Learning the lay of the land

It is not a skill that I like to boast about, but I have to say I am very good at finding my way around hospitals.

I figured out that the nurses would get me their own coffee with milk and even get me another one when I spilled the first cup in my bed while trying to move my tray.

I know that it is good to eat yogurt while on antibiotics, but the stuff they send up on the tray is not good. So yesterday I figured out that they would let me go down to the gift shop to buy a Greek yogurt. While there I also got a Nestle Crunch bar.

I'm going down there now. My blood cultures did not grow anything, so I will end up just needing a week of antibiotics for the urinary tract infection instead of two if it had been more serious. Discharge is scheduled for today, but that sometimes takes a long time.

I'm glad at least that although this is a double room, I haven't gotten a roommate. I have a view of the spires in downtown Holyoke, and it is mostly quiet in here. Yesterday my friend Deborah brought coffee and a treat and word of the outside world, which was a nice break from being in here by myself.

Last night I had the strangest experience of having a male aide who reminded me of my nurse Vytas, who died a few years ago. It was almost like seeing my old friend, and it brought tears to my eyes. He was a wonderful friend and a gentle and funny caregiver who tracked me through all of my multiple hospitalizations and was always there with reassurance and a joke, calling me by his nickname for me, Nervous Nellie. I was worrying about dying and then he was the one who died. It is extra difficult when a caregiver dies. I am crying while I write this, which means it's time to get out of here.