Crazy

So Mr. Brook, who didn't need to be admitted, is gone, but not before bringing some much needed hilarity to the ward. In the first place, he is a raging alcoholic, telling me he has cut down to a six pack of beer a night. Pretty impressive, so we were watching closely to ensure he didn't enter withdrawal while under our care. Amazingly, he didn't. In fact, we didn't notice any signs of withdrawal at all, which had us wondering.

Until one of the nurses surprised him by walking in unannounced and discovering he had actually smuggled alcohol up to the floor. How he managed to hide this for four days straight is beyond me. I never even saw his door closed, and I was on call for 36 hours of that time.

Overall, a wonderful patient, funny and charming despite his intractable health issues. He had a snappy answer to every question. "Do you snore?" met with "none of the ladies complain." "How are you doing?" met with "I want to get out. I bet the ladies at the senior center already miss me."

Maybe oddly lecherous old men are just amusing. I'd be tempted to say it's only because I'm a guy that I found him so, but my resident, a woman, was cracking up at him too.