I might just pull a radical act. I may bring a red Christmas ornament and put it on one of the two pathetic excuses for Christmas trees in the lobby. These two small trees sit in a large box that normally holds foilage. They have these tannish looking ornaments. Real Christmassy. Ah...yeah. They kind of fit our lobby with its dim lighting, mismatched furniture and 1950's TVs bolted a the corners of the room.
The rest of the hospital has these beautiful kind of old fashioned decorations. The lobby looks like a million bucks. Its that kind of look where cherubic red faced children would be singing a rousing chorus of jingle bells, as complimentary hot cocoa is passed to the crowd along with this years large Christmas bonuses are given to happy employees....Poof!! oh...its a fantasy. Snap out it madness! There will be Christmas bonus. We may throw you a lunch bag embossed with the hospital logo. Maybe...if we can get a good deal.
Christmas time in the ER is just more of the same tomfoolery of tummy aches, womitting, THE FLU (which is rampant right now). There are no gross fruit cakes, candy canes, Christmas cookies. Santa ain't comin'.
I remember the good old days when we had a Christmas tree in back of triage that spun around in a circle. It was magical.
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ReplyDeleteYou get an embossed bag? Lucky you, more than I got
ReplyDeleteI just want to wish you a Merry Christmas, and thank you for keeping up this blog.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how we all have different ways of looking at things, different coping skills, different levels of resistance and resilience. Half empty, half full, over flowing, bone dry ... we start with the same cup but it looks so different after we've been here a few years.
ReplyDeleteI chose to write SOME Of the bad stuff down in a couple of books, but it made people cry, so I elected to go for the funny stuff, which made other people question whether or not I knew about the bad stuff.
Yep ... I remember every dead baby. Dead cop. The codes, GSWs ... they begin to blur together unless they made a personal connection that I have never been able to shake. Sometimes I wish I could, other times I am grateful.
So whatever your experience, your position, your past or future, hang in there. No one should have to see what we see or do what we do. But somebody has to ... somebody has to mop up the crap when the "seams of civilization split."
Stay safe ...