ohhh MANOMANOMAN!

After I got a 'grip' on myself... sort of. I called the horsepital in Wagna.

And I was wicious, as Dickens would have said.

And angry. It began politely... 'you have a new patient, Peter P?' 'We don't give out that sort of information.' 'I understand that... but I am his Lebensgefährte. What the hell is going ON?' 'Lebensgefährte' means 'life partner'. She said, 'Excuse me?'

And I said, 'Shall I spell it OUT for you? I am his Lebensgefährte, and I want to know what is going on RIGHT NOW. Gamlitz called and told me he was there, so WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?'

That must have put a shocking crimp in HER evening.... she said, shocked, 'Oh....' and handed it over to the doctor on duty, 'It's his Lebensgefährte'.

And I got the doctor on the horn, who didn't seem shocked. And I explained that the past weeks, he hadn't been able to breathe well at all, had had weak lungs since his childhood, was on oxygen at the home, which fact interested the doctor, and he said, 'What?' And I said, 'I can't visit regularly, but he was on a machine the last two times I was there.'

'So spill, what the hell is wrong with him?'

'Well, we 'think' it is a lung infection and are waiting for blood test results, so I do not know yet, and cannot tell you.'

OH DUH....

Anyone with two eyes and ears in their head would have seen and heard THAT...

But he was polite. And I was as well. He said it will take most of the night to discern whether he needs stationary treatment (YES!) or get some therapeutic thing and go back to the nursing home. (Not so crazy about that... for the time being...)

Y'know... that is the very first time I went assertive about the Lebensgefährte thing. Oh, I've gotten it before, 'charming' 'What IS he, your Lo... cough... your BROTHER?' Or people who have asked me in hospitals, and it was always somehow embarrassing to me. The quote above was from a lovely Italian lady in the infirmary on a cruise ship. Nurse Simona. I could have fallen in love right there.

But tonight, it was the first time, I just went out and said the L word and didn't give a fuck. I wanted answers, and I was going to get them. Damn the politeness, and damn the sham, and damn whoever stands in the way....

They didn't care... it gave me access.

And you know what? It sort of feels good at the moment.