So now I sit here with various parts of hardware in my leg. I have to say that the hospital stay was quite mixed. I only had one nurse that was a bit of a mean one. My neighbor, however, had a couple right nasty pieces of work. It really is a shame, as 99% of the nurses were very nice and helpful. The odd bad one should not give a black mark against the whole crew, but they often can. I had great help and kind words from the many nurses working on me, and they should be proud of doing such great jobs under severe, long-standing staff shortages. There are two things, however, I'd like to comment on. First is the "food." Just because someone puts some bio-matter on a plate, it does not mean they have a right to call it a "meal" or "food." These companies got the food contract because they were the lowest bidder. They serve the bare minimum of the Canada Food Guide each day. Nothing more. And usually, in the worst way. Coffee is not on the guide. Don't give it to me! Can I tell them that? No. From the hard crust, it was obvious that my scrambled eggs had been kept warm on the plate for two to three hours. At least. One server was obviously aware of the fact he was being made to serve filtered bilge each day. I feel sorry for him. Second is the beds. They are designed to let you know you're better. The less hopped up on drugs you are, the less sleep you can get. The beds are uncomfortable in the extreme. This realization began my "Times Square" understanding of sleeping in hospitals. The only way you can sleep in a door stoop is if you're doped up or so exhausted that you could sleep during a major traffic snarl. There are people walking or driving by all the time, regular talking punctuated by the odd drunken shout or attempt at some 90dB song. Every so often, a beat cop walks by and shines his light in your face to see if you're still alive. Maybe a prod or shake for good measure. And after all that, the noise and bustle of everyone heading to work at 8:00 AM every day. "Hey! What's wrong with you? I've been up for two hours already!" "Yeah, but before that, you had a good night's sleep. Prick." That's the typical night in a hospital. You can get earplugs from the nurses. Do so, for sanity's sake, man! I'd like to mention my surgeon. Dr. Stone was great! He did the work with a minimal amount of cutting ("minimally invasive"). Both from his attitude and talk, and from the deference he got from the ER doctor, he seems to really know his stuff. Yet, he also had good bed-side manner. I'll be seeing him for my first follow-up next Friday, I think. And, I'm sure that if my leg muscles hadn't been pounded by my bike, I'd be feeling a lot better already. Rainer