We landed almost an hour late; I called my committee chair
Lee and got him to ferry me to Mass. General, where as soon
as I complained at the ER of shortness of breath I was
promised immediate admission; turns out I was kept 17 hours
while they looked for a room for me, which made me most
apprehensive, as this seemed to mean cardiac intensive care
for sure. Meanwhile I was shunted off into a large cubicle
of my own, with a separate thermostat, so I was quite comfy
actually. And during this time I had a chest x-ray, which
showed a touch of pneumonia as well as the cardiomegaly, and
a CAT scan, which showed no evidence of thrombosis or
embolism (not a surprise as I tend to bleed far more easily
than I clot). There is a separate catering for the ER, one
that seems to err on the side of buffetlike generosity.
Shortly before noon I was served a full-size turkey
sandwich, an enormous plate of mac and cheese, broccoli, two
cups of fruit, and two cups of apple juice. I ate the
sandwich and the fruit.

Dozed most of the day, this being alternated with bouts of
answering the same questions posed by a variety of doctors,
nurses, and students, none of whom I'd ever see again.

The barstids put in a Foley cath. I inquired about this, and
they told me that they wanted to check my fluid output as
carefully as possible. If I were fully aware, I'd have told
them to use it in themselves, but instead I politely
asked if they'd expected to pee myself all the time. Judging
from their nonresponse the answer was probably yes.

It was with a certain relief that at dinnertime I was
wheeled past the cardiac unit to a regular room in the
general medicine wing.

My roommate had the TV on 24 hrs a day, American Gladiator
being one of the less obnoxious. Things he insisted on:
the room blistering hot (his nurse would turn the thermo
up, then each tech who came in would say "I can't work in
this" and turn it back down again); for every pill and
inhaler he was given to be individually identified as to
name and usage, every time; to readjust his bed to his
liking (some apparently unsafe position, as he kept being
chidden for this) after every procedure - I have to give
him credit for this, as he seemed to be a wizard at the
controls, which I had a really hard time dealing with. He
was slightly deranged from pain meds and probably the normal
psychosis one gets from being cooped up for days and days.

He sees window cleaners outside and has come up with an
intricate story about the water they use dripping in and
humidifying the room, which is good, as if it didn't we'd
all be drying up like raisins, or something.

The guy next door kept screaming "giuffrida" or "did you
feed her" or something; he has a police guard out in the
hall (surfing the Web pretty much all the time; I can see
from here). Turns out he was a professional boxer named
Fiore or Fiori and had the brains knocked out of him some
thirty or forty years ago.

It is good that there is free (?) wi-fi throughout the
hospital. Otherwise I'd be screaming "giuffrida" and
seeing window washers.

Around 8 I wistfully remarked to my nurse that I hadn't
had any food in a while. Turns out I had been moved right
around suppertime and had fallen through the cracks. She
ordered me chicken salad no salt no bread and a fruit cup.
This rather bland meal was pretty welcome.

Eventually I gave up and turned in.

Wednesday

This is the breakfast they served for a low-carb low-fluid
low-sodium patient: a scrambled egg; two slices of toast;
oatmeal; three sugar packets; two jam packets; milk; OJ;
coffee. I ate merely what my diet entitled me to.

And so to hunker down for a day of boredom punctuated with
moments of annoyance and a fair amount of discomfort.

Here is the menu offered me for lunch and dinner every day:

Roast Turkey without Gravy
A fresh roasted turkey breast roasted in our ovens and
carved for you ...

Grilled Hamburger without Roll
A juicy beef patty grilled and served
without your roll because of your diet.

Plain Spaghetti
For those patients who want a simple dish, we
offer plain and simple "just spaghetti'.

Twice they offered an additional fish choice - once salmon
and once haddock. I chose these both times; but since then,
the option has not been available.

The sides include lettuce and tomato, rice, a fancy rice or
salt free bread, usually a starchy veg., sometimes a steamed
nonstarchy veg, a tossed salad, sometimes a potato.

Desserts: diet baked custard, canned fruit (depends),
chocolate ice cream, vanilla ice cream, lemon Italian ice,
gelatin dessert (which is denied me).

Coffee, tea, decaf coffee, decaf tea, ginger ale, diet
ginger ale, bottled water. These are denied.