BACK FROM THE HOSPITAL

I regret to report that I had the heart procedure done and it turned out that I didn't need a stent, just a funny-sounding drug. I should be happy about that but before I went under the knife I described the problem to friends in such gruesome detail that they were half convinced I'd never survive, and that had consequences.

They treated me to lunches, laughed at my bad jokes, gave me caricatures (above, from John)...everything to ease my transition into the next world. Gee, under the circumstances my survival seems somehow...ungrateful.

Here I am (above) flat on my back in the hospital, checking out the colorful plastic on the wall. Geez, you'd think Lego had designed the room. Immediately after I was wheeled into the operating room.

It was incredibly futuristic; something like the one above, but even better. I got this picture from the net.

It was something like this room, too.  Absolutely gorgeous!

For comparison here's (above) the kind of bare bones room I had my last operation in. Boy, what a difference!

In general the cardiac ward looked like a futuristic synthesis of three styles. One of the styles was an updating of the cool headquarters that SPECTRE always has in the James Bond films.

Then there was the Frank Lloyd Wright influence, especially in the nurses stations. I couldn't find any adequate pictures of those stations on the net so here's (above) a detail of a living room designed by Wright, which some of the stations resembled. The stations communicated dynamism, intellect, efficiency and fun.

The last influence was Lego. Lego should seriously consider branching out into real world architectural design. The Lego people somehow manage to make plastic glorious and fun, and hospitals are full of plastic. Wright's influence perfectly fits the Lego world and the best synthesis I've seen so far was my cardio ward. 

Well, that's it for now! Many, many thanks for the kind comments from readers!

BTW: John put up a blog post about my surgical woes: http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/