11/23/2011

This morning was the day of my appointment with the ophthalmologist. It was OK. He said there was no deterioration since he had seen me three months ago. I was hoping for the next appointment to be set in six months but there was only a slight improvement in appointment times. The appointment is in four months! So, three months, four months and perhaps the one after that will be in six months.

I can’t remember who told me that valet parking was free at the hospital but I forgot that yesterday and drove forever around the huge parking garage before I eventually found a parking place. It was not a handicapped one. I handed my ticket and my tag over at the exit box, and, as usual, I was not charged. Valet parking is normally $8 which I think is very high, but, just like the garage, if one has a handicapped tag, the parking was free. AND, as I got out of my car and dragged my cane after me, I was asked if I needed a wheelchair! I didn’t but I thanked him.

Talking about wheelchairs, as I was walking towards the door to get out of the hospital, I saw T., the wife of R. who was Fred’s roommate at the rehab center. I asked T. how her husband was and she said he had come out of the ICU this morning. You may remember that he was whipped away out of rehab by EMTs a few days ago. He had bronchitis and internal bleeding apparently caused by his coumadin dosage not being  adjusted to the fact that he wasn’t eating. {Actually, I find it hard to understand how they could not have noticed that his plate went back untoughed for almost a week!} And, like Fred a few years ago, he had a heart attack in the ICU.  T. said she was prepared for the fact that he was not going to survive, but, in spite of everything, he was surviving. She was exhausted and said she had asked for a wheelchair and a volunteer to push it because she couldn’t face the actuality  of having to walk huge distances to where he was now. She didn’t know how long they would be keeping him in hospital and was worried that he might lose his place in the rehab place. Apparently, he was just beginning to be able to raise his hand a bit before all this. {He had had a stroke and was left without the ability to move his right hand which was why he was in rehab.} Anyway, I was glad to see her and to find out how he was doing.

I have been playing with the new Kindle Fire for most of the evening. Until about an hour ago, I was coming down quite hard on the side of sending it back within the 30 try-out days. The fact that the orientation of the window kept flipping from portrait to whatever-the-one-that makes-you-read-sideways is called {it just came to me…it is called landscape!} was driving me batty! The Kindle is the same but it has the ability to be set one way and one finds this in the area where the sizes of the font are controlled. So, naturally, I assumed the Fire would have this ability and it would be found in the same place! Well, it does have the ability but it is in a different place, and now I have found it and have the screen firmly locked in portrait mode, I am liking the Kindle Fire better! This is the first touch device I have ever used and I am delighted at how responsive it is.

Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.

– Native American prayer

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

– Anaïs Nin