Hospital Trip #2

Hour 1   5:47pm

We’ve checked in with the triage nurse and were told the wait would be 1 or 2 hours. She instructed us to wait in perusterveydenhuollon päivystys - and after seeing our blank looks of incomprehension, she clarified, “The T section”. So we’re settling in and about to watch one of the two movies that we’ve downloaded specifically for this wait. Let the torture begin.

Also, we’re really jealous of the scooters the nurses zoom around on. They’re a hybrid of a Segway and a Razor scooter and we’re totally ganking one if we’re here for more than 2 hours.

Hour 2

The first movie, The Secret, was a total dud. We thought it would be a cross between Da Vinci Code and National Treasure and were looking forward to some action mixed in with maybe some Mason lore. After about 10 minutes of people discussing “the Secret” and instructing us in how to use the Law of Attraction to make our lives go in a positive direction, we nixed it for the latest Indiana Jones movie. Our setup, though, is pretty ballin. We take up quite a bit of room, with a chair for each of us to sit in, two for our backpacks and coats, and one last one to prop our feet on. We are getting some pretty strange looks … they’re just jealous.

Hour 2 cont. (15 minutes in)

Just as Jaime was unwrapping our mystery sandwich from the vending machine and handing half of it to Elizabeth, Elizabeth's name was called. The visit with the doctor only lasted about 10 minutes, long enough for her to glance at the x-rays and inform Elizabeth that the leg was healing well, make sure the cast still fit, and prescribe some hyped-up Ibuprofen. After Elizabeth checked out of the hospital, we caught a bus back to the City Center.

Hour 3

The next hour found us cozily seated in a restaurant downtown and enjoying a delicious dinner (Jaime had the vegetable quiche while Elizabeth chose the grilled salmon and both dishes came with mixed vegetables on the side). Incredibly pleased with ourselves, we left the restaurant just in time to catch the bus back to our apartment complex.

There was just one catch... To ease the process of getting on and off of the bus, Jaime typically holds the crutches so Elizabeth can climb the steps and swipe her card. Somehow, though, this process failed us during the final leg of our trip. Standing at the door of the bus, waiting for it to pull up to our stop, Jaime looked at Elizabeth, grinned sheepishly, and said, “oops.” Comprehension flashed across Elizabeth’s face as she realized that each of us thought the other had been holding on to the crutches. But, in fact, both of us had failed to retrieve the crutches from their resting place next to the seat in the bus shelter. Still laughing, we crossed the street (Elizabeth hobbled) to catch the 12 back to the City Center. We are happy to report that the crutches were still there and Elizabeth did not have to hobble down the hill to our apartment.