Boring through the sleety midnight air, my vehicle swiftly took me to the emergency ward. Had I known that I was to be trundled into a squeaky hospital bed amidst the whining and murmuring,
I would have perhaps heeded my Doctor. Months ago, Doctor Morrison cautioned: “Your symptoms suggest you are down with a potentially debilitating physical condition.” He suggested a surgical procedure I should undergo, laconically attaching a hint of pain to it. “Sooner the better,” he urged.
Though I didn’t mean to, I ignored his professionally sagacious advice.
Though I didn’t mean to, I ignored his professionally sagacious advice.
And here I am, subjected to share a room with three other squirming patients who lament over their forced transit to this murky corridor, nestled somewhere along the tedious journey towards their physical freedom. Here I am, being submitted to some biomedical appliances, forced to drink a glass of water every hour…
After having a dose of prescribed drug I thought I would be able to catch a wink. A burning feeling kept me constantly awake. After several vain attempts to alert the nurse by pressing the buzzer for help, my irascible mind gave me an irrevocable urge to reach for the emergency button. It worked.
I had three nurses, instead of one, rushing to the ward, where I lay restless.
I said, “I am in terrible pain. I need to have something to sleep.”
“Silly you! Why should you press the emergency button for that?”
“Because I tried the buzzer a number of times and I thought it was inactive. I am sorry,” I confessed.
“It has probably been turned off… Shortage of nurses you know.”
“Shortage of nurses alright. But I have just seen three of you dashing to the scene.”
“Shh…” Hushed the nurse, a Finnish looking tall blonde.
I was silly indeed. Why the bickering? What I heard just now when I sought temporary solace to my brimming physical distress were the resentments of my own conviction. In a sense, she was right. It was unrealistic of me to expect too much from a nurse. She may be offering only what she is paid for. My stupidity, rather my lofty expectations of a nurse, of her noble and compassionate services, prompted me to ask for help at this fag end of the day. May be I had noticed the services of a few caring diligent nurses and pictured every nurse in the same frame. Whatever may be the case, I should bow low with awesome respect to their beatific career.
Two Panadeine Forte tablets with a glass of cold water, and I dozed off…
Suddenly, someone woke me up. Shrill voice of a nurse.
“What you want, this time, Donna?” The nurse was too loud for that midnight silence of a hospital ward, which otherwise was only disturbed by the occasional snoring of the one who gulped a sleeping pill or two.
Donna too was desperate for help, seeking relief from the pangs of her wound. She was brought in last night after a Gallbladder operation.
“Alright, I can give you a jab.” The nurse walked away to come back with a needle.
Faintly listening to the noisy steps of that high-heeled nurse, prodding my feeble fingers into my shabby face, I slipped off to sleep…
I woke up again as though I was shaken up vigorously. In hospitals the wheels are never meant to stop. One patient walks away when another waits in agony to be trundled in. Squalling of an old man wriggling with excruciating pain shook us all up. I learned that he has been putting up with that endless pain for almost six weeks! As he has a history of very low blood pressure, anaesthetic medication was considered to be fatal. Neurologists and palliative specialists strained every nerve to abate his stabbing pain and restore to him some restful moments.
Holding my pain I tried to relax, looking around my hospital room which was kept immaculately with all the facilities one could ever ask for. I have no reason to squabble.
I found my eyes settling again on that pathetic sight, right at the opposite bed, a lamenting old man, lamely attempting to glance through a birthday greeting message received from his daughter residing in Canberra.
I don’t know whether that message means anything to him or if it will help to lift his ever sinking, palsied spirit. Looking at the profile of the victim crying for help, searching for something in his frail looking sullen face, I could find an indecipherable message. More and more I tried, more and more I failed to comprehend.
All that I could do was witness a tussle between hope and hopelessness…
A quotation I once read came clearly to my feeble mind: “I complained of not having shoes till I saw a man who did not have feet”.
After having a dose of prescribed drug I thought I would be able to catch a wink. A burning feeling kept me constantly awake. After several vain attempts to alert the nurse by pressing the buzzer for help, my irascible mind gave me an irrevocable urge to reach for the emergency button. It worked.
I had three nurses, instead of one, rushing to the ward, where I lay restless.
I said, “I am in terrible pain. I need to have something to sleep.”
“Silly you! Why should you press the emergency button for that?”
“Because I tried the buzzer a number of times and I thought it was inactive. I am sorry,” I confessed.
“It has probably been turned off… Shortage of nurses you know.”
“Shortage of nurses alright. But I have just seen three of you dashing to the scene.”
“Shh…” Hushed the nurse, a Finnish looking tall blonde.
I was silly indeed. Why the bickering? What I heard just now when I sought temporary solace to my brimming physical distress were the resentments of my own conviction. In a sense, she was right. It was unrealistic of me to expect too much from a nurse. She may be offering only what she is paid for. My stupidity, rather my lofty expectations of a nurse, of her noble and compassionate services, prompted me to ask for help at this fag end of the day. May be I had noticed the services of a few caring diligent nurses and pictured every nurse in the same frame. Whatever may be the case, I should bow low with awesome respect to their beatific career.
Two Panadeine Forte tablets with a glass of cold water, and I dozed off…
Suddenly, someone woke me up. Shrill voice of a nurse.
“What you want, this time, Donna?” The nurse was too loud for that midnight silence of a hospital ward, which otherwise was only disturbed by the occasional snoring of the one who gulped a sleeping pill or two.
Donna too was desperate for help, seeking relief from the pangs of her wound. She was brought in last night after a Gallbladder operation.
“Alright, I can give you a jab.” The nurse walked away to come back with a needle.
Faintly listening to the noisy steps of that high-heeled nurse, prodding my feeble fingers into my shabby face, I slipped off to sleep…
I woke up again as though I was shaken up vigorously. In hospitals the wheels are never meant to stop. One patient walks away when another waits in agony to be trundled in. Squalling of an old man wriggling with excruciating pain shook us all up. I learned that he has been putting up with that endless pain for almost six weeks! As he has a history of very low blood pressure, anaesthetic medication was considered to be fatal. Neurologists and palliative specialists strained every nerve to abate his stabbing pain and restore to him some restful moments.
Holding my pain I tried to relax, looking around my hospital room which was kept immaculately with all the facilities one could ever ask for. I have no reason to squabble.
I found my eyes settling again on that pathetic sight, right at the opposite bed, a lamenting old man, lamely attempting to glance through a birthday greeting message received from his daughter residing in Canberra.
I don’t know whether that message means anything to him or if it will help to lift his ever sinking, palsied spirit. Looking at the profile of the victim crying for help, searching for something in his frail looking sullen face, I could find an indecipherable message. More and more I tried, more and more I failed to comprehend.
All that I could do was witness a tussle between hope and hopelessness…
A quotation I once read came clearly to my feeble mind: “I complained of not having shoes till I saw a man who did not have feet”.
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