My Two New Friends

You will find these items in practically any patient's room anywhere in the country. They are a patient's best friends.

Mr. Lung Thing & Ms. Bottomless Drink!

If you've never had an overnight stay in a Hospital, and I genuinely hope you haven't, at least one of these items might be unfamiliar to you. Mr. Lung Thing (Sorry, I have no idea what it's actually called) is a tool that helps keep your lungs strong since you typically aren't at your usual level of activity when in a hospital bed. They set a goal using the arrow slider and your job is, while slowly inhaling on the tube, is to get the plunger to that level. Now, I have perfectly healthy lungs, so my goal was set at the highest. Considering the amount I smoke, I was quite pleased that I was able to hit that mark. For people who have compromised lung function, each day or two they move the goal higher in order to slowly rehabilitate the person's lungs.

In the hospital, they are very concerned with how much you pee. I suppose it goes to show good bodily function. In order to achieve this, the cup by your bed is never empty. I drank enough Diet Ginger Ale over the course of 4 days to fill a 5 gallon bucket and peed every single drop of it back out. They gave me a handy little "urinal" to facilitate this. I had to ask for an extra cause I was filling them up so fast.

Aren't you glad I didn't provide a picture of that?