Still at Hospital

They still have me cooped up here.  One of the doctors said that I will likely not be out of here before Sunday.

I am doing much better, though I still can’t make it through any day without 24 hour pain killers.  When I take the meds and stay ahead of the pain, I can sit or lie fairly pain free (with meds).  Moving at all, especially walking, is gut wrenching and hard (even with meds).  That all being said, at this point, it seems that all the pain I am experiencing is normal for someone who had a surgery, then a week into the healing, was cut and sewed back up along the exact same tissues!  It is a slow, painful process, but seems to be going according to the way it should.

The mysterious pain in my hip has weakened.  The best we can guess is that it was my body reacting to the area around the operation and it took a few extra days to get ready to heal.  The bruising in that area has lessened and I am able to move my hip and stand with much pain, but not the absolutely ridiculous pain from earlier this week.

Overall, I am having fun in the hospital.  I am meeting lots of people.  Some just quickly as they escort me to an appointment and some on a regular basis as they do daily jobs.  Julie is one of those people.

Julie
Julie works in housekeeping and is responsible to tidy up the patient rooms.  She came into my room this week and seemed a bit ho hum.  I began chatting with her and telling her what a great job she did keeping my room clean.  She lit up and eventually talked about all sorts of stuff.  Now I get “special treatment”.  Julie is always asking me if I need something, because she has a friend on the inside of this dept or that place.  It is quite humorous and sad all at once.

Julie is the kind of woman who will probably never have a job other than cleaning a simple room.  She has trouble relating to people (she shared some of the issues she seems to have with her co-workers).  And because of who she is, people in general will never attribute any value to her.  She does not have a fancy degree, she does not run a bank and she is not married to anyone important either.  She will spend her life thinking she is nobody and does nothing important at all.

And yet, here is Julie, cleaning my room for me.  Wiping down the surfaces with anti-bacterial spray that has a wonderful spring-time scent.  Her actions cheer me up and keep me safe from infection and disease.  Her daily grind is feet-on-the-floor answering the prayers for me to heal heralded by so many.  Julie likely would have trudged through life that way, not knowing the life she was imparting on others, had I not opened my mouth and thanked her.  All I said at first was, “You have done a really nice job cleaning my room for me.  Thank you for your hard work.”  That was all it took and her face brightened and she began chattering and talking about her struggles.  Previous to that, she moped in and quietly did her thing in the background.

It is funny, today Julie told my mom that I am her favorite patient in the hospital.  It sure did not take much effort on my part to gain that status.  What must her life be like that a simple little encouragement turns me into her favorite?

Is there someone in your life who needs a little encouragement?  It does not take much effort to notice what people are doing and thank them.  We need to stop with the, “But that’s their job” routine and just pause long enough to meet someone face to face, eye to eye and thank them for the gift they bring to the world.  Sorry for the sermon.  I was moved this week by Julie, maybe you will be too.

“You have never looked into the eyes of anyone that God does not love.” – Unknown

wes©

PS – I just kind of typed this.  I did not plan it.  It just came out, sorry if it is rambling.  I guess that’s why they call it a blog?