My son Nigel has been in the hospital for the past week. He should be out in a couple of days, but he came in very sick. He has diabetes. We don't know which type yet, but the symptoms he had and all of the tests point to this diagnosis.
Despite his diagnosis Nigel is happy in the hospital. He likes structure and he likes to be around people, even the people who woke him every hour for four days in the Intensive Care Unit.
In the world COVID has made, Nigel can have only one visitor for his entire hospital stay. That's me. Now that he is mostly free of IVs, we can walk together. Tomorrow we will watch the Grand Prix of Bahrain. We both cheer for Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton and he is on pole.
Like Nigel, I never minded being in the hospital. The several times I have stayed in the hospital for two days to two weeks, I needed to be there. Every time I have been in the hospital, I have had something (or many things) wrong that would most likely get better. And I very much wanted to get better.
Most people who get into medicine want to get people well. I am a a good patient in that way. I come in really messed up and I leave happy and on the way to healing.
Many well wishers hoped Nigel could get out of the hospital as soon as possible. They were, of course, projecting. Nigel, like his Dad, is okay with being in the hospital if he needs to be.
While Nigel's diagnosis is not clear, he came to the hospital through the emergency room, was very sick and is now very much better.
