Visiting hours

My Dad is currently in hospital, being prodded, x-rayed, poked, analysed, questioned and tested for various things. He was taken in on Tuesday with a problem with his leg, which seems to have been looked into today, but as I’m not a doctor – or any kind of medical person for that matter – they must know what they are doing. My Dad is fine in himself, so I asked him to pretend he was on a little holiday while he was in hospital, and just lie back and take things nice and easy, and let the other people take care of him.

I’ve been taking my Mum and brother to visit him all this week, hence the short microblogs I’ve been managing to squeeze in, in between driving and sleeping, trying to keep things as close to normal as possible. Bit concerned about visiting the hospital with my cold, but as colds go, it isn’t that bad. We also managed to get the visiting times completely wrong, thinking they were 7 until 9, when they were 6.30 until 8. My Mum wondered why the Sister was glaring at her at 8.30 the other night, but then realised the error when another nurse came around ringing a bell advising all visitors it was time to go.

The people who work on the wards are very hard working. Not only do they have to do their jobs, they have to deal with demanding patients and demanding relatives. They have to give answers without actually giving anything away, yet they always seem calm, under even the most stressful of conditions. I do not think I could do their job, so I raise my hat to all of the people who are carrying out their jobs looking after other people – and I am also grateful that they do what they do.

Can you imagine any other business having visiting hours? One hour in the afternoon and one in the evening where relatives and friends can come in and sit around and chat, while everyone else has to get on with their job? I can’t see it being very easy. I’m not all that keen if someone from another department calls into the office where I work to sit with one of my colleagues for something, and those visits only last for around ten minutes.

But, looking at the work all of these doctors, nurses, orderlies, and others have to do make my job seem even less important, and, in the same token, my complaining about my job trivial. But, having said that, I’ll always find something to have a little moan about at work… just at the moment it isn’t that important at all.