Update on Ian: out of the emergency room, into the hospital, and free food from the hospital cafeteria

Update on Ian: Ian ended up spending 1 1/2 days in the emergency room with forty other people waiting for beds in our world-famous hospital. By late Thursday afternoon, the word came down that a room was available and Ian was there by 8 p.m. He is recovering from his bladder infection and was fever free today. He is starting to smirk again at the nurses, so I have hopes that he will be able to go home tomorrow.

When we visited Ian this evening there was a letter on his bedside tray from the chief operating officer of the health system apologizing for the long wait for admission to the hospital. With it were four $5 coupons to pay for meals at the hospital. I'm sure this is part of the "It's OK to say you're sorry" policy that I have written about before. It does take the sting out of the long wait and frustration of dealing with a large health system. $20 worth of food from the hospital cafeteria is not exactly a dining adventure, but I intend to spend every penny of it, no matter what. 

And yet I still have lingering questions about a health system that is so flush with money that it can build new hospitals with beautiful art work and spacious interiors year after year but can't get people from the emergency room to a hospital bed in less than a day and a half.