Roaring 20's

Tommy Guns Vodka.

The bartender described it as really crappy vodka in a really cool bottle.

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Monopoly update

The tie-breaker has finished its third evening. We are roughly even for cash, but I have more properties.  She however has hotels on Old Kent Road and Whitechapel Road.

Oh, yes, that reminds me; we're playing the tie-breaker with a British version from 1961 that we picked up in yard sale. Her hoteled properties correspond to Mediterranean Ave and its pair (the name of which escapes me at the moment).

However, I own all of the utilities and railroads, and only need Park Lane (Park Place) to complete owning the whole of the most expensive side of the board. I'll post another update tomorrow.

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The Tie-Breaker is tonight!

Deidre is hoping the Monopoly-themed t-shirt improves her luck.

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Dad's 72nd Birthday Party

I was worried that Dad was going through a second childhood when we arrived for his party, but apparently it was rented for the grandkids...

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Monopoly update

Deidre did beat me a few trips around the board later when I landed on her Boardwalk with a hotel on it. But in our second game last night, she lost when she landed on a hoteled property of mine. We're both looking forward to the tie-breaker.

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The next Donald Trump?

Deidre had two houses on Park Place and I landed on it. $500 for rent. I had to mortgage 5 proprties to pay the rent.  She then spent $1200 to put hotels on Park Place and Boardwalk and is chanting "snake eyes" at me.

I've created a monster.

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Nice sunrise

This morning had a gorgeous sunrise over Boston. Unfortunately, I can't take pictures while riding my motorcycle. The eastern horizon had a ragged line of clouds, so the potential for a good sunrise was high. I was tempted to bring my good camera, but with a chance of rain in the afternoon, I decided against it. But when I exited Storrow Drive at Copley, this was a view of the Hancock building that I couldn't pass up. Too bad the camera on the G1 isn't better.

Speaking of riding in, I finally bought a riding jacket and gloves with Kevlar, along with raingear. Now I just need some saddlebags and windshield and I'll be set. I'm thinking about a road trip to either my 20th college reunion this year, or my 25th high school reunion next year. MA to IL and back. That could be fun.

Just for completeness sake here on the blog

Deidre is out of the hospital and is doing well. She and the rest of the family are up in Maine while I work to finish a project that is due this week at work.

Night #3

Tonight's activities were air hockey, painting and making a ton of Mr. Potato Heads. Now Deidre is snuggled up in her bed and we're waiting for Ratatouille to start on the Disney Channel. If she doesn't spike a fever tonight, we'll be going home tomorrow. I've got my fingers crossed.

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Not my first choice for fashion wear...

So Deidre wanted to take a shower, rather than face my "leet" Candyland skills again. Seeing as she has an IV in, the nurse wanted to wrap it in plastic to keep it dry. So she did. With a plastic grocery bag and some medical tape. Excellent solution!

After the shower when I needed to remove it to get Deidre dressed, however, the nurse was busy elsewhere, so I wandered down to the nurses' desk to ask for a pair of scissors.

As I round the corner to there, I see a young girl (16-18) walking toward me followed by two other girls of the same age range. The first girl is clearly a patient, as she is not only wearing a sweats/johnny-gown/bathrobe combo, but she is also pushing one of those rolling IV hanger stands to which she is attached.

"Sorry!", she calls out to me, as I stop and take a step back to make way for her and her entourage.

"No problem," I assure her. "Take your time."

She lets out a little giggle as she approaches me. "Well, it's not like I can walk very fast like this..." and she lifts her foot up behind her as she passes, revealing the fact that she hobbled by, well, foot cuffs very much like the picture accompanying this post.

I blink at them and at her as she let's out another giggle and heads down the hallway to her room. I glance at her companions, but they are avoiding making eye contact with me.

Very odd.

I wonder if she's under house arrest or something like that, or if she's got them on due to being a psych patient. In any case, regardless of if she's a criminal or a lunatic, why is she on a kid's floor (this floor is for toddlers thru teens) wearing leg-irons?

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The excitement never ends...

Our Candyland tournament is interrupted by the nurse taking Deidre's vitals.  Deidre won the first game and I won the second.  I was perfectly willing to go for the tie-breaker, but apparently it's shower time.

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Awesome waiting room picture

First of all, let me assure you that I am completely unharmed

Not even a bruise or any soreness.

I laid down the motorcycle this morning. A truck in front of me braked hard for a pedestrian and when I followed suit and swerved slightly to avoid hitting him, I hit a patch of gravel and the bike went right out from under me. I landed on a grass berm at the side of the road and slid about 15 feet on my right side. Lovely grass stains on my only decent pair of jeans. Now I need a new pair for casual Fridays.

