Hospitals Are The Bane of My Existence

Not that I am a frequent flyer, it’s just my family can’t seem to stay away from them or we just can’t enjoy a long break from one. I was at the bank teller this morning and I was standing next to an elderly man, who I would say is in his late 80’s. Still out & about and doing his banking. My thought to myself was, do I really want to be that old. Recently my grandmother passed away at the age of 91. I would say by 88-89 she was ready to go. Granted she we was still working a 40 work week at the age of 85. She had lost her sister last year and outlived a brother and son-in-law. What’s disheartening about growing old is seeing all those around you disappear. 

Then there is the notion of sitting around and waiting for death. Which sitting around the house all day with the kids, kind of feels like that to a degree. Being a stay at home parent can on some days feel like you are waiting around for inevitable. Although the inevitable in my case is when to feed or change the next kid. I have several girlfriends who have asked me if I enjoy staying home. Yes, it has it’s rewards but I don’t want to stay home forever. We have several friends who want to just live the life of a stay at home parent forever. Me, that’s not my cup of tea. I want to work eventually.

So back to the hospital end of this story. Hospital life is certainly a long chapter in our extended family’s history. I don’t say that with Pride but of sympathy for those family members who’ve had endure through many physical ailments. Sadly we have a frequent flyer card at one hospital and we pretty much know all the tenure staff members. Whether it’s another emergency visit or the birth of Paley. We saw them all during our stay. At this hospital we even learned right away, many years ago, nurses are under paid and under appreciated in our society. Nurses are the back bone of a hospital. With out them, hospitals would fail and doctors would lose their practices. I say that because some doctors bed side manners are not the greatest, most nurses pick up that slack.

My family has seen it’s fair share of good and bad doctors. Especially my late father. Some doctors he just couldn’t shake and their stale or cross bedside manner not only rubbed the family wrong, it even caused some issues during his nursing after several health events. The dark and light side of hospital visits, is having family there for you. I know it’s important to be there as an advocate but I know it’s just as equally painful to know your family is seeing you at your lowest. During my fathers many stays, he had several close calls. He was fighter and always came back to us and that really gave us a lot of love and compassion for my father. Sadly in the end, he was not home when he moved into the realm. He was at a hospital!

So yes hospitals suck!