Hospital adventures of the treasured kind

Being hospitalized is like having a slumber party with strangers. Exciting like a slumber party because you get to spend the night at a place that's not familiar with parental units lurking nearby. Yet terrifying because it's a room full of strangers with pained looks on their faces even when asleep with tubes sticking out of them and fierce middle aged mother-like nurses keeping an eye on you like a disapproving hawk while you watch television till late into the night because you're supposed to be resting/sleeping.

It sucks being sick. It sucks even more when it's happening during the 2003 SARS outbreak and the whole continent is paranoid resulting in enforcing strict hospital visiting policies. Not to mention hospitals are already THE number one place to avoid. With friends not encouraged to visit and parents having to work, I was bummed and bored. So I spent my time being a translator for two lovely ladies who had been bed mates for quite a while but as one could only speak English and the other only Mandarin, their daily interactions consisted only of gestures, eye contact and an abundance of smiles. I must say, for 2 people who have never exchanged a single verbal word with each other, they somehow managed to form a strong friendship with an easy understanding. Me being bilingual and translating was just a small bonus for them and not surprisingly, their conversations reflected the bond they have formed. Family, husbands and current events were just the few topics they touched on amongst many conversations. When our fellow room bed mate started going dangerously crazy and had to be physically restrained to be transferred to Psych, the incident naturally became the focus of one of the most animated conversation for them and leaving me finding the whole predicament I was in very amusing.

Despite the strict hospital visiting policies, V surprised me by showing up. We were hanging out in the common room when my parents surprised us by showing up. She left and after much allaying of my parents worries, they left. I went to take a long ass shower as I had 2 huge ass IV line thing stuck in both hands. It was a painful operation that left me quite annoyed. When I came out of the bathroom the nurses chided me for being such a disappearing act patient. Not really their fault, I snuck out to 7-11 with V earlier (hospital food = yuck) and we gave them quite the nuclear panic attack. Oops. I got escorted to my bed by a nurse determined to make me feel guilty and I noticed that there was a note on my food table.

"Sleep well huh - V"

Being sick ultimately didn't suck that badly afterall.

That Day

The sound of pain echoed in his mind. It was a small car and the radio was on but over the forgettable pop music of 2005 was the unmistakable stifled quiet sobbing. "So this is how sorrow sounds like." The lights turned red in the distance just before the entrance of the freeway. He rolled the car to a stop, tormented over if he should turn to look at his daughter. There was so much he wanted to do but he couldn't. He knew why she would react like this and the difference between knowing and seeing was exactly how he expected - gut wrenching and visceral. He wanted to tell her that everything would be okay, that this maybe shouldn't hurt as bad as it should but he also knew that those two choices would be thrown right back at his face. He just didn't know what to say to ease her pain. As a young man he knew this day would one day come, where something would happen which would totally destroy his little girl and there's nothing he can do but watch as she struggles not to completely fall apart.

A sigh. The lights are going to change soon. He would have to drive on the freeway, eyes straight ahead and mind occupied. With that, a father's instinct overwhelmed and he turned.

Her headphones was on and she was looking far into the distance, away from him. There was nothing he can say that she could listen. A brief false relief. Suddenly her body twitched. And then again. And once more.

Her heartache became his heartbreak.

If he gets rejected, so be it. He reached out and tenderly placed his hand on her shoulder. She stiffen. A squeeze. She didn't push him away but she also didn't react in any other way.

The lights turned green and a father and daughter went on with their day.