Strike That

My dad's still in the hospital.

He was on the verge of being discharged when someone noticed that his white count was elevated. So close to a clean getaway. . . .

Other patients are routinely sent home with white counts at the same level, but the doctors are being extra-cautious with him. They don't want a reunion anytime soon, and they were afraid that if they let him go today, he might boomerang right back if his count continued to climb.

Now we're looking at Thursday.

On the positive side, he had graduated to slightly thinner thickened liquids by dinnertime. And his nurse today, the aptly named Jewel, used a combination of trickery, sweet-talking, and good old-fashioned saleswomanship to get him to eat a half-dozen bites of meat loaf and mashed potatoes. And I'm talking about hospital food, not stuff we brought in from a local restaurant.

If she ever gets tired of nursing, this woman has a real future in politics.