Initially, I created a page of this…and linked it to another page I titled, Foot Rest.  I guess I thought that this would be more than it’s turned out to be.  I’m bringing things into focus.  This is now a post and not a page.

I think it’s wonderful that while the world spins, (a bumbling, exciting, painful, place of seeming immortality), there are people in hospitals, doing a great job caring for those who are raced in by ambulance or hobbling across emergency parking lots with broken bones.  Greeting you with patience and kindness, volunteers and then nurses and then doctors, carry on their duties despite the weather or holiday or circumstance.  On a dime, anyone’s life can change and until you’ve sat vigil with a loved one in hospital, you rarely really think about how important this type of care is.

I didn’t note the name of the lovely person assigned to my bed, but she was marvelous.  One of her first questions was about whether or not I had received my injury through domestic violence.  I thanked her for asking that question in such a calm and professional manner.  I explained that while I had received my injuries through a very benign accident, 20 years ago, I would have really appreciated that question when I walked myself half way across the city to the old General Hospital, seeking help.  I was told back then that my injuries did not warrant an admission to hospital and I found myself walking back home again.  I explained to this nameless professional that by asking that question, there might just be a disclosure and I said it was important to continue to handle things in just that way.

I hobbled out the emergency exit, after x rays, consultations and the ‘how-to’ session about my new air cast and waited for my daughter to pick me up.  Our families are so important to us in these situations and while they, too, require patience and kindness, it is on their backs that we load our trials.  Family life is the most ‘real’ experience that one can ever have.  I’m grateful…for kindness and well wishes.  I feel very vulnerable right now.