Written July 30, 2014
I am at Saddleback Hospital. I have been here since 5:30 this morning. My husband Bill is going into surgery now for a complete shoulder replacement. He has been waiting a long time for this. He has been in pain for a couple of years and it has gotten progressively worse. I am so glad he is finally having it done. Thank God for modern medicine.
Hopefully he will be able to come home tomorrow. I thought I would take this waiting room time to write my blog. What should the topic be? Faith? Compassion? Patience? (pun unintended). All of the above?
Faith – I begin with a belief that all will go well. I start here because starting from any other position would be an expression of negativity and that is not who I am. Faith that all is well has gotten me through many trials. You know the expression “I’ll believe it when I see it”? Well author and motivational speaker Wayne Dyer puts it differently, “You will see it when you believe it!” In other words, the belief precedes the manifestation. If you don’t believe you deserve love, for example, it probably won’t find its way to you. This is sad, tragic even, because we all deserve love.
If you believe good is for other people and not you, that only bad things happen to you, you will certainly attract the “bad” just as you predicted. Of course the opposite is true. Expect good. This does not mean that your life will be perfect or that misfortune will never find you. It means that whatever happens, in the long run, you will be okay and good will return.
Compassion – In a hospital setting, it means realizing that others are there with just as serious or more serious issues than you have. Be compassionate with them. Be comforting if spoken to, smile at them. Be understanding of their behavior. They are probably in pain. Be compassionate with yourself as well.
(Sidebar – The young man who shared a room with my husband was in for a hip replacement. He had been in a horrific car accident many years before where another facility had botched his hip surgery. He was now finally getting it repaired so that it would function for him. But that is not all. The accident not only crushed his skull, destroyed one of his feet, broke ribs, but it left him blind. This man was only two years older than my youngest son! He had been studying to become an EMT and then he was going to volunteer for the Coast Guard so that he could rescue others. I guess God had another plan for him. This young man had an amazing attitude, was gracious and friendly, humble and polite. My heart went out to hm. He went home the same day my husband did and was happy to be doing so as his birthday was the next day and he hoped to spend it at home. He was such an amazing young man. )
Patience – Waiting in hospitals is challenging at best. It is tedious, boring, scary, anxiety provoking, difficult, painful and tiring. Be patient with the process. Not unlike sitting in traffic on the freeway, there is nothing you can do. Well, you can fight it (to no avail) or decide to make the best of it (better decision). An even better choice would be to do something useful with your time – like writing your blog! (Not while driving, but you can come up with ideas. I do that all the time!)
So, if you find yourself in a hospital waiting room, have faith that all will go well. Be compassionate toward other “waiters” and be patient. The hours will go by and the day will come to an end. What seems like forever will soon become a memory. And while you are at it, expect good. Try doing that every day. Watch it change your life.
Update: my husband’s surgery went very well. He came home yesterday and is expected to have a speedy and complete recovery. We are both very grateful. :))