On ye olde teknowlowgee

The end of the nerve block test went very well, so its IV thingy was removed early yesterday afternoon by Nick, the good humoured nurse from the day before. The procedure was just about pain-free which was all to the good. It was a considerable relief to be free of the IV stand as I could now transfer myself to the wheelchair and thus attend various needs myself. 

One of these was filling my water bottle with ice and water from the machine near the elevators. My room is at the far Western end of the corridor, so it made for a nice roll. Coming back, I noticed several examples of ye olde teknowlowgee (old technology). The first was a pneumatic tube system complete with a olde instructional poster and a list of the locations of the various departments in the building from 1984 which had been typed then photocopied. I also noticed two phone booths built into the wall. The seats were still there but Bell has removed the phones, if not an ad. I mentioned the pneumatic tube system to Nick. He hadn’t know it was there and went with me to take a look. In turn, he mentioned its existence to another employee who had used them at another hospital.

This morning I had the usual round of minor treatments. This included a visit from Nicolai, a member of the Ortho team. I asked him how long I was going to remain at the General. He said they were waiting for the all-clear to be deduced from the cultures of the tissue samples they had taken during the operation. He said it usually took five days before they knew. I replied, “So I will know yesterday?”

Later in the morning, I put a note on my door saying I was going for a roll in the wheelchair along with my mobile number in case they needed me of a sudden. I set off in search of the widely rumoured but never seen cafeteria which the lore suggested might be found on the 4th floor. I celebrated finding it by buying a slice of pizza and a pint of milk. The food I get served here isn’t bad, though it is a bit bland. It also seems to be not quite as filling as it might.

Stephen, Margaret and Avery came by in the afternoon with leftover chocolate cake from Pappy’s birthday and some rice pudding curtesy of Joey. I made a point of showing them the pneumatic tube.

After supper, I got a phone call from Vélo-Québec. The lady wanted to know if I would like to be volunteer again for the Tour-de-l’Île. I responded that I would like to, but that I was incapable of doing so as I had a broken leg. Maybe next year.