An experience you will NEVER forget, translated…
That afternoon, because my almost eighty-year-old husband couldn’t adapt to the sudden drop in temperature due to the cold fronts, he’d fallen limp on his legs, and, couldn’t stand up again, and so, I can, only call an ambulance to get him to the hospital.
During those couple of days, the temperatures changed drastically, and, there were, a lot of people getting sick, the E.R. is so populated; especially after the regular sessions during the daytime were over, the E.R. became even rowdy and raucous. Children who wouldn’t stop crying, the elders who kept moaning in pain, those who were injured in car crashes, plus there’s that big man who’d gotten so drunk he’d started making a scene, it’d made the nurses in the E.R. so totally stressed out. Plus, because there are only a limited number of beds, some of the patients couldn’t get transferred to the regular wards, the E.R. is totally, populated then, and, the family members without a chair to sit in, can only wait standing up.
and this, is what it looks like, at night, in an E.R. not my photo…
As the night darkened, I watched as the news stations played on the stories in the local communities, perhaps, I was worried about my husband’s physical conditions, I was worried and scared at the same time, there was that sorrowful look, and fatigue that took over my face. A medic saw how helpless I looked, she’d reminded me, that a little later, as the patients reduced in numbers, I can ask the nurses for a bedsheet, so I can lie down on the chairs in the E.R. to rest a bit.
At two in the morning, my legs were sore and starting to feel numbed, seeing, how there WAS, the reduction of number of people going in and out, I’d taken the advice from the paramedics from before, asked the nurses for a sheet, and, found my place along the last row of chairs. At which time, the E.R. was still very busy, the paramedics went in and out; I was worried about how my husband was doing, couldn’t fall asleep, so, I’d gotten up from time to time to check him, in the end, I’d hugged onto the quilts and closed my eyes to rest a bit. And time just like that drip hung overhead my husband’s bed, kept passing away.
The day has come, a brand new day began. Another group of nurses came in for their shifts now, and, the E.R. came back to life again; recalling how I’d spent a night here, at the same time of experiencing how unstable life can get, I’m more thankful, more in awe, to all the medical professionals, for giving their time and energies to every patient.
waiting for the arrival of an ambulance, to get the patients where they need to go ASAP. Not my photo…
So, it took you spending one night in the E.R. to know personally, what was happening, and, even AS the rest of the hospital closes for the day, the E.R. doesn’t, because, it needs to be prepared, for things that came suddenly, like what the writer’s husband’s experience, and, we should show MORE empathy toward those workers in the E.R. if we ever see them, because they DESERVED it!
Life, the Obstacle Course 