Last November DH was hospitalized and had a long stay,snail pacing towards recovery. I was the faithful attendant (no choice) but this gave me such a beautiful opportunity to closely look at little snippets, almost like short films showcasing the myriad human emotions inside a hospital. To tell the truth, it was more like my way to cope with the stress and seeing these little movies of life made it easier for me to survive the long hospitalization.
We were on the infamous 13th floor.Lifts were a place for trivial exchanges with other relatives, my most vivid memories were of a lady whom I would meet every time in the evening while going for my evening tea...... She would wait for the lift outside the pediatric floor and a little devil would fight and shout n scream till the time the lift door closed. It was a wonderful much-awaited pleasure everyday till one day when after the lift door closed and she could not contain her tears, just casually informed that the doctors had asked them to take the little devil home, he had only one month left,they were advised to do the best for him during this time,if he gained little strength they would take him to Disneyland, finally she said if he would gain some strength, give them some more time, his face flashed in front of me, in all his rigorous naughtiness I perhaps didn't closely see his hairless head or weak body. That whole day my mind was affixed at the upcoming tragedy, I was perhaps feeling how bad it felt when you had all in the world and nothing could help the one whom you really wanted to help.. For the next couple of days I waited for the pair to reappear but I realized that they had perhaps heard their doctors' advise.............still whenever the lift door opened at the pediatric ward I really wished I could know that the little devil had survived the month and went to Disneyland.. I just pray he did....
Food is my passion and the hospital had a descent cafeteria..... So I spent some "quality" time there......more often than not I witnessed a round table conference among family members over tea and snacks deciding the share to pay. In fact the hospital,seemed aware of this arrangement ,had strategically placed their billing counters opposite to the cafeteria as if to say "fight your brawls and then make the payment". Some of the conversation was delectable, like "all of you stay at my place whenever she(patient) comes here, or I paid for the maid servants,or I am not even married(I failed to make sense of this but.....)". But the sight of these settlements were wonderful ..... Kids prancing around without understanding what was happening wining for another pastry,wives looking more concerned than husbands to ascertain that they were not cheated, some teary eyed relatives looking haplessly and sipping their favorite beverages while the settlements were being done. Finally the best was when everyone pooled together and went happily towards the billing section again looking like one happy family ready to take their loved one home. At that point something became very evident to me that the most important thing for everyone today is to survive, all our great values and ethos are tested under only that hurdle - the hurdle to survive.
This time my hospital package was complete with surgery, emergency and the infamous ICU. .Life at ICU was more dramatic than normal wards due to the higher level of uncertainty involved.The day DH had his surgery he was kept in the ICU. To see your loved one in an all wired state with tubes protruding from all known,some unknown places with slurry speech was undoubtedly distressing yet I looked around and saw an old lady with her son and daughter in law waiting in the lobby. Her husband was admitted in the ICU.I happened to know the doctor who was also treating her husband. As he explained the patients condition to them, the lady grew increasingly hysterical, howling that she couldn't bear anymore.she said her chest would rip apart anytime and she kept on screaming even more loudly with each passing moment. The doctor I knew had a quirky sense of humor but he kept on asking her to keep faith........ As she continued with her hallowing, the doctor couldn't help but suddenly said, "Mam I have a bed near to your husband free, would you like to be shifted there?", the lady suddenly went silent and chided the doctor,her son burst out laughing followed by her daughter in law and me in tow.she herself smiled embarrassingly and a dismal place became an arena of some light hearted fun......
This time my hospital package was complete with surgery, emergency and the infamous ICU. .Life at ICU was more dramatic than normal wards due to the higher level of uncertainty involved.The day DH had his surgery he was kept in the ICU. To see your loved one in an all wired state with tubes protruding from all known,some unknown places with slurry speech was undoubtedly distressing yet I looked around and saw an old lady with her son and daughter in law waiting in the lobby. Her husband was admitted in the ICU.I happened to know the doctor who was also treating her husband. As he explained the patients condition to them, the lady grew increasingly hysterical, howling that she couldn't bear anymore.she said her chest would rip apart anytime and she kept on screaming even more loudly with each passing moment. The doctor I knew had a quirky sense of humor but he kept on asking her to keep faith........ As she continued with her hallowing, the doctor couldn't help but suddenly said, "Mam I have a bed near to your husband free, would you like to be shifted there?", the lady suddenly went silent and chided the doctor,her son burst out laughing followed by her daughter in law and me in tow.she herself smiled embarrassingly and a dismal place became an arena of some light hearted fun......
As a norm, post operative ICU was mandatory for two days. Attendants had strict visiting hours and all had to wait for their turns. As I waited patiently,I saw a lady talking to her doctor accompanied by another elderly lady. She said she could sell some of her property and wanted the doctor's assurance that her husband would survive after the organ transplant. She said that she had a nine year old daughter who asked her everyday when her daddy would return, she had a long life and a little child and she asked the doctor one guarantee that her husband would survive, her medical bills amounted to thirty thousand per month, but if this transplant did not guarantee any survival, she said with tears flowing copiously that she would decide otherwise.let him end his journey without the transplant because she was a mother of a little child. Her hapless situation brought tears in my eyes. .The doctor said he needed to speak with his seniors and went away. The older lady standing with the wife went up to her and asked whether she told the doctor if the organ transplant didn't brighten his chances of survival they would opt out of his life support. The girl agreed hugging her and asked her to go inside and meet her son. I suddenly twitched in my heart as I realized that the old lady was the mother in law of that girl and the person in ICU was her son, I just went blank with utmost respect and pain. Who said a mother in law and daughter in law could not be soul mates, look at the extreme sacrifice of this mother and look how she justified the word "mother", how she became a mother to her daughter in law and her grandchild. I looked at her with awe, she was so overwhelmed that she wanted to meet her son immediately but the guards refused as it was not her turn. She kept on requesting him and then observing that the guard had caught cold,she said "you are like my son, pls take some medicine or you will fall sick,this place is full of sick people, let me know my turn, son". Her daughter in law had gone somewhere and she wanted to go up to the waiting room upstairs.I asked her if she needed some help in getting up.She first hesitated bu then agreed.As I walked up with her she asked me who was admitted. When I replied it was my husband, she empathized and said that she understood my pain. She said that it was most difficult when one's husband is unwell. I felt small in even understanding how SHE felt.. As I returned back I just thought grateful that Life gave me an opportunity to meet with someone like her.