The bike suffered relatively minor damage. A silver dollar sized scrape on the muffler, the plastic decoration on the gas tank ground away, the brake cables scraped a bit, both mirrors damaged, and the alignment of the front fork is off.

I drove it back home (3 miles) and took the train in.

Seriously, I have NO injuries, but it could have been much worse. Where I landed on the berm was two feet beyond the curb. Had I landed two feet earlier, I would have slammed my rib cage into the granite curb at about 25 mph.

Yes, I know I'm very lucky. Yes, I'm going to be much more cautious when driving near the side of the road.

My own private circle of hell

Now that we're home from the hospital, and I've caught up on all my personal email and have had a full night's sleep, I can properly relay the hell that was the last night at the hospital. But first, I'll need to set the scene.

Deidre was in "room" 508, which was really the bed without the window in the room that was split into 508/509. 509 was a decently sized "room". It had room for the bed, a side-table, the recliner/cot combo, a rocking chair and space by the bed to accommodate the IV stand. 508 however, barely had room for the bed and recliner/cot combo. The side-table was crammed behind the recliner/cot with no access to the drawers, and the IV stand was jammed between them and the bed, always in the way.

Both beds had two light fixtures available to them. A wall unit behind the bed and up high for indirect lighting and a ceiling unit for lighting up the whole room. I never did find the switch for our ceiling unit, but I did figure out the pull string for the wall unit.

The girl in 509 was afflicted with some abdominal malaise that manifested itself with a distended stomach and severe intestinal distress. Now, I don't want people to think that I was insensitive to what the little girl in 509 was going though. She was clearly suffering and I wouldn't wish that on any child. But the series of events that played out that night made me question the wisdom of the hospital putting anyone else in the room with her.

Across the hall in 510 was a child of unknown (to us) sex and age, but the rumour mill told us that the child was mentally disturbed and quite strong. During the day, the was little noise from the room, but the 24/7 rotating guard outside the door was fairly conspicuous. These guys could have been bouncers. There were a few incidents during the day of agitated yelling from within, but amid the daily hustle of the ward, I barely noticed them.

The last night of Deidre's stay started out much like the previous night. Deidre was watching TV while I read a book. Around 8:30, clearly worn out by her visitors (this is a good thing), Deidre turned off the TV and went to sleep. I continued to read for about 45 more minutes and then turned off the lights and rolled on to my side and closed my eyes.

Maybe 15 minutes later, 509 also turns out their lights and all is quiet.

For maybe 10 minutes.

The little girl starts to moan and cry aloud. I hear some rustling and the overhead light in 509 flashes to life. Blinking against this sudden assault to my eyes, I bury my face in the pillow to block it out. The little girl's cries get louder and suddenly there is the sound of explosive diarrhea filling a bed pan. Sustained, gassy diarrhea. And a stench. Wow, what a stench.

As I struggle not to cough and gag, the diarrhea runs it course and the grandmother takes the bedpan to the bathroom on the other side of the wall from me. After a brief muffled washing out of the bedpan, the industrial-strength toilet roars out as she flushes the mess away.

Using the toilet is completely understandable; you don't want to leave it in the bowl all night polluting the air. But the hysterical screaming fit that this instigates from the child in 510 is monumental.

A sustained "WAAAH, WAAAH, WAAAH, WAAAH" fills the hallways for about 10 minutes. This kid had some breath control. His screaming didn't waver or weaken the entire time. I was wide-awake and beginning to get a headache. Deidre, of course, slept through the whole thing.

Now, of course, this incident in and of itself would be worthy of a post, but alas, this wasn't all that I was to be subjected to that night. With little deviation from the original script, this little drama repeated itself through the night with about 45 minutes between performances.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

I slept quite well last night in my own bed.

Flintstone vitamins

My immediate family might recognize the significance of my buying Flintstone vitamins. The pharmacist and I decided that this would be good substitute for the iron supplement prescribed by Deidre's doctor.

Anyway, we're home now, and Deidre is parked on the couch watching a movie.

Many thanks to all for your kind words of support through all this.

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Settled in for the night...

Deidre is sleeping soundly and I'm "bedded" down for the night.  Hopefully the nurses won't wake me too many times during the night.

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Deidre's Surgery

The surgeon just came out to tell that Deidre's doing fine and the surgery went well.

More later...

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Evening Cookout

"Did you want me to cook all the 'dogs'"?

"Yes, you can cook all of them except Chewie."

Ha, ha; do you want me to cook all the hot dogs?"

"Well, it is 85 degrees out, so they're all hot."

"Ha, ha. I'm going to try this one more time, them I'm going to leave and go ride my bike again. Do you want me to cook both packages?"

Both women in the room glanced down below my belt and burst into laughter.

I knew I had been outclassed.

I'm starting out with one... container of cylindrical processed meat products and re-evaluating after the kids have eaten.