I celebrated my birthday yesterday evening at the hospital.

There was an emergency with a visiting friend, who was suddenly in great pain. Since he was home alone at the time I was asked to go over to help which of course I did. I am not much into birthday celebrations anyway. The house is located just outside of Felanitx. When I got there, we had to call an ambulance. Since they could not understand the rural address, we arranged to meet at the nearby cemetery – perhaps not such a good omen I thought. The ambulance arrived there with the usual delay of 20 minutes and took the friend to the hospital in Manacor. I went along to help with translations. Never mind the birthday and my family. I spent an hour and a half at the hospital without being called in. I finally went home, leaving my friend behind being dealt with in Emergencies.

I have since heard that he was suffering from kidney stones. He was X-rayed at the hospital, given a proper diagnosis, pain killers and infusions. He feels better now but will have to go back to the hospital once back in Germany. He thinks that he was well treated by the doctors in Manacor and the hospital employees; he appreciates the care he received. All was well in the end.

The photos were taken in Manacor, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: March 16th, 2012. The time was 20:00:42, 20:15:08 and 20:34:16, respectively.