Reading through recovery….

photo by daughter Susan

This is a busy week. I’ll be getting a new hip on Friday and my mind is occupied on getting prepared. So much to arrange for ahead of time. My brain is not good at double-tasking, so to create something clever or amusing for you to read right now seems beyond me.

However, I’ve just started reading a fascinating book which I think you may find of interest. As you know, I’m a history buff and I’d definitely put this book in that category. ‘The Professor and the Madman, a tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary’ is written by Simon Winchester.

The Professor and the Madman

author Simon Winchester

Winchester was a geologist at Oxford, is a full-time correspondent and writer who now lives in the U.S.

It’s the story of two of the men who worked on the making of the dictionary begun in 1857. One of the most ambitious endeavors ever, it required the help of many to bring it to fruition.

Professor James Murray, who headed the project, realized that one man, Dr. W. C. Minor, contributed more than ten thousand submissions. They had never met. He decided Minor should be honored. This led to a shocking discovery. Dr. Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane. He had committed murder.

Professor James Murray headed the project

This IS a fascinating story, as only true stories can be. I plan to read it during my recovery. If you think it may please you, join me and we can share our opinion of the book when we finish reading it.

Dr. William Chester Minor

I know you wish me well and thank you. I’ll be a new bionic woman.

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What patients need to know….

photo by daughter Susan

Attention Medical pros: What patients need to know….

I should be getting a new hip this month. I’m better prepared than I was six years ago when I had a knee replaced. My lack of knowledge then led to a disaster of an experience. After that debacle, I declared it would be over my dead body I’d ever go through something like that again.

The medical profession sees gray hair and presumes you’ve had numerous hospitalizations and surgeries, and taken dozens of medications and you know all there is to know about hospital procedures and what your rights are and what is usually done. I hadn’t — and didn’t know a thing.

Vital information was not passed on

I had the audacity to presume that questions I answered recorded by a young doctor in my surgeon’s office would be passed on to the necessary recipients of such vital information — like my allergy to sulphites. It wasn’t. My surgeon promised he would not allow me to be sent home, where I’d be on my own, because of my vestibular disorder. The nurse in charge said ‘He has no say in the matter.’ I was discharged. I came down with a severe, long siege of dizziness and nausea the very next day. It was horrible.

Never having been hospitalized in Canada for more than one night, I didn’t even know I had a menu choice for meals, terrible as they are reputed to be. No one told me. I was served rice every day for five days.

Rice every day? Not a happy camper.

I like to learn all I can, and had gladly attended information sessions regarding living with arthritis at the hospital. We were advised to use Tylenol for pain, so I did, but had no idea special Tylenol for arthritis, (stronger dose) existed until a friend told me about it some years later. Why didn’t they tell us while they were at it?

Your surgeon has no say in the matter

I’m not a shopper. I have little patience in stores. I just head to what I want and buy it. Not for me the wandering up and down aisles to see whats on the shelves. I’ve got things that interest me more to do with my time.

I’m writing about this now with the hope some medical professionals will read it and realize that not every gray-haired old woman has had major surgery before, or knows about hospital procedures and medications.

I hope I’m better prepared this time. Wish me luck.