So that explains it!

    I think I mentioned it already. Dad has a pacemaker. The pacemaker has a monitor. The monitor is usually hooked up to a phone line to phone home and tell the heart clinic that Dad's heart is still a-going and not a-flutter. His room at the nursing home doesn't have a phone line. So for a week now, we've been trying to suss it out. This is where English communication skills are or would be useful.
    The nurse said that the heart clinic said that if the monitor had a USB drive, they would be able to monitor Dad without a phone line. It does have a USB drive. Unfortunately, what she meant to say was that if it had a specific device plugged into the USB drive, they would be able to do it. That's different. I'm the last to criticize anyone for their technical knowledge or lack thereof, being a confirmed technopeasant, but the difference is an important one.
    I checked at Margaret's but there was no item that could be plugged into the USB drive. There was, however, a phone number for the rep at St. Jude's who installed it, so I called him. When he called back, he explained that since there had been a phone line, they hadn't provided the USB doohickey, but that he would send me one at no charge. So that explains it; we couldn't find it because it wasn't there. I wasn't looking for it because somebody couldn't convey what was needed. But all's well that ends well and we notice that after 3 weeks, the heart clinic isn't exactly all up in arms about the need to monitor him. So week it'll take for the doohickey to get here probably won't worry anybody further.
    Dad was mainly concerned that he didn't have TV at this dialysis, so I called. The secretary there said they would make sure he did. Hopefully that turns out to be the case.