The words supinate and pronate bring to mind
another irksome thing; that being those squiggly lines lies that Microsoft Word
keeps slipping under a lot of my scribbling. It doesn’t even recognize either
word; and it was even snarkier until I switched to the UK version of English.
They don’t even have a Canadian version which is different than both American
and English, eh? We use “z” not “s” but we use “our” not “or”. And regardless, Word still does not always
know the difference between it’s and its. I do realize I use a lot of
incomplete and run-on sentences and I do quite often end sentences with
prepositions which by the way Word never catches. I write like I talk not talk
like I write. Oh yes, in both instances I tend to babble on.
There really is some sort of staffing shortage
around here because once again we have a retired nurse that is on the part-time
casual list, Shirley and both days our nurses were replaced in the afternoon
with senior nurses from another unit. Yesterday, it was Brenda from Cardio and
today it was a familiar face, Sonya from 6 West. (Gotta love those East End
girls!)
This morning’s breakfast was a change of pace.
They sent me a couple of pancakes. They were bit better than the last time still
a bit dry and chewy but at least they didn’t have the hard edges that required
sawing with a knife to get through it. This may seem familiar to at least one
of you. ;-)
While eating breakfast, Mona was sweet and offered
me part of her breakfast. Any guess what it was? Hint: I politely declined.
Damn! I’m making it too easy for you. Don’t bother memorizing this part, it
won’t be on the final.
Mona found out after breakfast they were moving
her across the hall to a three bed room. They gave her the same kind of
mumbling excuse they gave me when they moved me last month. They said something
about wanting to keep men with men and women with women. Then they said the guy
coming in needed extra space because there was also a lot of equipment coming down from the
neurological unit. I then rolled my eyes thinking “oh, oh!” I fully understood
why Mona was distraught. They moved her while I was out at physio so I wasn’t
even sure that she wasn’t going to check herself out. After dinner tonight, I
walked over to see how she was doing. She was definitely pleased with my
gesture and she seemed to being doing okay. They had also moved a woman in, she
knew from her mosque.
I made out okay with my new roommate as well. Dale
is in maybe around sixty and quite alert but he’s confined to his bed and
wheelchair after having a abscess on his upper spine operated on. My bonus on
this is that the bathroom is all mine. Before Mona had a commode over the
toilet and I needed a raised seat when I sat down so they had to be switched. I
was capable of doing it but she kept trying getting staff or her visitors to do
it. I had no problem with her son doing it and it didn’t bother me to ask him
to put the commode back. I drew the line when she got her elderly aunty
visiting from Lebanon to move it. I was not going to ask her to put it back. Oh
and no one cares if I leave the seat up. Actually the seat has to be up to put
on either device.
The one thing about the washroom is its windows.
They are clear glass. It dawned on me as I was sitting on the throne and
admiring the view of the mountains while looking in the mirror. Hey wait a
minute! I now make a point of waving to the people in the tower across Lonsdale
before getting down to business.
One the things, I have to learn to do here is plan
my outings and prepare everything so it is in reach before I snap on the
braces. Otherwise I end up climbing over the bed to retrieve things like
toothpaste. This came to mind when I thought about dumping the non-slip socks
for my fancy flowered Pumas. In order for me to do this I had to put on the
socks , strap on the braces, retrieve the shoes from the closet on the other
side of the room, return to the bed, take the braces off, put on the shoes and
then put on the braces again. It was worth it. My ankles and feet are very
happy. The shoes are now kept next to the bed.
Today for physio, Leanne took me downstairs to the
main department and worked me out on the parallel bars and one of the knee
exercise machines. After she wheeled me over to the machine, she and another
physio set up the device and then asked me to climb on. I stood up from chair
and walked about four steps before they both realized I was walking without any
rails or my walker. They both basically said “Oops, let’s pretend we didn’t see
that.” And I smiled smugly. My afternoon session was all done in my room where she
gave me a bunch of “homework” to do over the weekend. Some of the things she
wanted me to work on she normally wouldn’t trust most patients on this floor.
But as she said “You’re young, alert and healthy”. Everything is relative; a
near sighted man is king in a community of blind men. ;-)
Before lunch, Jennifer, the dietician came in to
talk to me. Apparently I had requested my dinner entrees be doubled. I was
puzzled because I wanted no part of most of the entrees in the first place for
example yesterday’s chicken and tonight’s fish. It turns out it came from one
of the nurses on the floor and it was based on the fact that last night there
was Caesar salad with dinner but each cup was a third full. The nurse came to
me with two more servings of salad from extra trays sent up. Jennifer and then
discussed my weight and blood sugar intelligently realizing it wasn’t a major
problem at the time and could be dealt with at a later date.
By the way, it seems there is an overabundance of
Jennifers in this place even though my regular readers know I have a special
affection for the name. ;-)
Jennifer also may have let something slip out of
today. Apparently, on my chart I’m expected to be out early next week. Dr. Haaf
said basically the same yesterday but he added the caveat that it is up to Dr.
McConkey and the physio department. Leanne and I talked about it today and her
main concern is the stairs in my house. She implied that I could have likely
been out today if I lived in a one level environment but I’d still have to come
back for therapy. None of my possible options made sense so I told her to keep
throwing more challenges so we can find out what I can’t do so we can work to
that goal.
Pam and Dennis came by and were pleasantly
surprised by my progress even though they were regular readers. Their last
visit was Christmas Eve a few hours before the braces came off so I was still
lying in bed in my blue gown and stretched out on my back. And they once again
brought more oranges and more goodies which I took advantage of before bed.
Too be continued...
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