MIDDLE-NIGHT . COL'S ROOM
2 AM. Nurse Liz just came in to start a one-hour magnesium IV drip for Col. Intravenous magnesium burns at the IV port site as well as the length of the arm, just like intravenous potassium which Colleen has gotten multiple times since being here. Her hands, wrists, and inner elbows are thoroughly black and blue from all the IVs and blood sticks. I hope she can fall back to sleep. It's been surprisingly quiet, only two intercom blasts so far.

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A word on Colleen's pulmonologist, Dr. Stephen Mathai, whose name you've encountered many times here. Months back I posted his official Hopkins photograph in which he looks like a 15-year-old boy, smallish, and wearing an outdated bulky tie and outdated hairstyle. Having met him on this trip, I can tell you that his old photograph hardly resembles the mature man he is now. I scoured the internet for a more recent photo and found only the one below, which is better but still fails to reflect the tall, vibrant, handsome, au courant man that he is.

 

    Old Photo                        Later  

I met his assistant Traci, an RN, today who told Colleen and I that he is the "fashion plate of the department," that no one other than Mathai could pull off wearing bright green or even bright orange pants. His socks, when he's wearing socks, are also far from ordinary, anything but dull brown or black. Traci confirmed that Mathai (pronounced Ma-tai') is an Indian surname. Dr. Mathai's father is Indian, his mother American. She told us, when I couldn't help asking, that his wife, who also works at Hopkins, is quite beautiful, "a catch" is how she put it. And his three sons are also gorgeous.

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And now to try to fall back to sleep. My bed is a very good reclining chair, yes, but a chair nonetheless. It doesn't allow sleeping comfortably on your side, and certainly no turning over onto your stomach.