An Arm and a Leg
I'd give an arm and a leg
[Last Sunday, A friend asked me to drive down to Brisbane some 350 km away so he could visit a patient in a hospital ward. Four hours later, We got there -- a geriatrics and rehabilitation unit (GARU) ward, which also houses brain injuries rehabilitation unit (BIRU). I spent three hours in the ward observing care routines and in-patients of various conditions. I had visited palliative wards in other hospitals before. I tried to differentiate the wards by functions but came to note that 'palliation' is about easing pains but 'rehabilitation' is about recovering lost abilities. I later learned that both types of wards do not attract top doctors, top nurses or funding. The units are seen as 'death traps' -- the last choice.
This shook me up inside. Awoke me. I thought about it a great deal in the following days. I wrote the poem below from what I saw on that Sunday. It tells a story of a patient recovering from a massive stroke.
Please see also A Terminal Wish https://www.gotoknow.org/posts/560074.]
A saying as common as rhymes.
We hear it so often, repeated over times.
One would 'give an arm and a leg' for a precious thing;
To have and to hold a true asset -- fit for a king.
When I was young, a lonely orphan, no one to hug.
Gone was my mother, so swiftly like someone just pulled the plug.
I wished and wished, 'cross my heart and hope to die'...
I'd give an arm and a leg to have mother's kisses when I cry.
I grew up, independent a man, so proud.
I worked hard and long to make a living what honesty allowed.
I watched my incomes, I weighed my expenditures
I kept a monkey on my back; each day I danced with overtures
I'd love more time to work, more challenges befitting this a bloke!
For years, I went on unrelenting. Then I had a stroke!
Here I lie in bed half naked, pressing a button, please come I beg.
My left side is paralyzed. I cannot feel or move my left arm or leg.
I cannot hold on, my bladder is about to burst, release.
I cannot get up. I cannot walk. Please come now. No time to tease.
Nurse! I am not kidding. I only call when I am in pain.
I'd 'give an arm and a leg' to go to the toilet by myself again.
[Yes, have a chuckle but remember it could have been about me or you.]
[Notes on idioms or slang phrases:
- rhyme (also 'rime'): correspondent/similar sounds eg can & man
- to give an arm and a leg: to pay a lot
- fit for a king: very extra-ordinary
- pull the plug: a slang phrase; to terminate swiftly
- cross my heart and hope to die: to assert truthfully
- a monkey on one's back: a driving force or reason to do something ]
ความเห็น (2)
Nice poem, Khun sr.
Having been trained with International palliative care volunteers,
I'd like to share with you these facts:
palliative ward dwells hopelessness while rehabilitation ward dwells a lot of hope.
Therefore, palliative ward requires doctors and nurses with lots of experiences in dealing with life ending scenarios(mental) while rehabilitation ward requires physical therapists(physical).
Hope this will meet with your top doctors and top nurses criteria.
Thanks rojfitness :
I like and agree with "palliative ward dwells hopelessness while rehabilitation ward dwells a lot of hope". But at the hospital I visited last Sunday the ward houses both " geriatrics and rehabilitation unit (GARU) and brain injuries rehabilitation unit (BIRU)" manned by one (same) nursing team (but perhaps with different doctors and specialists). So the two concepts and goals are intermingled. I think maybe because the piece-wise support duties (lift patient out of bed; change clothes; supply medicine;,,,) are the same whatever the healing purposes are.
I posted A Terminal Wish https://www.gotoknow.org/posts/560074 over a year ago. I think I understand situations from patients' point of view. I hope care-providers look more into individuals' needs. Patients are not just pieces to manipulate.
Let us support people's integrity and self respect on their journey through life.