A Visit to a Canadian Hospital (cont.)

Richard is Transferred Upstairs

Later in the early morning one of the nurses walked up and told Richard he would be moved to a room shortly. She asked if he wanted a television or a telephone. Apparently, these items, standard in the United States, were extras in this Canadian hospital. Richard asked for a telephone but nixed the television. A member of the hospital staff wheeled Richard to his room. It was a most impressive room, with monitors of various types. There were already patients there. The room was a six person ward with four occupants already installed. The staff wheeled Richard to an empty bed, transferred him over, and then wired him up. Richard looked down at all of the wires leading to the little pads glued to his chest and thought, those pads are going to hurt coming off.

Richard spent the rest of the day hooked to an IV in a lethargic doze interrupted periodically by a nurse's visit. Since the human body on an IV produces five quarts of urine for every quart of IV fluid, Richard's occasional uses of a urination bottle increased in frequency as he re-hydrated. In the afternoon, the telephone rang with Elaine calling to say that she would be flying up the next day arriving in the afternoon. Late that evening, Thursday, a sixth occupant for the ward was brought in, a drug addict going through withdrawal. The new patient was uncooperative and restless and the night was a long one though it got better after the nurses strapped the druggie down and she finally fell silent apparently from exhaustion.

The next morning, Friday, a doctor came by on rounds. By then Richard was alert after a couple of bags of saline had run through the IV. The doctor reviewed Richard's charts and then said that he didn't really see any reason to keep him any longer. Richard was feeling quite well and agreed with the doctor's reasoning.