Monday, May 26, 2014

Today's gratitude

Today's gratitude is for a circle of friends and family that hold a family up when it needs support..

For the friend who insists that we use a room in his hotel (next to the hospital) to sleep instead of the ICU waiting room, so that we are fresh for the next day.

For the friends who keep coming to visit, even on working days, at all times, so that my mother is not left alone in the ICU waiting room for even 5 minutes. They talk to her about dad, about the weather, about the elections, about anything at all, but they keep her talking, and they keep her company. She doesn't sink.

For friends who reached in under 5 minutes to rush dad to the emergency. No ambulance, just 2 calls saying "Come NOW" and they never asked "Why?" They just came.

For doctors and nurses and ward boys and the parking staff. Everyone who understood that it is not a "patient" in there, it is "your father" . They never once call him "your patient".

For friends who send lunch, just because... raw banana dry sabzi, dal makhani, a feast..

For friends who pray for your father just bcs you send out a message saying "please pray for him" and they tell you "He will be just fine."

For the nurse who says, while waiting for the CT scan, "When it is my next shift in the ICU, your father will not be a patient there. I can tell you that." She says that when you don't know which way it can go. You squeeze her arm gently in a gesture of gratitude, because you are too overwhelmed to even say "Thank you"

 For people who see you after 15 years, and hug you so tight because they really do love you like they did 15 years ago. They saw you grow up, and they accept you growing old.

For friends who hear about it and volunteer to babysit your child.

For people who get up at 4 every morning and walk to the Gurudwara to pray for your father. For good folks who pray for him and then call to ask how he is doing.

For old world ties that belong in small cities and towns. And for the new bonds that are so strong.

Today's gratitude is for the awareness that the challenge may have been ours, but the solution was made up of everyone around us.

It takes a village to bring up a child. It takes a village to handle an ICU.

Thank you, Universe, for the opportunity to see how blessed we are in the love of folks around us..

The ICU continues, the Reiki continues.. but how I have changed in just one week...

2 comments:

Gentle Breeze said...

Life in an ICU
WHen Dad was in ICU..I had started twice a day medical bulletin by SMS for frnds and family.. to keep them posted..
ICU does make you ponder.. one bed that was filled the other day...is empty.. did the patient get discharged or did he not make it? makes you scared..
I prayed for them all to sail through.. some did not...
Such is Life.. Fragile
But never ever did the Nurses efforts flag... It was touching to see that they never ever give up...
they do deserve a lot ..unsung as they may be..

How do we know said...

hi GB: yes... an ICU does teach us a lot.. hope your father is completely fine now.. mine will need rehab..he has had a stroke that affects his left side completely..