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The same hospital scene

You enter a hospital to admit a loved one. You head to the admission counter. Sometimes if you are lucky enough it's a slow day and you get the total attention. On most days, there's a rush or the counter is terribly under staffed and you wait for more than an hour at the counter.

The only reason you may get a bit of attention is if the staff notices that there's a test scheduled by time specified by the doctor which they hadn't noticed before. You got to love the actions and reactions post that little attention to detail. The no. of apologies and apologetic looks sent in your direction, after that mistaken oversight, remind you of those little innocent pups or kittens that you are almost convinced you are looking at the animal and not the person.

In all this, you notice that you haven't raised your voice or expressed your displeasure at all. Don't you feel amazed at what you've let yourself get used to?

In their rush, you add a bit of a detail they may have forgotten to ask or even consider - medical insurance. And goodness, the looks of horror that get added to the previous demeanor! You get whisked quickly to the insurance counter which again is in a similar situation as the admission counter.

Finally, you feel like you've achieved the impossible prize when they say the room is allocated to you.

What follows is the needles and pins and cries and pain that have you raving internally at the nurses if you hate causing scenes. You have this voice in your head that is screaming at them to show professionalism along with kindness towards the ones who cannot stand the sight of needles, forget that life saving instrument entering their skin.

Sometimes, you get blessed with angels who know how to deal with such kind of patients. Otherwise you are the one who has to hold down that arm or leg or head or neck and offer it up like a sacrifice. You turn in to enemy no. 1 in the mind of your loved one. I wouldn't like to imagine what treatment they would have meted out to you in their head for holding them down for that pin prick.

Rooms could be as you imagined or perhaps not! It takes a little while to get used to that little place which you would be residing in for at least 24 hours. As it is hospitals don't hold much of a happy energy about them. So now you are part of that very energy, contributing to it, whether you like it or not. You either ignore the uneasy feeling or scream in your head that you would rather be at the beach soaking in the sun with feet dipped in water.

Nurses ... oh wow! Some I think are monsters sent to test your mettle. Some seem to hold  Dolores Umbridge as their role model. Some are those little minions who are cute or scary depending on your view of them.

In all, you are admitting yourself for an experience you aren't going to forget. You might forget what you did on your holidays but not the hospital.

My best wishes if you ever have to get you or your loved one admitted for any procedure.

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