Rehab: Hospital, Jail, Insane Asylum 6

 

There was a dining room.  I saw it during my rehab walks around the halls and exert meal time first came an announcement that meals were being delivered to the dining room.  This was soon followed by the announcement that trays would be delivered to those eating in their room, which seemed to be most of the patients, including myself. Soon an aide would appear with a tray, set it on the little table the would cross our laps.

We always knew hen the meals were getting close because we would hear the rumble of the meal carts and see the little tray go by with the coffee earn and extra juice containers and  various condiments and salad dressings.

      This little cart was always looked for by my roommate. He would roll out on hid chair and raid it when no one was looking. He would grab a juice and several packets of Newman's Own Dressing. He was like a druggy getting his fix. He would show me his treasure when he was back in our room, especially his cache of salad dressing. He would tear open the packs and drink it down, each time announcing how many calories each packet contained.

      Breakfast was always a surprise since they didn't list it on the menu.  One time it made me very joyful, dry beef gravy over muffins. I have always loved dry beef gravy since a kid. My roommate had never had dry beef gravy and ended up not being able to eat it.  Oh, well, he was always asking for Cream O'Wheat or oatmeal, and I have never liked either.  We were served a lot of grips with breakfasts and I ate sometimes and other times not so much. I really never had grits before and didn't have a clue of how to make it palatable. Everyone to their own, I guess.

We got bacon often and it was always crispy Several times we got scrapple. A lot of folks don't like scrapple, but I have a fondness for when cooked right, meaning crispy and brown outside and soft inside. The cooks at Cadia knew how to do this. I like it with ketchup, which meant I was always begging for that sauce on scrapple days.

Ah, meals and rehab therapy, I looked forward to both. They broke up the days and gave us something to do.  Because of Covis, the activities had been suspended. One of the therapists said it used to be a fun place, lot going on. This was before the pandemic hit.