"You are going home today." "No, I am going home tomorrow."

22 November 2011 (Tuesday), Day 41

I had an appointment tomorrow in the hospital to remove the cast on my right hand but had no idea what was going to happen. They said they needed to remove the wire in the wrist. Would that involve an operation? The orthopaedic team should come to the ward today and here I was sitting in my room waiting for them to come.  Last week they came and did not see me.  This week I had to catch them. However, there was no luck.  They were too busy to come today.  

I had my last shower and shampoo in the hospital, hopefully not the last one before the brace would come off next January.  How I could have post-hospital shower and shampoo was still outstanding. A number of options were explored but due to various constraints (including bureaucracy), none was viable. They offered two other options today. One was that I would not have a shower or shampoo at all but go back to the hospital once every week just to change the lining. That may be helpful for odour 臭味 control but I am not sure how changing from one set of dry lining to another set of dry lining without a physical wash will make me cleaner. Another option was that everything has to be done in my house and no hospital staff will be involved. A whole new set of problems surfaced: our shower cubicle is too small for anyone to come in and help with the shower; our queen-size bed is too big and makes it impossible for log-rolling; are those people coming to our house to shower and change me qualified to perform log-rolling, etc.

When asked what did other patients with similar braces do in the past? The answer was simple: “they did not have a shower”. You have to love country people. They are so easy going.

They kept telling me that I would go home today and I kept saying “no, I am going home tomorrow”.