In Hospitable
On the weekend, a friend of mine was involved in a freak accident - while traveling at 80 km/hour, a giant Douglas Fir fell on his car (story here). I had seen him only three days before, fresh from a soccer game, shinpad-adorned. Now, as I travel through my day (giving large trees a wide berth), I can't stop thinking about how my friend's life has come to a screeching halt. I take my body for granted I realize, and although our bodies enable us to do so much they can also trap us in an inescapable abyss of boredom.
Unable to read a book, hold a phone, or even move, he must be bored to tears. Curious, I googled "boredom+hospital" and found a helpful site with tips on "keeping busy in the hospital." It suggests one take the time to "learn something new" such as yoga, magic, or beekeeping (I'd like to see my friend try that in traction!). In a list titled "more things to do, " one is encouraged to "look out a window," "take a shower," and "take a long shower." The lists on this site are increasingly boring in their redundancy. There is little for my friend to do but heal and wait for the morphine to kick in. As for me, for now I will appreciate my physical freedom in doing even the most forgettable tasks knowing there will come a day when I will again agree with the words of Shakespeare; "Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man." King John, Act 3 scene 4
Unable to read a book, hold a phone, or even move, he must be bored to tears. Curious, I googled "boredom+hospital" and found a helpful site with tips on "keeping busy in the hospital." It suggests one take the time to "learn something new" such as yoga, magic, or beekeeping (I'd like to see my friend try that in traction!). In a list titled "more things to do, " one is encouraged to "look out a window," "take a shower," and "take a long shower." The lists on this site are increasingly boring in their redundancy. There is little for my friend to do but heal and wait for the morphine to kick in. As for me, for now I will appreciate my physical freedom in doing even the most forgettable tasks knowing there will come a day when I will again agree with the words of Shakespeare; "Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man." King John, Act 3 scene 4
posted by pigeon at 9:22 PM
2 Comments:
Last week a rep from my bank phoned to 'invite' me to sign up for a Critical Accident Recovery Plan Plus for an automatic monthly account debit of only $7.95. I still haven't figured out how to say no to friendly bank reps, so I said yes, and this morning received my coverage package.
Reading through the literature just now (before reading your post here), I learned that were I to be hospitalized on account of some accident, I would be covered for such costs as accrued by a "private room, TV, computer, and telephone rental." No lessons in magic or beekeeping, unfortunately. But I guess if there's one thing that life and health insurance companies are, it's devastatingly realistic...
My friend is now at VGH and I just had to mention, since Seinfeld is the theme of the week, that one of his first visitors stopped to get Jujyfruits en route to the hospital. The haze of morphine was still a little too thick and the joke was lost but when he's more lucid we plan to re-enact the pillow over the face of Costanza routine - he'll love that!
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