This is the hospital where my dad is. Too soon to tell really how he is
doing but he seems not to know a lot of things and forgetful of others.
Foods for instance. He seems to think he hates everything, until he gets it
and eats it. He was eating raw veggies with a fork, dipping them into Ranch
dressing. He did hand my mom his cucumbers which he has always done. He
does hate those and she likes them. But then he dipped his roll in the
dressing. And then he debated whether or not to dip his cookie in it!
Thankfully he decided against that.

He is on the diabetic diet. It was somewhat limited. I didn't look at the
breakfast options. Just the lunch/dinner which is what we ordered for him
tonight. Everything had the carb count listed. It was either 0, 15 or 30
grams of carb. Sandwiches could be ordered in half or whole. There were
several salads and quite a large choice of low carb veg. Those were listed
as 0 carbs. For the 15 count veg there were peas and something else. I
can't remember what the other thing was. I don't recall seeing any potatoes
listed. But white rice was. The meats were rather limited. Turkey breast,
salmon, braised beef and maybe one other thing. He had the braised beef
tonight and I was quite annoyed that it came with peas and carrots. It was
more like a stew. Not enough to count much in terms of carbs but given that
Angela does have that pea allergy I felt they should be listed.

He also had mac and cheese. This looked like the real thing but the sauce
was a bit runny. The portion was very small. There was a choice of white
or wheat roll. There were some dessert choices listed. Some had no carbs
such as the lemon lime sugar free Jell-O. I think there were a couple of
other things in that category but I can't remember what they were. There
was sugar free pudding, regular pudding, ice cream, sherbet, angel food cake
and cookies. Tonight my mom chose a sugar cookie. It was huge and not a
sugar cookie but a Snickerdoodle. I have to wonder if that was really the
right thing they gave him. She said last night he had a peanut butter
cookie which was tiny and tasted terrible.

There were quite a few beverages listed. Coffee, tea, and the decaf.
versions of both. Several different bottled waters, diet sodas, milk, and
some sort of diabetic meal replacement shake. I don't think any juices were
listed at all.

My mom said he was told at the hospital that he could have up to 85 grams of
carb per meal but his Dr. has him on 45 grams which is more like what he
ate. She did order more than that but he only ate one bite of the roll and
a few bites of the cookie.

It is up to the patient to order their own meals. They could, if they
wanted, order one of each meat and one of each low carb veg.

But the problem? My dad is at the point where he really isn't capable of
doing anything for himself. He just isn't thinking to do it. So somebody
has to be there to order the meals for him. Which my mom has been doing.

They do have a hotel attached to the hospital. She may wind up having to
stay there. She has been taking a cab and my brother or SIL have been
driving her home. My husband is going to take her there in the morning.

At this point we do not know how long he will be in there. He has started
some physical therapy but needs a lot more. If he qualifies, he can do it
there for two weeks. If he doesn't, he will have to go elsewhere for four
weeks. I think we are all hoping he will be moved somewhere closer to home,
even though we don't necessarily want him to be stuck in some place for
longer. Unless of course it is what he needs.

They had what appeared to be a really good cafeteria although some of it was
closed today. During the week there is a taco bar and also a deli. Those
were closed. The salad station was also closed but wasn't supposed to be.
There was a steam table with very limited choices. And the burger place was
open. Very limited menu of beef burger, turkey burger, salmon burger, all
with a variety of options, including no bun. French fries and onion rings.
I made the mistake of ordering the "big" order of fries and assumed I
wouldn't get too many based on the $2.00 price. OMG! They could have fed
all 6 of us plus the next table! I won't be doing that again!

They also had some self serve things including pizza, salads, sandwiches,
hard boiled eggs, cheeses and sushi.