A farewell, and hopefully not au revoir

I mean that in the nicest way. PT G believed her docs and social worker would be coming up with a rehab and care plan which would see her out of the hospital and back home. She really wanted to go home, enough time in the hospital (I think it must be 3 weeks or so).

Today she was not "woofy" at all. Apparently one of the things her docs have been working on is figuring out which of her meds were having which side effects: woofiness (spacey and dozy) was one, another was dry mouth, and some other things. She reported that the docs had said that this could be due to one particular med she was taking. Her roommate, PT T, went home today and she, PT G, and I sat and chatted for a while. She works in another hospital nearby. She talked about how long people have to wait in ERs in NYC (possibly elsewhere in the US?). She said this seemed so bizarre to her, that part of that wait seems to be because docs here like to use all kinds of diagnostic tools (MRIs, CTs, etc) all of which require waits for results, whereas in Russia, they tend to focus on first aid and treatment of what can be treated ASAP and thus people are in and out fast. I was saying that perhaps it's due to the way people use ERs here in the US, but didn't get to elaborate on how this differed from A & E use in the UK.

The asthma PT I encountered on Monday was also going back home today. She was in much better shape and in very good spirits. She talked about where she lives - nearby in assisted accommodation, in a studio in a place where there's dining rooms and they do everything for you but you also have a kitchen. She seemed very happy with it, her only regret being that no pets are allowed since she'd love to have a dog.

PT M, who had been almost completely out of it yesterday was more with it today, but still was not eating. He complained of a painful throat.

PT K was still there and he talked to me about politicians and how he was a-political since corruption seemed unavoidable. Later in the day his wife (I assume) came to visit, which was nice to see.

At the end of my shift, I went to say goodbye to PT G. She said some very nice things, expressing her appreciation of my keeping her company and helping her out. She shook my hands in farewell and, of course, appropriately said "I hope I never see you again", which I echoed (unless, she said, it was by chance on the street, but NOT in the hospital!).