Notes from the Hotel Metropole

For those who have not yet had the fun of reading A Gentleman in Moscow, this is your reminder that you should go and do that. His imprisonment lasted decades, and we are only finishing our 23rd day in captivity. 

When I called to ask for seats on the shuttle, the nice lady said there was no on-call shuttle running today. Not so surprising, since the streets had only been rudimentarily cleared and it was still snowing. There were plows on pickup trucks, randomly passing by, but it seemed that many of them did not have 4WD, and that meant they couldn't really put their plows down all the way. It was a mess.

Jon sent this text to our kids:

The previous two days, on the rides back to the hotel, Lyft was $9 and Uber was $10 so we took Lyft. I did give $3 tip each ride cause it is so short. Today, coming to the hospital, because the shuttle wasn't running because of the snow, Lyft was now $14 but Uber was $37! And I gave a $5 tip because it was not obvious we were going to make it. He couldn't get into the turnaround in front of the hotel because of the plow pile and then he decided there was too much snow in front of the Weinberg building so we went to the main entrance. Baltimore and/or JHH isn't doing a very good job of plowing.

So we got to the hospital eventually and Jon was cleared to go back home after they looked at him for a second and checked his labs. His numbers are down a little bit, no one is expressing any concern. Alissa says she saw somewhere in the notes that his lungs have taken a beating, or maybe that they are beaten up.  In any case, he still needs the oxygen. It was so hot in that exam room, with his little oxygen concentrator warming up the space. I was wearing long underwear and absolutely roasting while we waited an hour for the doctor to get there.

Jon finished his report:

Then, just now coming back from the hospital, first we walked through the hospital to the closest door to the hotel to test my stamina. That went fine, of course it was flat and inside. Then Hana went outside to see how deep the snow was and how good the sidewalk plowing. She reported back it was too deep and not plowed. But the distance was .2 of a mile, more or less downhill, and we decided we could make it. Better than the slip-and-slide Lyft cars anyway. So we got back to the hotel easy peasy. The only casualty was Hana's toes. Who told her to wear Crocs though?

When he says "we decided" he means HE decided. I had already voted against walking in the snow (it was also sleeting) but it just went against his grain to pay $18 to go 0.2 miles downhill.   Alissa laughed out loud when we told her -- frugality as a means to physical therapy, she said. I pulled his little oxygen machine and he had to stay right close because his tube is pretty short on that thing. We trudged downhill and it actually felt really good to be outside in the 17 degree sleet after getting baked inside for two hours.

And then I literally spent hours watching the vehicles going past our windows (we can see to the north and the east, so I can follow the progress a long way). Many of them should not have been driving in those conditions. Over and over cars got stuck, others slid around, people pushed, ambulances drove steadily past the chaos, buses lumbered through (as we speak, there is a bus stuck at the top of the hill where it had to stop for a red light and things are not going well). It was like a disaster movie mixed with a Richard Scarry book. It is still happening. I have seen exactly one municipal plow go through, hours ago, but endless pickup trucks doing nominally useful plowing. By tomorrow things should be much better.

But how is Jon, you wonder. He seems to be about the same, maybe a tiny bit better. His cough is still painful and distressing, but he is coughing less often. And he did walk a full half mile today, counting the part inside the hospital. Football is keeping him entertained this evening.

I started to think today that this is a test of a marriage. We have been tested for years and we have passed the test over and over. This is a new one though because it is going longer than our previous Hopkins adventures -- we are now six days past our record. In the past, I have had more breaks to escape back to the farm. This is a crazy amount of togetherness.  And I think he has been sicker  this time than he has been since 2010, the first bone marrow transplant. His body is much more worn down after all these years. But in terms of the two of us, I can honestly say that we have not lost patience with each other once...even when he hates to be nudged about eating and I keep doing it anyway. We have had a lot of practice. I know how to be with my curmudgeonly  husband and he knows how to be with his bossy wife.

When we get out of here, I just want to go outside for a whole day. I feel like an outdoor plant, sitting on the windowsill. The only thing Jon wants is to stop coughing. Poor guy.