Hospital Adventures

 Yesterday's adventure took us to Piedmont Hospital in Jasper, Ga. It was a pleasant ride, despite the day being dreary. A straight shot on 515 took us directly to the facility. A sort of small hospital, it was the place assigned for the imaging of veins in the legs of HeWho is in need of new arteries. The other Piedmont hospital is another 55 miles into Atlanta. This is where the surgery will take place. 

Noting this fact, I suggested to him that perhaps we should take a different route when we have to head to Atlanta. He insisted that it only took an hour and 15 minutes the last time we went. The man is delusional! It might have been shorter in distance by just a few miles, but the route took us through Helen and to Gainesville. A treacherous ride through the switchbacks in the mountains. And, having been the driver on the return trip, it took the bigger part of 3 hours, what with the reduced speed limit and slow traffic. He insisted that it did not, so I consulted Siri and she informed us that it was 130 miles. He then said he really couldn't remember. Since we were not going over 100 mph, it would have been most unlikely! I am beginning to think he enjoys argueing with me!

We arrived at the hospital and entered the main entrance, only to discover that a part of the hospital was being remodeled and we had to enter via the Emergency Room entrance. We went out and then came back in and were registered and HeWho was taken to the back promptly at 3 o'clock. I was left to sit in the waiting area and play with my phone for an hour. It was mostly empty except for one man talking to the man on his left loudly. We all had masks on and it was like he thought the mask was meant to be an occasion to shout at his neighbor.

That man left and it was blissfully quiet, except for a herd of people trying to gain entry to the exam room in the ER. Must have been some sort of accident and it must have been someone young, maybe highschool age if the crowd was any indication. There were about 30 teens in the parking area and then another crowd of adults showed up, looked like two generations of relatives. They allowed none to the back and they all retired to the great outdoors to commisserate among themselves. 

I had just settled back to my word game when a woman looking to be in her 50's came in and said she had been sent from the Urgent Care where her father tested positive for Covid. She was instructed to wait at her car for a wheelchair and an attendant appeared from the mystery door and donned two masks to retrieve the patient. Good for him! The patient, an elderly man who appeared to be very weak had his mask secured firmly UNDER his nose. I held my breathe until they took him away through the mystery door.

I was beginning to think I should be safer in my vehicle, but decided to make use of the bathroom facilities before exiting. I came out to an empty waiting room and moved to the most isolated chair after looking out to see that the wind was whipping things into a frenzy. I has just reseated myself when a woman came bustling in and said she was "here to see Hugh Whatever" The registration personnel consulted the computer and asked if perhaps "Hugh" might have a different first name. "We all always just called him Hugh!" announced the visitor to be. Then she sighed deeply and told them to just tell her the room number of the person on file with the last name she told them and she would go see if that might be him.

I was chuckling to myself at the absurdity of her request. When she was told that they could not give out that information, she was befuddled. "Well, how am I suposed to know his first name?" was her response. The very patient woman behind the desk and plexiglass suggested that she might know a family member of Hugh's to interrogate. "Well, you could try Sissy's niece." she said to the woman and got no response. She took out her flip phone and started punching numbers. No answer. Another round of punching those keys and she was talking, none too quietly, to someone, demanding to know where Sissy might be, because she did not answer her phone and had no "machine voice" set up.

I was hanging on her every word, wondering where Sissy might be when HeWho was walking out and ready to go. Now I will never know the whereabouts of Sissy or Hugh's first name! 

It was like being a part of an interactive soap opera. We stopped at a BBQ place called "Big Uns" and had an early dinner. The food was really good and the service was fast. This place was packed and line was just inside the door when we got there. It moved quickly, though and we were back on our way home, with just one more stop to make to pick up prescriptions at Walmart. 

Upon arriving at Walmart we gassed up my chariot at $2.84 per gallon before parking. I dispatched HeWho to the hardware department to pick up hinges for the new gate while I went to the Pharmacy. I took a detour through groceries for bread and met him at the checkout. Upon arriving home I unloaded the bags of stuff and discovered that he forgot the hinges .....