I don’t mind chatting with my sister Stacey, but sometimes it’s hard to keep up with the conversation. It’s not that it’s especially complex content-wise; it’s more to do with how rapidly she initiates changes in the topic of discussion. We’ll be talking about one thing, and then all of a sudden she’ll be going on about something completely unrelated she overheard on the bus, all without missing a beat.
This time, for example, the jarring conversational switch was from joking about our cousin’s new haircut to medical equipment for home use. It took me a while to figure out that Francesca’s unfortunate bob has nothing to do with where to buy portable hyperbaric chambers – the two are entirely unrelated, aside from the fact that Stacey heard about them from her neighbour, who sports a hairstyle similar to Francesca’s (it took me quite a while to realise that connection).
I’m always mildly amazed by the length at which Stacey can expound on topics she knows very little about. I mean, it quickly became clear that everything she knows about hyperbaric medicine is what she picked up in a one-minute over-the-fence natter with her neighbour – although, I do have to admit that it’s more than I knew previously. Basically, if you’re interested, it seems to be a way of treating certain medical conditions of reduced oxygen flow in the body. This could be anything from diabetic foot ulcers to decompression sickness. It involves going into a pod-like chamber where the air has a higher concentration of oxygen than usual.
More to the point, there are more portable versions of these chambers now on the market as an alternative to the essentially fixed ones provided in some hospital clinics. These are able to be set up in people’s homes, so they can receive ongoing oxygen treatment there. I’m not sure if Stacey’s neighbour is looking into getting one or what – I didn’t have a chance to ask before Stacey, quick as a flash, moved the conversation to mum’s new gardener.