So wonder why ive been quiet today, i mean really no one noticed i was quiet today, in these troubling times, and thought to ask "Are you okay?"
No one?
We'll deal with this betrayal later, but for now let me tell you why i was quiet today
Why was i quiet, i hear you ask (albeit too late to be meaningful...nice post-fact enquiry)
I was quiet because i was out running the
(when i read that , in my head theres a catchy theme tune stab, you try it, ill wait)
Good?
Okay
So The Bear Hater (TBH) didnt of course have the frame of thought, like most, to grab his phone charger when the men in hazmat suits took him away the other day
So first thing today was to go to Woolies town hall to buy a USB A to USB C cable (i had a spare plugpack part) as i dont have anything recent enough to use USB C lol
Got on the train at 10am from St Peters to Town Hall, usually sardine land, 1st time ive ever had seat, and plenty of them
Got to Town Hall and usually a crowd towards the barrier, today a nice leisurely walk, i could get used to this, society, please stay away after COVID-19 if you like...
Grabbed the stuff for TBH from Woolies, and grabbed some Nice bikkies, havent had those in 2 weeks, winning
Walk through town to bus stop to St Vincents mid Hyde Park, not many people around..again, please feel free to stay home forever society, this is how my city should be
Get to hospital and go up to level 7 and the contagious patients ward, ive been told by TBH in a text this morning i wont be allowed in to put the stuff in a bag and label it with his details and drop it off...
When i get to the ward, the place is in lockdown, and i join a lady also holding a bag to drop off, shes told me noones getting in
So im prepared to drop and dash when the nurse comes out and asks the lady who shes dropping the bag off for...and takes her bag
Then she asks me who im dropping off for, and i tell her TBH (aka Robert) and she says, he's just been confirmed as not having COVID-19, so i can go and see him for 5 minutes
Her: "First, hows your health?"
Me: "Well i have no immune system, and just came off 2 lots of AB's for an ear infection, but for me, im good"
Her: "Well id recommend you dont go in because this is an isolation ward and beyond this door are active COVID-19 cases"
Me: wanted to say "But im doing this epic covid gauntlet run thing..." in reality "i'll just stay 5 minutes, we've been friends 20 years, and he's like my brother"
Her: "Well i'll let you in, as long as once you leave you don't even come back to the hospital at all...even through the front door, because thats been compromised as people arent waiting in the ED and starting to come into the general reception, and we've had confirmed cases do that. So visit your friend, but dont come back"
Me: " Okay"
So im directed to walk to the right, turn left and head up to his room and dont deviate from the line
So as i get near the room, just to amuse myself mostly, but also let him know all 4 of the horsemen of the apocalypse have arrived at once and in one package i say loudly, in full Hunter S Thompson mode "Where is that rat b@stard?"...this is my standard greeting to The Bear Hater
Oddly he was glad to see me....
He was in good spirits and sitting up with a cannula feeding the greedy fudger antibiotics intravenously for his blood poisoning
Usual mood level so we had a nice chat and gave him a bit of a bollocking for doing a "Henry" - our mutual friend who used to suffer in silence in his room until it was ambulance time...the time i had to put him in an ambulance at 4am to have a quad bypass 6 hours later comes to mind....
Was wrapping things up and about to leave when i caught site of something out of the corner of my eye
"Yes", i thought, "Has to be done, its traditional"
When Henry was alive and in hospital, which was often because as mentioned he left things till they got critical, i started a running tradition of adding my own notes the patient wall chart, which is a whiteboard where they track things like meds and goals for the day. With Henry, who i may have outed once in the past for famously checking himself out of hospital against doctors orders for them continuing to bring him yoghurt with meals when he asked them to stop, id often write int he goals for today section "Eat more yoghurt". He regretted checking himself out over the yoghurt weeks after he did it, but in the final days of his life, when i was there and another friend of his that i hadnt met, and even the odd nurse, was about, he;d get me to tell the entire story of his battle with trying to get the kitchen to stop sending yoghurt, and ultimately checking himself out because of it...became a badge of pride in his final days.
So being as this was TBH's first visit to hospital since ive known him and i had little data to use against him i thought, best ease him into things, so heres a quick snap of his patient board, and his goals for the days
I look after my friends
So i was as close to the Corona Virus as i want to get folks
Spent the rest of the day checking in with some friends to do things and touch base while i was out, because now i am basically going into self iso for awhile
Came home on a train that would usually be sardine land again, at 4:30 and again very quiet, me likey
But i was running the gauntlet like a boss, sure some healthcare workers were prolly a bit closer to it than me, but not by a lot....
Walking up King St from St Peters station, and saw a bunch of hippies sitting packed into a small cafe, obviously fricking clueless wankers, internal dialogue was "good luck with your patchouli and crystals you ****its". no other cafes on the street open, even for takeaways.