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Oahu, Day Three: From Queens to Waikiki
Jun. 17th, 2020 09:35 pmSo the pandemic almost cost me my chance to talk to Kimberly's doctor before her discharge.
The hospital only recently started allowing visitors. (How many people have ever been hospitalized for COVID in Hawaii? It's less than 100.) And they have absurd policies. I guess I can understand how having just one visitor per patient per day can cut down on the number of randos wandering the halls — not that I saw many visitors at all last time Kimberly was hospitalized, in December, so unless Hawaii is very different, that's a solution in search of a problem.
But the 10am start time just feels retaliatory.
And my concern was that Kimberly's doctor makes his rounds between 10 and 12, so it was possible I wouldn't get to the hospital before he showed up, and I definitely wanted to hear what he had to say and question him, especially if Kimberly was impaired.
And Kimberly called me at about 9.30, while I was walking to the hospital, to say he'd showed up early.
Oh, hey, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is also in Honolulu today. The difference is that he's trying to sell out democracy and I'm not.
Fortunately, Kimberly and I had already talked about this eventuality, and she asked if he could return after I got there, and he agreed.
So I redoubled my pace, got to the hospital 10 minutes before visiting hours started, and found myself about 25 people deep in the line to get in. Sigh. (And as I've said before, boy these long queues were you stand next to the same people for extended periods of time, even if socially distanced, are great breeding grounds for COVID.)
The previous day, Queen's staff at the visitors desk was pretty incompetent, taking about a minute to clear each person, but this time they managed more like 20 seconds, so I made it up to Kimberly's room abut 10.10, and the doctor came in just a minute or two later.
And we got much more info on what he'd been seeing and what it meant, and I'll leave that all for Kimberly to tell, if she so chooses.
It took us a couple more hours to get out of there, between Kimberly getting as much glue as she could out of her hair, them staff finishing up the discharge paperwork, and us having to wait for a wheelchair (because amidst all of this, Kimberly still has a bad foot.)
And that was the end of the medical portion of our visit to Oahu.
After we got back to the hotel, I picked us up some Thai food from a nearby restaurant for lunch.
At dinner we were less hungry, and so I just got us some summer rolls from a nearby Vietnamese restaurant, and supplemented that with some McDonalds. (Yeah, that's clasé, but we were both still pretty full, and I didn't want something as rich as that lunch.)
In between, I took the walk I'd been wanting to out to Waikiki, but hadn't had time for before.
Our hotel is just inland from Ala Moana, which is just over a bridge from Waikiki. It's about 15 minutes to get down to the shoreline. So I walked there, and then I walked the entire length of Waikiki, turned at the zoo, and then walked back on the other side of the channels that separate Waikiki from the rest of Honolulu.
First up, Waikiki is so much more attractive than the rest of Honolulu: this is what I remember from when we were here before.
And the beaches and shorelines were all gorgeous to see.
I also enjoying tracing back through some of the places we'd visited on our previous trip to Waikiki. The lagoon and mosaic-highrise which had been right next to our condo. A food court that we ate at or met someone at or something. The surfing dude statue. The pathway of imprisoned surfboards. I wasn't really actively looking for any of this, but Waikiki isn't huge, so it was easy to walk in our own footsteps.
And, yes, the area was pleasantly empty. I'll never see it like that again, so I'm glad I was able too. Most of the beaches were very scantly peopled. The sidewalks too. Oh, I certainly saw people, constantly, but it was actually possible to maintain my 6 foot distance almost all the day. Waikiki Beach itself was the only place that was at all crowded, and I think that the groups of people were still maintaining their six feet distance. (But I opted not to walk it because of all the people.)
Whereas I'd seen that all before, the walk back along the Lei of Parks trail was new. In fact, the trail is relatively new, dating back several years. It starts at the Honolulu Zoo, then circles around Ala Wai golf course before running down to the Ala Wai Canal. Very pleasant, especially once you're past the golf course. Would walk again.
