Atlanta Skyline from Brenda's Hospital Room

June 15-16, 2010

After long deliberation, the decision was made for Brenda to have a surgical procedure on her back by Dr. Erwood to try to relieve the pressure on the nerve that was giving severe leg symptoms. It involved an overnight stay at Atlanta Medical Center. Brenda tolerated the procedure well. We at least determined to enjoy the view of Atlanta from her fifth floor tower room.

The above photo is a blue-sky view of Atlanta on Wednesday the 16th when we were about to go home.

The series of four photos below show the range of view from our hospital room on the fifth floor of the Tower of Atlanta Medical Center. It was a floor that Brenda had worked on as a nurse briefly, many years ago. She had had associations with this orthopedic floor over many years as she worked at the hospital. The series of views, shot at about 1:30 pm on Tuesday, June 15 swing from the south to Grady Hospital and the Georgia Capitol up to the buildings on 14th Street.

To the southwest with Grady Hospital left, the State of Georgia Capitol with its gold dome, the twin state office buildings, Georgia State University.

This view slightly south of west is centered on the brown stair-stepped Georgia Pacific tower. To the right of it is the 191 Peachree Tower, the fourth-tallest skyscraper in Atlanta at 770ft and 50 stories. The round tower at right is the Westin Peachtree Plaza.

Looking northwest, this view is centered on the Bank of America Building located at 600 Peachtree Street. Standing 1,023 ft (311.8 m), it ranks as the 36th tallest building in the world. It is also the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere outside of Chicago and New York City, Georgia's tallest building, and the tallest building in any U.S. state capital. It has 55 stories of office space and was completed in 1992. To the right of it is the AT&T Building.

Looking NNW, this view starts with the AT&T building and swings around to the midtown complex of buildings along 14th Street.

At about 6:30 pm heavy thunderclouds moved over downtown, with lightning and a brief shower. We could see lightning all around.

At 8:50 the lights are on at the Bank of America Tower, and this is about all the sunset we got, the remainder having been blocked by the big thunderstorm that blew over with thunder and lightning all around.

From the Bank of America Tower around to midtown to the north.

About 9pm on Tuesday the 15th the lights were on in Atlanta, but there was still lingering daylight behind after the earlier thunderclouds had blown through.

About 9:20 things were beginning to calm down enough for Brenda to get some rest and I had made a bed from the chair in the room. The room light reflection shows the room setup superimposed on the lights of Atlanta.

By 9:30 the skylight had faded and you just had the display of the lights of the city. What looks like a projected green image on the second tall building from the left is actually the light from one of Brenda's monitors showing up in the picture.

This view is around to the north from the one above it, reaching to the complex of buildings on 14th street in the right of the photo. At the left of the photo is the Bank of America Building with its distinctive lighting on top and the ATT Building to the right of it. The time is about 9:30.

Ten minutes before midnight this helicopter dropped in on the pad just below our window with a trauma. In less than ten minutes they had the patient into the hospital, but it took me a good bit longer to get back to sleep.

At 5:10 am I awoke to see this dramatic cloud collection over the skyline of Atlanta, so I crawled out to snap some pictures.

Two hours later at 7:15 the sun was on the city and the clouds had grown to white pillow-like collections.

I know I probably shouldn't take pictures of Brenda in the hospital, but I cherish that smile and we were relieved and grateful to be through the procedure. We had had our visit and may-go from Dr. Erwood and were ready to head for home. We were praising the Lord for the smoothness of the process so far, and for the competence and caring of the nursing staff. That staff included Brenda's long-time friend and nursing colleague, Peggy Cooper, who kept checking on her. We left the hospital shortly before noon and settled in at home.