Thursday, August 2, 2012

Hospital - what a place!

To back up a comment from the previous post about hospital being a terrible place (despite the wonderful people)......
One weekend between chemo sessions I was rushed in due to a rising temperature, potential danger...the whole palaver. I ended up isolated for 24 hours followed by spending 2 days and nights in a Heart ward as there were no other beds in the hospital. It was both a sad and a funny experience at the same time. There were 8 guys in a room, at least 3 of whom had no idea where they were due to age or drugs or both.  Anyway on the second night I got chatting to this old man and we exchanged war stories about surgery and illness. He then said something that will stay with me forever - "I am 88, more than twice your age, and I want to get out of here just as much as you do." I love that. The simple drive for normality has no age boundary. The abhorrence of sickness has no age boundary. He made me smile when we agreed that to go for a pint was the normal thing we both wanted the most......I already knew that alcohol has no age boundary.

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