Hospitals & Hand Grenades

The cardiac waiting room in a hospital is a unique place. I spent the day at one today. ItÂ’s not like the emergency room, with its variety of ailments and sufferings. You see, in cardiac everyone has something in common. We sat in the waiting room for about 4 hours. It really seems to go by with more speed than I had originally thought, in part do to the friendly conversation with a nearby waiting family. Families tell all in the waiting room. If the nurses knew how much dirty laundry was aired, they may add a bio-hazardous tub near the newspapers.

During our wait we saw a multiplicity of concerned people. Some leaving for home, some just coming in, some angry, some sad, most all seem concerned to some extent. Fascinating -- every person was in the room because of a muscle the size of your fist.

We were all there because of this specialized appliance in our chest wall that is synonymous with love. And because of that love—it is alssynonymousus with the ever- present ache.

Some had sternum broken—as it was in the case of our loved one—to access the pumper and bypass what is not working with something that will. For the folks near us, a stint was put in – the way they told us, the object was placed in almost unnoticed. For some, a heart was stopped and restarted. But we are all here because someone else is holding our love ones heart in their hand. We waited, we walked in shifts, we argued, we prayed. We hoped nothing would blow up.

Words used include: see you later –kiss- hug –success.
Words avoided include: failed, unresponsive, cracked open, goodbye.