Except you're a practitioner, I don't assume that any other person within the hospital premises is happy to be there. Who would be? We know what happens there and it's hardly anything heartwarming save for childbirth.
UnsplashI could count the number of times I went by a hospital. I've only passed by. I'm grateful about that.
Meanwhile, does an eye clinic count as a hospital too? I guess not.
I've only been in /around a hospital environment a countable number of times. Very few times.
Even the most recent time i was in a hospital ground was long ago. Few years back. But you asked for my most recent time, this should be it.
That was the year 2017. It was in benin, Edo State, and was the University of Benin teaching hospital.
I had gone there twice, the second time was to get my eye checked and stuff. But the first time was for something different. And in the few minutes that I was there, I got shaken a bit.
Here's what happened....
My aunt whom I had come to visit in Benin, had this colleague and church member of hers in a critical state. He could barely move, almost unconscious, was coughing blood and had some down his nostrils. Was a terrible sight, she had told myself and the rest of her family.
She needed to rush by the hospital and see how he was faring. Thing was, his family did not live close by with him. So before they'd come all the way, he had to have caregivers. Although she wasn't one, but she was amongst those who had raised the alarm of his condition and had taken him to the hospital.
I had no business going there with her but we needed to visit the market together to get some things. So I tagged along. The hospital was just on the way. We reached the very big, busy hospital and proceeded to the intensive care unit(ICU) where the man was admitted in. For reasons known best to her, she ordered that I just stick around outside while she goes in.
Although I think she was guarding me from seeing gruesome things, I knew I had the heart for those. Yet, I'm glad I never went in.
Like I mentioned, it is a very big place. The long and wide walkway was busy, with people going in different directions.
And..
Two sights hurt me, badly. First was this young guy, he should not have been more than 23. He was on a wheelchair. Was been wheeled by his brother, or friend. He had an oxygen mask on his nose which was connected to this really big oxygen tank. I felt really sorry for him. I thought of what was wrong with him. How he felt. But he was not looking too bad. Seemed they were out to get some fresh air and that got me relieved. A bit.
The second sight....
Shortly after the first guy had gone past, this elderly man and a girl walked down the hall and a feet or two after they had passed by me, I saw the girl reaching out to the man to get something from him. It looked like they were playing or something. I watched. Then I noticed that while the girl, again, tried to get the thing -was a phone- from him, he snatched it from her reach. It was then that I noticed her face-the girl- it was squeezed in a frown, badly. She stomped her feet, raised her hands in the air and brought it down in defeat. And she howled. The man, his shoulders shook. It trembled badly. Only then did I realize that they were crying.
In that moment, the girl managed to get the phone off the man. She paced back and forth as she typed on the phone and cried loudly. Then she brought the phone to her ears and said something in the lines of "mummy...mummy." She could barely make the sentence. She fell to the floor and cried. I did not need to be told anymore. I knew right then that she had lost her mum; and the man whom I supposed was her father, he had lost his wife.
My knees went weak. Felt like they'd give way anytime. My throat became taut and it hurt. I could barely tear my eyes off those two while I tried to not let the water stinging my eyes to fall.
I watched people pass, too many personnel in the doctor coat. No one, Not even one stopped to console them. Was the work code,I know. The other passers-by obviously had people in wards they were looking after, else, who would want to be in a hospital? Or anywhere near the ICU at that.
I wanted to walk over to the girl and wrap her in a hug, but I didn't. I would not have known what to say. I stood fixed at a spot. She must have been around my age. I was hurt.
They stayed crying for a short while, which felt like hours and then, i looked and they were no longer there. Don't blame me. My mind had wandered and my head was filled to even realize anything.
I was still standing where I was, thinking of what I had just witnessed and turning it over in my head when my aunt came back up. We made our way out.
When we had walked only a short distance, I told her of the girl and her father. She asked me where they were. I told her, I had no idea, that they left. She shook her head and I could see the look of pity on her face.
We went ahead to the market. I managed to get the scene off my head for only a short while. But when I got home, it replayed a dozen times over.
I'd wonder how father and daughter were holding up.
It's been a long time since then, but whenever I hear, UBTH, that's the first scene that comes to my head.
Awful.
Was very awful.
Thanks for gracing this post.
Greetings!