Freewriting (4)
This piece is more autobiographical than many I’ve written. Don’t panic – I am not going to reveal every aspect of my health to you.
Topic: Medical Memories (of a Veteran Hospital Patient)
I will freewrite for 20 minutes… [shackle Inner Critic]
Medical Memories
It all began in a country far away from the United Kingdom. As a serving officer of the Royal Air Force in the mid-1950s, my father was posted to distant shores now known as the war-torn country of Yemen. Officially I was born in Aden but under the British flag. Or, more comfortably, in a hospital on a British base,
I only discovered more about this building when I got Google by the scruff of the neck and demanded answers. It is hard for parents to describe buildings and the atmosphere of a place I can never revisit and which was not, to my knowledge, in the family photograph archives. I knew my mother stayed in hospital for a long time. She’d had a ‘normal’ birth but that demanded total bed rest back in the day.
Meanwhile, my father was unwell in another ward in the same hospital but that is his story.
The Next Hospital Stay
I did not have to be in hospital again until I was seventeen and needing a toenail removed. Glamorous it wasn’t but painful and slightly embarrassing it was. Recovery included a visit to my home where a box of Milk Tray was involved and demolished. I’ve never had chocolate while in hospital – melted brown on the sheets is not at all appealing.
Many More…
Women have problems of a medical nature from time to time …and babies. I’ve had more than my fair share of General Anaesthetics due to ongoing illnesses. The most recent one was last year when a meningioma was removed from the base of my brain. Yep, a type of tumour but not malignant. That was the scariest event and yet I recovered well quickly and positively. Much experience had preceded this my “about 27th” operation.
What Is Being in Hospital Like?
I am envious of anyone who needs to ask! Yet, I have family and friends with relatively little personal history of hospital treatment. But I can never be jealous of anyone who has spent days, nights, weeks sitting beside the bed of a critically ill loved one. That is not my experience although I did witness both of my children having surgery as children. Nothing could prepare me for the emptiness of their bed space while in the operating theatre. Being present while they were sent to sleep meant a lonely return to the ward or parents’ day room. That wait!
What Do I Know Now?
- detainment in a hospital might be necessary, expected or unexpected, swift or protracted, serious or relatively trivial
- it is never a holiday unless your life is bleak enough to look forward to it
- pain is not as frightening as it used to be as modern analgesics are marvellous
- having a hospital bed is always a privilege as, while you are in it, someone else is not
- you might not be sent there for your comfort but your safety is paramount
- in 2020-21, too many needed our NHS hospitals and for them it was often the last time
- as I write, millions around the world still need good hospital care, either because they have little provision or because their health service is overrun by demand
and …
- being in hospital myself always seems easier for me than it is for family who wait for news
- AND I NEVER want to go there again!
I’ve written this piece as a response to an earlier post: Brainstorm Your Next Story I have no need to develop the theme – if any of you wish to use the material for your own creativity, be my guest.
