18 August 2020
Late today the hospitalist Alison Cooke dropped by to see Joyce and give her two novels to read: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz and The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro.
Our wonderful library supplies us with subscriptions to a couple of streaming services and we did see The Remains of the Day with Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins a while ago. Sad story, really, just the thing for a depressing hospital stay.
FYI, I've added a few more of her doctors and the nurse anesthesiologist to the margin notes on the headline page. And a release date spot so you know when to stop sending mail to the hospital.
On the other hand, Junot Díaz's book is even sadder, adding violence to the mix. The main character is murdered at the end (don't worry, Joyce doesn't read this).
Those two are very popular books, certainly, but it's probably fortunate the hospitalist didn't become a librarian.
I mentioned to Joyce the other day that she could download a book from the library to read on her phone but she's taking this whole adventure as a sort of vacation. So anything that resembles work or a task is just out of the question.
So it's a good thing there are hospitalists in this world.
Not that I'm in the book recommending business but you could do worse than picking, at random, anything by Penelope Fitzgerald or William Trevor. Although you might have to start at the beginning with Robert Helenga and the end with Richard Powers.
And for a really long hospitalization, you might save yourself a lot of packing with just one big, fat book that will last a very long time. Like Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter. That begins in 1306 and doesn't get a lot further in over a thousand pages masquerading as three novels. Thanks to the plague.
THE QUESTIONS?
Oh, the three questions I emailed to Dr. Tong late last night after Joe Biden had been nominated by his fellow Democrats for the office of President, were:
- What are the long-term effects of her anesthesia?
- Is she being evaluated for sleep apnea (as Dr. Jotwani suggested in his pre-admittance interview)?
- What's in her IV if she's getting the antibiotics orally?
As soon as I get some answers, I'll let you know. My guesses are:
- I forget.
- That's planned for next week during the Republican convention.
- Bourbon.
Not that this is a test or anything.