22 February 2006

More notes from the hospital

A quickie: no bedsheet nor comforter nor any other part of a hospital bed makes a good mousing surface. Buy your own trackball and use it if you need to. Learned that two visits ago.

Also, hospitals buy in bulk for their IT equipment. Beware. More as I think of it... and curse the barely responsive shift key.

I would think that they would buy flexible and washable keyboards, but they just incinerate any that get contaminated. Figures.

Final update: Well, when I went to get my dual IVs placed... they were supposed to be AC (above the elbow) and after 6 attempts on the left side and incredible pain and discomfort (possibly due to scar tissue in the vein from a long-ago flourosceine angiography) the staff tried once on the right. The results were that the tube could be *threaded* after insertion into the vein, but then no blood draw... necessary for the tests. At 7 they stopped and said that was it, they gave up!

So thus ends my NIH study participation. I was profusely thanked and they understood the problems, and that these last tests were totally *voluntary*, but it was not worth trying again. So I am home now after two aspirin and much, much discomfort to the left arm.

I learned a lot and I may pass some of that on at a future point... until then...

Well, now onto the next stage of my life.

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