It’s Monday evening and I’m so tired. I’ve been getting up at 5:00 a.m. every day and Dad is in the hospital again. It’s just difficult right now. There are some things I really want to blog more about but random bullets will have to do.

  • the air in hospitals is stale. It hits me when I first walk on the patients’ wing. I didn’t notice any obvious odors of death or human fluids, or even smells of toxic cleaning products. The air is just heavy and it’s hard for me to breathe for the first two hours I’m there.
  • illness emphasizes certain personality traits and it’s really irrational to expect different behavior.
  • Silly girl, pepper and Mrs. Dash are not welcome substitutes for SALT! Where’s the salt?!?
  • They have new robotic technology to repair arteries near the heart, and they’ll be trying it out on Thursday.
  • I’ve noticed that nurses are able to disagree with patients and never raise their voices–even when provoked. Amazing. I want to develop this ability.
  • An orange triangle taped to a patient’s door means they are at risk of falling over if they try and walk unassisted.
  • There is a dispenser filled with hand sanitizer by the door and every time a doctor, nurse, or aide exits the room, they get a squirt. I wonder if so much of it hurts their skin.
  • Ladybugs can somehow travel up to the 4th floor.
  • Patients blood work is digitally monitored and tracked down to the smallest detail.
  • Patients are given a drug I can’t remember the name of because they’re at risk for blood clots from being in the hospital.
  • All of this makes me think that I’d want an advocate with me at all times to monitor and approve all of the routine tests, pills and injections. Are all of them really necessary??

There’s more, but it’s time for me to sleep.