Hanging at hospital not for everybody

link Grant McGee

So if you’re staying at the hospital do you need to have folks sit there with you?

I thought about this when I heard a story about a friend of a friend’s in-law who had to stay at a hospital.

“That whole time not a soul came to see him,” tut-tutted my pal.

Is it good or bad if no one comes to see you in the hospital? If no one does you can get some rest and watch some cable TV.

I don’t know why people rush off to hospitals to hang around the sick person.

I wonder if the folks who visit the patient even know themselves why they go.

The answer would probably be, “Because you’re supposed to.”

There are a lot of things like that in life. We don’t know why we do the things we do, but we do them.

But does every mother’s friend’s aunt’s sister-in-law’s cousin need to go and sit around the patient’s bed?

I feel for the kids who get lugged along to the hospital. I remember as a boy I never liked to go to the hospital. There was nothing to do. One time when my Aunt Maude was at the hometown hospital, I stood by her bedside poking her arm over and over. She was a large lady and her body fat felt different than mine.

“What are you doing?” my mom asked sharply.

“She feels soft and fluffy,” I told my mom.

“Stop that,” said my mom sharply as she slapped my hand.

Well, I was bored.

I got to thinking about this too during my afternoon stay at the hospital after day surgery.

The Lady of the House sat by my bedside.

“Man, these chairs are uncomfortable,” she said.

“Seriously,” I said through a post-surgical haze, “why don’t you go on home and rest for a bit.”

“You’re OK with that?” she said.

“Yeah,” I said. “If I die they have your phone

number.”

Grant McGee is a long-time broadcaster and former truck driver who rides bicycles and likes to talk about his many adventures on the road of life.

Contact him at his blog: grantmcgeewrites.com