Hospitals - yuck! Or maybe not

Well, actually, that’s a yes and a no.  There are some good and bad things about them.  You meet all sorts of people who are there to care for you because you can’t be nursed or looked after at home.  They are meant to help and support you, having never met you.

Because I have been suffering from agoraphobia, going to two different hospitals in two weeks was rather a strain on my body, mind and spirit.  And it was hell.  Quite honestly, I can’t say if it is worse being in a room with strangers or on your own in a room - I always asked to have the door open so I could hear noises outside and feel slightly safer.

The nurses and doctors and auxiliaries and cleaners and cooks etc are there to help you.  They are tasked with the difficulty or ease of looking after you.  When you\re in a room with other people there is someone to talk to, but of course when you are alone you don’t, but you have less chance of catching something other people have.

Everybody at the hospital wants to make life easier for you, but sometimes there are clashes of personality that we don’t expect.  And it’s ok not to like everybody who cares for you.  Nothing says you have to.  Nobody signs paperwork to say they have to get along with everybody.  I will admit, I generally have built a good relationship with the medical staff taking care of me, but yes, I have also had some problems.  You have to agree they are not perfect and vice versa.

So truthfully I AM grateful to the many medical staff that put their lives on the line to help us - especially during Covid.  Life wasn’t easy for them at all.  Some services shut down and other services continued and everyone is trying to catch up back to their normal.  And that’s ok, too.  We all know the stress it has been for everyone.

Hospitals are necessary in society, just as much as is the police and the firemen and the ambulance service and doctors offices etc.  I will admit I DO hate the fact that sometimes I need them, but I am grateful that when I DO need them, they are available to me.

So yes, staying in hospital isn’t the best, but sometimes we have to and it would be great to try and remember that they are mostly doing what they can to support and help you.