A bizarre thought came to me during my last oncall, while my hand was underneath a pendulous non-lactating left mammary gland of a 40 year old lady in the ER, palpating for what seems to be an elusive apex beat. Yes, I'm brilliant at multi-tasking.
It occurred to me that Hospital is like an airport.
The Departure Hall is so efficient that you will never have to worry about missing your flight. When your time is up, trust me you will be on that plane. On the other hand, the Arrival Hall is filled with tiny bald humans with an average body weight of 3kg.
I've been spending a lot of time in the departure hall lately.
This morning I accompanied 2 young men boarding their final flight. One of them was a 28 years old with colon cancer. His fiancee sat closely and whispered the word of love to his ear. I noticed their 'old picture' together on her hand phone screen showing him in his earlier days. He looked fit, tough and mean unlike the frail cachectic man before me whose breathing was rapid and laboured, mumbling words that remotely resemble any spoken language.
As the familiar feeling of morbidity filled the quiet room, I held his hand and delivered the morphine hoping to ease off the pain.
It was time to let go.
5 comments:
Thinking about letting go.
It's hard. Isn't it?
..and the whole airport is akin to our planet earth..with constant arrivals and departures..and for the time being, it is your destiny to assist with the departures..that god it is someone sensitive and with feelings..and if i am there with my boarding pass, I couldn't asked for more...........
agree with u.... hospital is totally like an airport....
Love ur style of writing with perfect english!
I have problem in expressing my thoughts and feelings about your entry. Been trying penning here several time but ended by deleting the whole thing. And re-do. Perhaps it's something to do with the departure thingy. It's hard when we talk about letting go. But that is the cycle of life..which I doubt I can ever take it easy..as it is.
Yeah. Qada' and Qadar.
I have the boarding pass. It's an open ticket. Should you be the one to serve me at the departure hall, please treat me nicely yea. hehe.
SPD: Actually it's not really that hard. You just sit and wait for the inevitable.
PM: I hope that your flight will be delayed with prosperity and ibadah.
Carrie: Ah you're being such a sweetie. Thanx buddy!
ZZ: You're not dying of an illness are you, my young friend?
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