Skylight

The original entrance to the Mater Hospital was by way of a rather grand doubly-curving set of steps leading up off Eccles Street to an equally grand doorway which led onto an entrance hall with an imposing stone staircase.

For reasons best known to hospital administration and security peop.le, this entrance is more often closed than open -- indeed, a large sign on the door only lists closing times rather than opening times and directs visitors down the street to the dismal entrance to the 'main hospital'.

I've been anxious since I got here to find my way to the original entrance, and finally mad it there this afternoon while Carl was here visiting, despite the best efforts of the signage system. In the process we accidentally came across the corridor where I spent so much time two years ago while visiting the Fracture Clinic with my broken wrist.

The old entrance hall still maintains some of its old grandeur, a highlight of which is this skylight in the ceiling above the stairway.

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Back in the ward later on I suffered a jealousy attack. The guy in the bed across from me was allowed home today, and his place was taken by a gentleman from somewhere down the country who's here to have stents put in. I'd been told that the usual procedure is to bring people in the day before for pre-op prep which includes shaving, antiseptic shower and body scrub. All that was done with rapid-fire speed, and he was whisked off out of the ward decked out in blue-paper gown and very fetching matching blue shower cap. The jealousy comes from the fact that he was apparently no sooner in than he was operated on. I know stents aren't as serious as a bypass, but being done immediately is still a lot different from having to wait a week after transfer.