Observations From a Hospital Room

1. Hospital time is not the same as time everywhere else on earth. 60 seconds do not make a minute, and, "Oh, about 15 minutes," actually could mean any amount of time between 37 seconds to 2 hours, 49 minutes (give or take).

2. I wonder if there is a reason the hospital room toilet seat looks like the silhouette of a cartoonish clown face:

3. There are certain people, not many, but some, who cannot get beyond themselves and their own feelings to offer real support. They turn the whole situation around so that you end up comforting and supporting them through your difficulties. I wish there were a way to tell those people to bug off.

4. It's really, really, really important to remember the power of choice. For example, I wailed in a previous post about how my family has not eaten a meal at home together in 22 days. It begins to feel like we have to be at the hospital with Nathaniel. The fact is, we don't. A nurse told Lesley that she had to inform a married couple that their child had a severe illness, and would be in the ICU for at least 2 weeks. The nurse said that married couple then went on vacation for 2 weeks. They left contact numbers where they could be reached, but were out of state for the majority of their child's hospitalization. The fact is, we're at the hospital so much because we choose to take on that responsibility. I don't think anybody would consider us bad parents if we decided just "to take a night off" so that we could both be home together for a night. Nathaniel is important enough for us to make those sacrifices. Knowing it is my choice actually does make it easier to carry the burden.

5. In the hospital, boredom makes even the worst movies tolerable:

6. It was a really, really good idea to put a Wii in every room.

7. People do one of two things on elevators: 1) completely ignore you, or 2) talk to you as if you've been friends for years. (I'm not sure there is a middle ground between those two extremes.)

8. It's a lot easier to say that you believe God is taking care of you than to really, deep down, believe He is.

9. In those fleeting moments when you experience that deep down belief that God is taking care of you, there is "peace that surpasses understanding."

10. Staying overnight at the hospital with a loved one who is sick allows one to take a vacation from the reality of one's own powerlessness over the situation.

11. Hospital food really isn't that bad.

12. Sick people have touched the elevator buttons, too.

That's it for now. I may have more observations later. It looks like we may still be here for a while.