Night on the Town

Put your hands together for.... drum roll please... dad's first day out of the hospital in 5 1/2 weeks!  Fresh air (and at the end of October, is that air ever fresh!), change of scenery, and no hospital food!  Where was the big night out!?  None other than White Spot!  (We used a wheelchair taxi without a spot of trouble.)  Whilst we were there, family showed up, and then some friends... so it was a regular party all around.  Dad was alert and engaged for the most part.  A relief to see, particularily after those weeks of watching and wondering if he was going to make it.

I should have had dad in a wheelchair ages ago so I can keep an eye on him... certainly not worried about him tripping as we walk down the street!!  Now the worry is me dumping him.  I actually have no issues manhandling him in the chair... the issues are the lips on door sills and curbs.  Yeah... they "say" they are wheelchair friendly.  The slightest rise brings a 160-odd-pound wheelchair to a screeching halt.  You try lifting the front end over one of those rises.  Totally dangerous... definitely needs to be reviewed by some code or other.

Anyway, back to my story... It was cute... I asked dad what he wanted to eat... was it going to be a Triple 'O' burger?  He said, "A man gets to pick his own meal for the first time in six months, he shouldn't go for the same old..."

That got a smile out of me!  I proceeded to ask him what else he would like... meatloaf, chicken stir fry, tortellini?  Ha!  This is what they have been serving up at the hospital and the nurses have noticed in the past few days he has not been eating very much.  Can you blame him!?  The way he ate his prawns tonight (next best thing to steak - which was not on the menu) ... there is nothing wrong with his appetite.

I do have to say... I am feeling a bit guilty about the upcoming switch from hospital food to airline food.  At least with the latter, he will have a fellow commiserator! 

Not to be all pompous, and stttuuuuufff... but witnessing dad, and the older people on his floor, struggle with their day-to-day activities, loss of privacy and independance, and stuck eating uninspired food day in and day out... really makes me want to appreciate the simple things in life... that I can run up the five flights of stairs to dad's floor (they need to replace the guy in the basement who operates the elevator hoist... he's falling asleep on the job!).  That I can make my own food choices... and they had better be healthy ones... I want to stay out of that hospital as long as I can!

(I have written this blog late at night while continuing to procrastinate about filling out the inventory papers.  I realize it's a bit disjointed and I apologize for that.  I may or may not get back to edit it.  For now, I hope you get the gist of it.)