Stories From Across the Hall

Last week a woman was rushed in and labeled, in red, a cardiac arrest.
I am obesessed with the labeling system, every patient that comes in is assigned a color, each color represents how serious the case. Her family was brought to the room across the hall from my desk. There was a father, two sons and a younger daughter. The daughter ran to a familiar face in the hall and burst into tears. I couldn't help but watch them while I was doing work. Every now and then I would glance across the hall where they sat and keep tabs on the system, making sure it didn't say their mother was sent to the "MORG". Somehow I thought if I could just left click, she would come back once we lost her. If only that was all it took.

*click*

You would think life is more than that, wouldn't you? You would think there
were more to dying than some stranger typing the word, "MORG" into her
computer. There isn't more to it. It really is that simple. People die
here every day. The hardest thing about being here is noticing that after every death, life goes on and no one stops to notice that now the world
is one person less.
My father used to say he thought we were all here on borrowed time. The older I get and the more I witness, I would have to say that is pretty accurate; it is all about how much time you were lucky enough to have borrowed.

Two days later...

Tonight my screen flashed red again, another cardiac arrest, this time a 33 three year old female. We lost her.

A day later...

Another cardiac arrest was brought in. This time a man. He was a husband and probably a father too.

An hour and twenty-nine minutes later...

His wife sat across the hall, as peaceful as she possibly could. I watched a nurse and a doctor go in to greet her. The door shut.
I heard his wife crying...and there it was, in red, the word..."MORG"

*click*

And You'd think I would have built a tolerance to this by now. I've been fine for a while but this week was brutal. I am sure the dark, gloomy Pennsylvania weather hasn't helped. But it seems time isn't enough or perhaps I should word that differently-- maybe it is that, we as people, don't have enough of time. We look for answers in places we can not find them. We believe in people we only think we know. We do all of these useless things while life passes by. What is now wasn't then and what is now may never be again. Real life happens every day whether or not you're watching.

Life becomes so fragile the day you truly realize you can be here one day and gone the next. Don't take your life for granted. Smile even when you do not want to. Allow yourself to love those who deserve your love--love is the key to human existance. Worry less about things you cannot change and change the things you can. Laugh and enjoy life more often than you have been. Be the best version of yourself that you can possibly be. Cherish all of your friendships and treat people the way you would want to be treated. But most of all, don't ever regret one day of being alive and well.

-HB