And Then Some...

Until today I had only heard about our new hospital. It started for me on Friday when I went for pre-admission and ran into a lovely woman who argued about whether I really wanted a semi-private room or not. I finally told her I have the coverage I want the room, I believed I was going for day surgery so it was moot anyway. On to the next room where they informed me I had to be at admission for 6am on Monday and that I would be staying over night. Oh boy! I made my arrangements at work and basically got no sleep last night as my mask decided to be difficult and by 1:30 I thought even if I do fall asleep I'll be up in a few hours anyway, and I can sleep the rest of the day.
So we get to the hospital, check in and go to the surgery ward where no one is on duty. The lights weren't even on. Another fellow had been told to be there for 5:15am! Precisely at 6:10 the nurse strolled and we all got moved to the pre-op staging area. As the other 4 in our group were taken away one by one I found out my surgery had been re-scheduled for 9am from 7:45. Why am I here at 6am again?
Then the announcement "We are in gridlock, please begin gridlock protocols" came over the intercomm system. Since we're not in downtown Toronto traffic you are probably wondering what gridlock means in med-speak. It means there's no bed for Ron to sleep the day away in. So as I'm thinking Now What? in comes my doctor to check with me, discover the lack of beds and ask about my apnea. The only reason I was to stay overnight in the first place was that when the need for surgery was first determined in October of 2006 I hadn't even been to the sleep clinic and apnea can cause problems with the meds and being put out. Once he knew I was on the CPAP I was okay for day surgery.
The surgery went well as far as I can tell. I didn't know I would have an incision above my right ear and only found out when I checked the mirror when I first got out of bed. Damn ugly stiches and whitewall where I got partially shaved. I'm not to get it wet. It will be tough to shower and I guess I can't sweat for 10 days or so, just great.
The last nurse that I saw before leaving at about noon actually went to a book and gave me some dos and don'ts for ear surgery. All in all the nurses and staff are very thorough (the same questions at least 4x) and other than whispering amongst themselves which puts the imagination into overdrive, they were great.
Instead of all the architect's Christmas bonuses paid for the design, why not just put in enough beds so that 'gridlock' stays in downtown Toronto where it belongs?