NO WIRE HANGERS

Well, that was odd.

After checking into a hotel who's concession to disability is sticking a toilet insert onto the toilet, we were both grumpy. Accessible should be accessible, it shouldn't be perching on a tiny toilet insert. Oh, well, that's not the big deal. The big deal is that they had no regular wire hangers. They had the kind of hangers that have a nub that fits into the hanger that hangs permanently on the rod.

We had expected hangers.

So, I'm on IV antibiotics and yesterday we learned from a nurse who wasn't into teaching but was supposed to instruct us how to do it. She did it quickly, commenting that she had dinner waiting and she was called in because someone else was off sick, and the fuel light on her car was on and she rushed out without her purse, and she wanted to get back for her dinner. In amongst her, I became a nurse to be able to subject you to me, babble we asked a few questions and thought we had it figured.

We didn't. We were here in the hotel with a line that did not run and a drip that did not drip. Finally we called for support and got a nurse who took all the time we needed and we discovered we'd missed only one small but vital fact. It must have been lost somewhere between learning she had four children and the fact that her supper was waiting. So that done, we looked for a hanger to hang the bag so I could get the IV.

No hangers.

So for about 30 minutes Joe stood on a chair holding the bag above his head. I simply sat and watched the bag slowly drain. Joe remarks that we'll find this funny one day.

Uh, huh, sure we will.

But I'm getting better, the antibiotics are working and the promised nausia hasn't been part of the recovery. So Joe standing on a chair in a hotel with a bag held up over his head will be one memory I'll hold on to.

He looked a bit like The Statue of Liberty holding torch high.

He looked a bit like Florence Nightengale holding lantern aloft.

But mostly he looked like a guy who'll do anything I need when I'm truly in need.


I'm a little glad that there were no hangers, because that's what I needed to see tonight.