Overflow of Misery

I was glad to be wearing a mask today! There were a bunch of people in the ER who sounded like they were hacking up a lung. It's crazy at the hospital right now! We have been so busy these past two weeks. We have an overflow of patients. Every bed was full today and there were patients in the ER waiting for a bed upstairs to be emptied. By nine o'clock, the ER was filling up with new patients too. Down in the ER, they have beds out in the hallways just to accommodate all the patients surging in. There were people everywhere! Coughing, kids crying, the sound of vomiting, nurses rushing about, doctors being paged overhead...that's just some of the sounds that filled the air. I don't think I've ever seen that many miserable people in one spot. All those sounds filling my head and I couldn't help but think, Jehovah must hear this all the time. I mean, all those people could be in their individual homes feeling miserable and Jehovah would still know what was happening with each and every one of them. That's an amazing thought. How could he hear that and not want to do something about it? I'll be so glad when he does and there will be no more hospitals!

Anyway, needless to say I was busy today. Lots of people means lots of messes. I enjoy people watching while I'm working though. It was neat to see parents singing patty-cake or the hokie pokie with their little ones to distract them from the less than wonderful environment. I get to meet some real characters too...the kind that like to tell you their whole life story or their medical history and such. Is there a polite way of saying, "TOO MUCH INFORMATION!" Just yesterday I had a lady go off telling me all about how she didn't like kids, but she liked sex and so she ended up with four kids anyway...And then there was the lady who decided to explain in detail what type of surgery she had just had. She even showed me where they did the incision. And I can't forget the old war veteran who told me all about how he played a part in defeating the Japs back in the day. I mean seriously, I'm just cleaning your room people! But oh well, it keeps work interesting.

In the ER today, I heard the doctors and nurses talking about one patient that desperately needed to go to ICU, but there were no beds free up there. So they were doing the best they could to stabilize him there in the ER. I could feel the tension in the air. They said he could die at any minute. But they were able to treat him and by the time I left he was much improved. It must feel good to have a day like that with a patient like that. In a hospital you have both triumphs and tragic losses. And somehow the people here learn to carry on through both.