Wednesday, August 29, 2007

We're Back In


Quote of the day:
"Self-knowledge does not necessarily help a novelist. It helps a human being a great deal but novelists, as we know, are often appalling human beings."
--Peter Carey

After a day spent mostly in two emergency rooms, Merrie was admitted to the hospital last night. Her blood tests showed some possible liver problems, and the doctors want to know what happened yesterday morning. They’re not sure it’s related to heart failure.

Merrie said she was grateful for the chance to take a shower and sleep in her own bed at least for one night You can’t do either in the hospital.

Now the doctors will start the process of test-treat-and-watch. And for us (you guessed it) wait.

Long hospital stays wear you down in a number of ways. One is the constant deprivation of privacy. It is as if your space and even your life is not your own.

There are tactics Merrie uses to deal with it, but it still grinds on anyone’s sanity.

I gotta say that Merrie has a positive effect on just about every caregiver at the hospital. She’s fully engaged in her care and asks lots of questions. And she hasn’t lost her sense of humor (though she has every reason to), and the doctors and nurses seem to really appreciate it.

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