is there any country that has good hospital food? Apart from rich folk's food, I hasten to add.

About all I remember from my first hospital trip when I was 12 years old, was getting the wrong food - if I ordered cornflakes & a boiled egg I got rice bubbles & scrambled egg!

Preparations for my second trip way back in January (it seems a lifetime away!)included taking food with me.

I was just looking at one of my menu sheets (I took a few home as souvenirs) & wrote on one yesterday.

Spinach quiche, peas & carrots, fresh fruit, apple juice - looks ok, but reality was 2" square of quiche, soup spoon full of each vegetable, served on normal dinner plate! No wonder the whole ward senna pods, they were trying to starve us! Well, the bean counters were, the kitchen & medical staff were wonderful.

Make sure the patient is fed lots of real food, including lotsa' veggies, when she gets home so she can Get Well Soon. And gets lotsa' pampering & rest.

When I woke in hospital my ginormous scar (about 12" across the right side of my groin) was padded with what looked like 2 disposable babies nappies (diapers for those on the other side of the big pond) & I was more comfortable when the scar was dressed with a smaller dressing. I didn't have any problem with stitches until weeks later when my surgeon put in a drain (roll of plastic stuff poked into a new little hole in the scar & fastened with a nasty big bit of black thread) which stayed there, both getting in the way & annoying me for a week.

sandra (totally healthy!)