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A Galling Experience
The past few days I've been mostly offline, courtesy of an emergency visit to the local public hospital (St Vincents) to have a highly inflamed gall bladder removed, a relatively useless organ, at least in a modern context. OK, not entirely useless, but in my case more trouble than what it's worth, and despite my better diet in the past year, still had more than thirty years of neglect. Apparently, I had probably undergone the passing of many gallstones in recent months and noticed absolutely nothing. True, I had a few experiences the previous year which were extremely noticeable, the pain sufficiently intense that one could not even accurately determine the locus of the pain (Dr Jenne P's diagnosis at the time turned out to be quite correct). So after three days of increasing pain in the correct location, I checked myself into emergency and the following day, as the triage demands, I was operated on, and with just over a day in recovery, I've been released back into the wild.
I have a great deal of praise for our public health system, and the nursing staff who act as the front-line essential workers. Meandering around the ward (I had to get exercise in somehow), I was struck by (a) how furiously busy they are and (b) evidence of a commitment to integrated teamwork and improvement. It rather reminded me of how IT operations should run. It also had that feeling that I encounter so often in public institutions, even "big science" examples, such as the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), still looks underfunded with cheap office furniture and chipped paint; "private wealth and public poverty" as Galbraith quipped. I feel that it is often more the case that public institutions (at least in advanced democracies) spend their resources on doing what they are meant to, rather than superficially presenting corporate professionalism. CERN does nuclear research, stuff the suits, and the furnishings. Hospitals keep people alive, and if that means pokey desks, so be it. Comparative economic policy in healthcare suggests that "the Australian system" (public health, single-payer) does extremely well in terms of access, efficiency, and outcomes.
Hospitals are, by their nature, fairly boring places to be in. When in ill-health and both preparing and recovering from surgery one's sleeping patterns are a little all over the place. Nevertheless, I was gifted from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lei_loo's housemate "The Last Theorem", the last novel by Arthur C Clarke and co-authored by Frederik Pohl, which was a pretty good page-turner from two of the greats of science fiction. I powered my way through a multitude of French lessons on Duolingo and, for something completely different, revised some LSE studies in macroeconomics. In an hour after my discharge, I found myself at The Rose Hotel in Fitzroy downing a pint of cider and chairing the annual general meeting of the RPG Review Cooperative. As our report illustrates 2020 was not a great year for the association, but we got through it intact and with some small improvements in our member's capital. I think we are better prepared for the year that is to come.
I have a great deal of praise for our public health system, and the nursing staff who act as the front-line essential workers. Meandering around the ward (I had to get exercise in somehow), I was struck by (a) how furiously busy they are and (b) evidence of a commitment to integrated teamwork and improvement. It rather reminded me of how IT operations should run. It also had that feeling that I encounter so often in public institutions, even "big science" examples, such as the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), still looks underfunded with cheap office furniture and chipped paint; "private wealth and public poverty" as Galbraith quipped. I feel that it is often more the case that public institutions (at least in advanced democracies) spend their resources on doing what they are meant to, rather than superficially presenting corporate professionalism. CERN does nuclear research, stuff the suits, and the furnishings. Hospitals keep people alive, and if that means pokey desks, so be it. Comparative economic policy in healthcare suggests that "the Australian system" (public health, single-payer) does extremely well in terms of access, efficiency, and outcomes.
Hospitals are, by their nature, fairly boring places to be in. When in ill-health and both preparing and recovering from surgery one's sleeping patterns are a little all over the place. Nevertheless, I was gifted from
lei_loo's housemate "The Last Theorem", the last novel by Arthur C Clarke and co-authored by Frederik Pohl, which was a pretty good page-turner from two of the greats of science fiction. I powered my way through a multitude of French lessons on Duolingo and, for something completely different, revised some LSE studies in macroeconomics. In an hour after my discharge, I found myself at The Rose Hotel in Fitzroy downing a pint of cider and chairing the annual general meeting of the RPG Review Cooperative. As our report illustrates 2020 was not a great year for the association, but we got through it intact and with some small improvements in our member's capital. I think we are better prepared for the year that is to come.
no subject
I seem to recall you have to limit your fat intake after removal of the gall bladder. (But that information be past its sell-by date.) Hope you feel better soon.
(no subject)