Update 45 [I see you, ICU]

They have moved him back out of the private ICU room to the main ICU area as it is now not as crowded and is overall easier for the nursing staff to monitor him there. The cost is not as prohibitive but visiting will be again more limited and mum will not be allowed to stay with him overnight. Trudy said the doctors decision was based on nursing and care efficiency recommendations, not cost. So he is obviously not quite as happy right now but we will continue to review day by day and collectively as a family when we are all there on Tuesday. Come on, bigger, better, faster, more. Let’s get you out of there altogether.

I am not sure where my sister finds the strength to deal with all the monetary logistics of papers to sign and insurance circus acts and payments and hospital processing and, and…
(Anthony you have been a constant lighthouse in this hurricane and your help has saved much sanity, there are and will never be enough ways to say thank you)

It slices me with guilt at times when I think about the fact that I live somewhere with such efficient and thorough health care coverage. When I go to my cardiologist annually and have a bi annual MRI, to monitor my baboon heart, I simply hand in my little green OHIP card and I am processed. Done.

Health care in Trinidad is for the most part functionally privatised, in that there are state funded options; that while being very good at many things, unfortunately often leave a lot to be desired. The likelihood of going into the POS General Hospital to remove a splinter from your finger and you end up coming out with a lobotomy and gender reassignment surgery or not leaving at all, are quite high.

According to dads current ID band he is male, we best keep it so.

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