About six miles walk. And that was pretty much my free time on this trip to Oahu.
The hospital only recently started allowing visitors. (How many people have ever been hospitalized for COVID in Hawaii? It's less than 100.) And they have absurd policies. I guess I can understand how having just one visitor per patient per day can cut down on the number of randos wandering the halls — not that I saw many visitors at all last time Kimberly was hospitalized, in December, so unless Hawaii is very different, that's a solution in search of a problem.
But the 10am start time just feels retaliatory.
And my concern was that Kimberly's doctor makes his rounds between 10 and 12, so it was possible I wouldn't get to the hospital before he showed up, and I definitely wanted to hear what he had to say and question him, especially if Kimberly was impaired.
And Kimberly called me at about 9.30, while I was walking to the hospital, to say he'd showed up early.
Oh, hey, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is also in Honolulu today. The difference is that he's trying to sell out democracy and I'm not.
Fortunately, Kimberly and I had already talked about this eventuality, and she asked if he could return after I got there, and he agreed.
So I redoubled my pace, got to the hospital 10 minutes before visiting hours started, and found myself about 25 people deep in the line to get in. Sigh. (And as I've said before, boy these long queues were you stand next to the same people for extended periods of time, even if socially distanced, are great breeding grounds for COVID.)
The previous day, Queen's staff at the visitors desk was pretty incompetent, taking about a minute to clear each person, but this time they managed more like 20 seconds, so I made it up to Kimberly's room abut 10.10, and the doctor came in just a minute or two later.
And we got much more info on what he'd been seeing and what it meant, and I'll leave that all for Kimberly to tell, if she so chooses.
It took us a couple more hours to get out of there, between Kimberly getting as much glue as she could out of her hair, them staff finishing up the discharge paperwork, and us having to wait for a wheelchair (because amidst all of this, Kimberly still has a bad foot.)
And that was the end of the medical portion of our visit to Oahu.
After we got back to the hotel, I picked us up some Thai food from a nearby restaurant for lunch.
At dinner we were less hungry, and so I just got us some summer rolls from a nearby Vietnamese restaurant, and supplemented that with some McDonalds. (Yeah, that's clasé, but we were both still pretty full, and I didn't want something as rich as that lunch.)
In between, I took the walk I'd been wanting to out to Waikiki, but hadn't had time for before.
Our hotel is just inland from Ala Moana, which is just over a bridge from Waikiki. It's about 15 minutes to get down to the shoreline. So I walked there, and then I walked the entire length of Waikiki, turned at the zoo, and then walked back on the other side of the channels that separate Waikiki from the rest of Honolulu.
First up, Waikiki is so much more attractive than the rest of Honolulu: this is what I remember from when we were here before.
And the beaches and shorelines were all gorgeous to see.
I also enjoying tracing back through some of the places we'd visited on our previous trip to Waikiki. The lagoon and mosaic-highrise which had been right next to our condo. A food court that we ate at or met someone at or something. The surfing dude statue. The pathway of imprisoned surfboards. I wasn't really actively looking for any of this, but Waikiki isn't huge, so it was easy to walk in our own footsteps.
And, yes, the area was pleasantly empty. I'll never see it like that again, so I'm glad I was able too. Most of the beaches were very scantly peopled. The sidewalks too. Oh, I certainly saw people, constantly, but it was actually possible to maintain my 6 foot distance almost all the day. Waikiki Beach itself was the only place that was at all crowded, and I think that the groups of people were still maintaining their six feet distance. (But I opted not to walk it because of all the people.)
Whereas I'd seen that all before, the walk back along the Lei of Parks trail was new. In fact, the trail is relatively new, dating back several years. It starts at the Honolulu Zoo, then circles around Ala Wai golf course before running down to the Ala Wai Canal. Very pleasant, especially once you're past the golf course. Would walk again.
About six miles walk. And that was pretty much my free time on this trip to Oahu.