I spent the last few evenings with Liz as she recovers from heart surgery, and it’s a huge relief to report that she’s doing great.
Given the kind of surgery she had–mitral valve repair–her recovery is going about as well as possibly could have been expected. Even just Liz’s energy level yesterday was significantly better than just the 24 hours before that.
One of the nicest parts of Liz’s recovery has been the number of people who have either called or emailed checking up on Liz, I spent the last few evenings with Liz as she recovers from heart surgery, and it’s a huge relief to report that she’s doing great.
Given the kind of surgery she had–mitral valve repair–her recovery is going about as well as possibly could have been expected. Even just Liz’s energy level yesterday was significantly better than just the 24 hours before that.
One of the nicest parts of Liz’s recovery has been the number of people who have either called or emailed checking up on Liz, or who have come by to visit her in the hospital (she’s at Columbia Presbyterian in NYC). Already she’s loaded up with flowers, but I think more importantly to her are the stacks of magazines she’s been given (thanks, ladies!), a few nice cards, and a box of tasty cupcakes (Anna, you rock!).
Hospitals, of course, are strange places, and here are just a few random thoughts and observations:
* Roommates: the first night Liz was brought to what’s called a "step-down" room after being in the ICU, her bed was directly opposite an older woman who had been there a few nights. Among other things, the woman repeatedly asked to know what time it was (about every 10 minutes) and apologized for burping and farting (about every 2 minutes).
Hey, at least she apologized.
* Parking: at the front of the hospital there’s actually a valet parking service.
The rate for the first half hour: $12
The rate for the first full hour: $13
I guess it’s that extra $1 that’s helping them find a cure for something important. I’ll get back to you when I figure out what that is.
* Drilling: maybe it’s just me, but was it absolutely necessary to have the repair men drilling new monitor wall brackets directly next to my wife when she was just 24 hours removed from MAJOR $%$#@! HEART SURGERY?!!
Eh, you know me. Always gotta bitch about something.
* Sick people: so naturally, while I was somewhat nervous that maybe it wasn’t so great for me to be visiting the hospital as I recovered from a violent case of food poisoning (I didn’t want to make anybody worse, especially Liz), I somehow forgot that the hospital is basically just one giant bubble of germs. And now I have a cold.
Good thing I was nervous about getting [i]other [/i]people sick.
* PB & J: the hospital food is so bad Liz has asked me to bring her a few PB & J sandwiches.
It’s at least one thing I never understood about hospitals. If someone is actually sick or injured badly enough that they need to be hospitalized, shouldn’t nutrition be, you know, like, important?
But then, I never went to med school, so what the hell do I know?
Post edited by: rcolchamiro, at: 2007/01/13 09:06
Post edited by: rcolchamiro, at: 2007/01/13 12:15
Post edited by: rcolchamiro, at: 2007/01/14 10:32
