CABG surgery plus four days

The ICU staff must have been pleased with my progress because around lunchtime today I was transferred back down to the 5th floor cardiac surgery ward. I felt like I was on a 5th/7th floor yoyo. To the left of my 5th floor bed was a west-facing window overlooking the University High School oval where in 1970 as a junior doctor at the adjacent Royal Melbourne Hospital I’d run laps before work. Though then I was young and fit and now I was old and I could hardly walk, for some reason I thought that a good omen. Another good omen was that one of the 5th floor nurses introduced herself to me as Leanne. And she told me she was CEO of the entire Melbourne Private Hospital. She said she was working on the ward because of short-staffing. Even so, I was mightily impressed that the CEO was doing hands-on patient work. (It reminded me that in the old days when Bob Ansett ran Budget Rent A Car, he rostered himself and all his executives to work on customer contact jobs one day per week.) Anyway I told Leanne the story of my missing wedding ring. And she promised me she’d make enquiries. I was hopeful it’d be found. But today being Friday 13th, I wasn’t optimistic.