anymore Grandad. That alone would make a lot of temporary boredom bearable. If you don’t have enough other reading material to keep you going, download the kindle app on your phone and browse for free books. The Libby app works equally well, but the choices may be a little restrictive. Project Guttenberg allows you to download in kindle format, so you can use these on the Kindle reader.
An old Ray Chandler book or something similar should keep you entertained for a few hours.
Keep up the recovery. 🙂
Cas.
Cas, this is a fine idea.
Grandad, I suggest you start with a work titled “Head Rambles”. I found it very entertaining.
Glad to hear from you, I was getting a little worried. I echo what others have said, books, reading materials, music to fill the time. Are you still in the Intensive Care Unit? It still sounds like you’re making progress and no mentions of pain which was debilitating before. That’s definitely progress. Hang in there and keep getting better, the world needs cantankerous old guys like you.
Glad to hear you’re surviving – I can’t imagine the tedium of a liquid diet, but I guess the medicos know their stuff. With luck, your surgeon will soon be discussing the next steps (however small) and you’ll be back in the madhouse with the rest of us.
I don’t know how you cope with listening to/watching the ‘official’ news or what passes for broadcasting these days – Does the hospital still have a book trolley? (showing my age here).
As a change from seagulls, I had a bat flying round my bedroom last night – woke up with a stiff neck this morning – hmmm
I’d also be going crazy thinking about the grass growing longer by the day!
Thank you for the post!
Good to hear from you again grandad. Any clues (even rumors) as to when you may expect a release?
It’s very good to hear from you. Thank you for the post. Now we all know you’re doing well. All those good vibes for your surgery are still washing your way hoping your recovery is going well.
The solution to hospital gowns to ask for 2 of them, put one on normally with the opening in the back and the other on “backwards” with the opening in the front. Now you have 360 degree coverage.
I learn this during my own cancer surgery, in my case colon cancer. My surgeon told me the key to a speedy recovery was to get on my feet and get moving. The first evening was only a few short steps with a nurse on each side to catch me, just in case. The next day I started laps going around the floor. If I was bored, up and walking I go. Once I was more tired than bored, I went back to the room and sat down. Eventually the boredom would build and back walking I went.
I am very certain no one wanted to see too much of my old man’s anatomy flopping around. The dual gowns did a great job.
As for hospital food, a couple of days of starvation is the better then the best spices known to any chef.