21 Arrival at St. Luke’s Hospital
As the ambulance pulled up in front of St. Luke’s Hospital, I was then shifted to a movable stretcher, this being one of about half a dozen such maneuvers that I would experience in as many hours. Hence I made a mental note that if there isn’t already one on the market, that someone ought to come up with a better way to do this.
Being hoisted from a stretcher to a bed, and back again, in this case numerous times, has got to be one painful procedure, assuming the patient usually already has enormous aches and pains to begin with, given the reason that they are laying there on their back. For those of you who haven’t had the firsthand experience, the movement isn’t always as coordinated and fluid as you see in movies.
I was wheeled into the basement where x-rays were to be taken of my leg. I again found myself on my own, as Soledad and Dr. Arias took care of signing me in and other such logistics.
I lay on my back, studying the rather depressing gray-green-colored room, my mind’s eye tracing the sewer pipes along the full length of the ceiling, and then the very well worn and antiquated x-ray equipment above me.
The organization I work for has helped upgrade the medical equipment in many South American hospitals, hospitals just like this, to the tune of many millions of dollars of aid. Somehow this fact took on greater personal significance for me than ever before.
Being hoisted from a stretcher to a bed, and back again, in this case numerous times, has got to be one painful procedure, assuming the patient usually already has enormous aches and pains to begin with, given the reason that they are laying there on their back. For those of you who haven’t had the firsthand experience, the movement isn’t always as coordinated and fluid as you see in movies.
I was wheeled into the basement where x-rays were to be taken of my leg. I again found myself on my own, as Soledad and Dr. Arias took care of signing me in and other such logistics.
I lay on my back, studying the rather depressing gray-green-colored room, my mind’s eye tracing the sewer pipes along the full length of the ceiling, and then the very well worn and antiquated x-ray equipment above me.
The organization I work for has helped upgrade the medical equipment in many South American hospitals, hospitals just like this, to the tune of many millions of dollars of aid. Somehow this fact took on greater personal significance for me than ever before.
Labels: broken leg; x-rays; xray;
<< Home