PERSONAL STORY | LIFE LESSONS | HEALTHCARE | GRATITUDE

Layers of Humility and Goodness

Gratitude Notes

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I admitted my father to the E.R. on Sunday (early) morning due to severe back pain. I was mentally prepared to tackle any indifferent staff to avoid last time’s unpleasantness and lapses in treatment. Same E.R. doors and the same painful memories as I’ve mentioned in my previous stories, but that’s how life is. You move forward as you’re required to.

This time, everyone was kind and understanding, despite their night shift. Only the person at the billing counter looked seemingly annoyed. When I requested him to expedite, he blurted out the cases (four accidents and a cardiac arrest) since Saturday night — all to undergo surgeries; that for a place like E.R., weekdays and weekends are all the same. I then waited patiently for my turn. I got to understand things from his perspective too.

Inside, I could see the weariness in the staff’s eyes, but not for a moment, did they flinch from their work. I’d written my father’s illness and treatment history/meds he is on, in a small note. Verbal explanation would’ve consumed time.

While checking on my father, the E.R. doctor was so mindful. She first asked if she could utter the word “cancer” in front of him by gesturing with that…