HELEN, WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DISCHARGED ABOUT 2, is now home, having been discharged a bit after 8. This was a paperwork issue — as some people have observed: “So, paperwork takes time to fill out and you enter the world where everything seems to move like molasses (what happened to all that fast action you always see on ER? … sue Hollywood).”

I went over there after my class, waited until I had to go pick up my daughter, then went back after dinner. More waiting.

But she’s home now, propped up in bed checking her email on a laptop. She’ll have 4-6 weeks to fully recover, but she’s glad to be out of the hospital. So am I.

UPDATE: Docs hate the paperwork, too. The InstaWife, herself a health-care provider, of course, despises HIPAA.