Saturday 23 February 2008

Some Updates


N at Just Making It Up As I Go delighted her family by opening her eyes and smiling at her husband yesterday. First sign of recognition of anyone. Huge relief at Chez G. Also, her body is showing some signs of regaining function although she still has the fever that indicates the infection is not beaten yet.

I am doing the hospital run myself for the next while as my husband had knee replacement surgery yesterday. He'll be in hospital for a while, learning to navigate on the new joint, but the surgery went very well and so far he's not having much pain. Just now the YD has gone off to visit him taking his morning papers and getting 'good' coffee for him. The hospital seems to supply a cup of warm water and a tea bag; not JG's favourite morning drink.

The coffee thing is hilarious, actually. I am a Tim Horton's fan (a Canadian coffee chain that's hugely popular with us, American readers, mostly because it sells super sugary doughnuts). The YG is a Starbucks addict. (The ED does not drink coffee -- her addiction is Diet Coke. Where have I failed?) JG loves coffee, provenance unimportant. He assured the YD that there was a Starbucks outlet in the hospital. When we got there, we found it to be a 'Second Cup' -- a different chain. 'It's all the same,' he said, when we pointed this out to him.

The coffee kiosk is not set up for wireless internet, either, much to the YD's annoyance. There are five networks shown for the hospital but they are all restricted. YD thinks someone is really missing the boat in not providing it. In my experience, hospitals are really not good at providing any sort of comfort or consideration for people using them. Not the patients, and certainly not the general visiting public. Understaffed, with shabby and inadequate infrastructure, overbooked; our hospitals do not do us proud. The people who work in these conditions try their best, but when a surgical patient who has been scheduled for four months cannot count on having a bed ready post surgery, no one is well served.

I am writing this on the YD's laptop and cursing quietly as I struggle with the touch pad, high keyboard and the Windows nanny who wants to do a restart after updating. Ah well, I will have my own well loved rig back very soon, as I am going to be commuting as long as the good weather holds. We have a simply gorgeous winter weekend out there -- and if I could navigate this beast of a machine properly, I would put a picture up of the skating on the Rideau Canal. Drat this infernal machine. Photo is now added and I have updated her version of Explorer to give me the link list option. But Microsoft Nanny now wants to install 98 updates. Sigh. This is not the machine YD usually uses and so I guess it is feeling lonely and neglected.
Bug off, Microsoft!
Ah, that feels better. But I still am cursing the touchpad.

2 comments:

  1. so so glad to hear about N.

    and hope your husband is up and about shortly!

    the rideau canal is lovely. went there once, way back in 1987 or 8.

    ReplyDelete
  2. so glad N is doing better, hope your hubby gets up and about soon My Father In Law did much better after his knee replacements! and shoulders... we call him the bionic man) and I LOVED your line about the Window's nanny. ;)

    ReplyDelete