Friday, March 2, 2007

You have to find SOMETHING to laugh about

Today I got a call that my grandma was in the hospital. This took me by surprise because despite the fact that she's 85 years old, she's been healthy as a horse all of her life. Healthier, really. I mean, she has perfect organs -- no heart trouble or anything. No diabetes. The only health problem she has is acid reflux. They think there's some sort of intestinal blockage. Well, she got terribly ill Thursday night and didn't call my mom until after 5 hours of vomiting and other problems. She was taken to the ER, but since NO HOSPITALS ANYWHERE IN ALBUQUERQUE had any vacancies, she languished there in the ER for 20 hours. I had to yell about that because Albuquerque is a city of more than half a million people. You'd think you could get a hospital room around here if you need one. She finally got admitted to a real hospital room across town around 8 pm tonight.
The surgeon said that often they hope they can resolve these blockages without surgery, but my grandma's white blood count keeps rising, so the doctor was afraid to let it go. So she is currently in surgery. In a way, I think she's glad because she was so tired and all she wanted to do was sleep. They promised her she can sleep all she wants during surgery.
Grandma doesn't like people fussing over her. This is a woman who got walking pneumonia a few years ago (one of the few times I've seen her get sick at all) and swore till the end it was just allergies.
I'm waiting to hear from the surgeon whether all went well. I have a positive outlook because my Grandma's strong and mighty.

OK, here's the funny thing. We were in her room and I needed to go to the bathroom. That's when I noticed there's a toilet in the room -- not a separate bathroom or anything. Next to the toilet is a window that has blinds you can lower. But say there's someone in the room with you and you have to use the bathroom. Never fear -- there's a curtain that pulls all the way around the toilet. Only the curtain, as you'll notice in this picture, would reach to about your upper arms if you sat down on the toilet, thereby not offering one ounce of privacy for the region that actually needs it. I'm thinking it's that baby mentality that if they can't see you, you can't see them, and since your face is blocked by the curtain, your naked butt is invisible. Here is a camera phone-quality photo (the curtain is not the curtain for the window, but the toilet "privacy" wrap-around curtain):
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1 comment:

The Little (Knitting) Hedgehog said...

I'm so sorry about your Grandmother! I hate how the medical centers in Albuquerque work. We were all just complaining about that at dinner. I hope she's feeling better soon!