Once More To The Lake

Cleveland at 7:30 AM

It's 6:30 and I am ready to get out of this hotel room.  Enough of the coffee and a hotel room, get me back to the lake with Evie.  And we are going back later today, I hope leaving by 1:00, at least that's the time they mentioned.

Walk To Employee Parking Garage

Yesterday I spent much of the day with Evie, talking unless she dozed or was on her iphone, me on my computer, as one nurse after another would come in for some reason, checking blood pressure, bringing pain pills.  And a couple of times, physical therapists came in to explain things like how to get in and out of a bed with our stressing the back, or the tub, car, or chair.  And how to get on your clothes, socks and shoes.  We ended up, at their recommendation, ordering a grabber and other help devices from Amazon and it should be at our house on Friday, the wonders of modern commerce.  Evie seemed in good spirits at times, then would get tired, lose her mojo, and fall asleep, typical I am sure with the meds and fatigue from the operation.

Cleveland Playhouse, Next Door To The CC

Every couple of hours I would explore the clinic, just like I would a city, walking down one of the many hallways, leading to buildings, exits, stores and best of all, the dining or eating area where I found Aladdin's Middle Eastern, Subway, Pizza, Sushi, Salad Bars, Sandwich Shops and Ramen places and a large area to sit while eating.  Amazing, just like what malls used to be before they went out of business.  Walking is also fun people watching as this city within a city is multicultural, all ethnicities and religions.  Illness shows no prejudice.  And I have noticed what a benefit the CC is for the city, for this neighborhood as African Americans, most likely locals, are employed in all aspects of the hospital from doctors, to nurses, to workers in stores, food outlets, or hospitality.  It's great to see.

View Of What Used To Be The BP Building

I went down to the busy lunch area around noon, ordered a beef schwarma sandwich and lentil soup from Aladdin's, more than enough and sat down in their brightly lit eating area.  Each of the 10 or12 food stations had lines, as it is a popular place for lunch, for doctors and patrons and it's good, the best part.

I left Evie around 1:30 as she was tired and went back to my room, napped for an hour, took a shower and read some before going back to the hospital at 4:00.  I sat with Evie until 7:00, after she had eaten and we had taken another walk. She has been up walking three or four times. And she slept a couple of hours while I was in my hotel room.

At 7:15, I walked down to the hotel bar, found the last seat and started watching the NBA game on the TV.  After ten minutes, I decided to see if I could break the iPhone obsession and start a conversation with the woman to my left.  She was about my age, from Denver, but was here because her 80-year-old handicapped Aunt from Erie was getting major back surgery.  When we started talking, the guy next to her joined in, also retired like the two of us, and he was here with his wife who had major aorta surgery, her third at the CC.  He has been here for six weeks because of complications after the surgery.  Talking to these two made me feel how lucky we are because Evie is up and walking and gets to go home today.  Both seemed to want to talk, so we had fun learning about each others' lives.  After they left,  I ordered a mushroom swiss burger with fries, both pretty good and stayed until 9:00, watching the NBA on one TV, the World Series on the other.  I must have been tired because I fell asleep by 9:30.

As I mentioned, we hope to be on the road to the lake by early afternoon and the nurse's know we have a long ride so they started the discharge process yesterday afternoon. They are the best.