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Taylor Joyner Professor Imbur Composition I 29 January 2012 Hospitals As you walk in the doors you see other people sitting around waiting for their turn. Children are impatiently waiting with their parents often crying because of some pain they are in. Parents look worried and concerned trying unsuccessfully to try to put an end to the discomfort their child is in, and wondering if this is something serious. Then you see the nurses at the desk trying to convince people that things are backed up and the doctors are trying their best to see everyone as quickly as possible. Then there is that rush when someone comes in with a gunshot wound the doctors and nurses look frantic and unsettled. Hopefully you guessed what I was describing, the Emergency Room of a hospital. I know all too well of what these visits are like. My brother is handicapped and the hospital seems as so though it is his unwanted second home. He has multiple handicaps and the major cause for his hospitalizations is his severe constipation issues. For my family the hospital signifies fear, uncertainty, prayer, questions, sadness, grief, and helplessness. Just recently my mom and I took my brother to the hospital thinking that it was just going to be like any other time. They would give him an enema and say he is good to go. This time he got admitted, this time our annoyance of sitting in the emergency room turned into a nightmare. Our late night emergency room visit turned into a 4 week stay. The roller-coaster ride we were on made it possible for me to visit different parts of the hospital and see first-hand the symbols that are there. As you go through a hospital different feelings and symbols are generated through the people working and the overall design of the rooms.

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The first room he was in was colorful and there was a T.V and you felt welcome to stay and visit. It was a part of the hospital that was just intended for admitted patients that were undergoing tests and waiting for results. The nursing station was on one side of the hall and the entire hall was filled with rooms with two patients in each room. There was a level of concern but it didnt consume the air around you. People were confident and didnt seem to be filled with fear. At this point we were calm and shrugging it off, thinking to ourselves he will go home in about a day or so. In the room there was a couch that turned into a bed, and a personal bathroom. Symbolizing that family was accepted to stay and sleep. There werent any windows to the hall of the room giving the family and patient privacy, as well as a feeling of being cut off from the rest of the hall. The nurses were light-hearted making the feeling of being there even more welcoming. When the nightmare began the feeling of confidence and easiness wore off quickly. As he was rushed to the medical intensive care unit the feeling changed drastically. He wasnt breathing and oxygen machines werent helping. He needed to be intubated quickly to allow him to breath. The medical ICU was a place that symbolized urgency. There were no couches in the rooms or televisions sets. Each room didnt have a door and the entire wall was a window so that it was easy to look in. There wasnt much standing room with all the machines and equipment hogging up all the space. All of these things made you feel as though your stay was not welcome, and they wanted the patient out of there as soon as possible. Around me there were other patients and their families. The looks on the faces, the somber expressions that just read fear and anxiety. This was definitely a different atmosphere then the easy going floor with the nurses 10 feet away at a station. Privacy wasnt the concern in this area of the hospital. People in this wing were expected for emergency surgery, on machines giving them life, and being pumped with medication. This is the part of the hospital that people dread, and want to avoid like the plague. But here we were smack in the

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middle of a swarm of tension. The doctors looked concentrated and focused over charts and x-ray pictures. They were searching for clues; you could see their minds twirling around desperately trying to provide the answers to the families. Uncertainty crept its way into our hearts, engulfing our minds and making us fear the possibility of death. Looking back this wasnt even the worst part of the journey we were on. In the middle of the night after his admittance to the MICU, doctors came to our family with faces of hesitation unsure of the words they wanted to use. Telling us that surgery was his only hope for survival they looked at us as though they wouldnt want to be in our position. Getting an enema to relieve constipation turned into life or death surgery decision. This is why people often think of hospitals with hesitation. Death hangs over hospitals and lingers in the hearts of people who have experienced the distress that goes along with hospital stays. Sitting in the waiting room you cannot focus and your mind wanders. Looking at the walls there were posters and advertisement for letting go of loved ones. I could not at this point understand how anyone could provide with the treatment to get over the death of my brother. These posters were intended to give comfort but also show the severity of what was to come. As the doctor walked toward us leaving the operating room, her white lab coat was like a beacon of light. It symbolized hope and the trust we put in her hands to bring my brother out safely. As she told us the good news that everything was a success our fears melted away and the choke hold on our hearts was released. For three weeks Troy stayed in the hospital trying to recover from his major surgery. Now we were back in the rooms with couches and televisions. Since he had major surgery we never went back to that floor with the light hearted aura. The nurses he had were more skillfully trained and although they treated him well they didnt share the same easiness. Although we were through the worst part of the storm, we had to clean up the aftermath. Across the hall from troys room was

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a woman who had underwent the same surgery as him. I cried because he recovered but she didnt. Her body was not strong enough to go through the stress of surgery. Days after her surgery she passed away and the fear that that could have been my brother swept back in. Prayer was the only thing I knew during this time in the hospital. Weeks passed and they were releasing him. My mom brought him a fresh change of clothes from home. He no longer had to wear the hospital night gown that just symbolized all that he went through. We gave him a bath trying to wash away the pain he endured. His strength and endurance is impeccable. Taking him to the car I saw a few different situations unfold. There was a woman smiling from ear to ear holding a new born baby while her husband wheeled her to their car. I saw a teenage girl clinging to her father crying at about the loss of someone. Finally I saw a middle aged man maneuvering through the hospital like he had been there way too many times. From the yellow pigment of his skin I assumed he was there for dialysis to help with kidney problems. The different stories I saw unfold as I left the hospital represented the large array of explanations and feelings you get from a hospital. For some the only symbol they have for a hospital is anger and sadness. For others it is birth, and new beginning of something special. Then there are those who have that unwanted relationship with the revolving door of the hospital. As we drove away I saw one more huge symbol. The hospitals enormous size illustrates a huge symbol. The symbolism you take from it depends on the person and the experience they get in the hospital. For the mother it is like a heavenly god like structure, strong and independent. For the teenage girl it is an enormous reminder of her loss and the only thing that can compare to its size is the size of grief in her heart. Then for the man it is a big friend, which is there and doesnt seem to be disappearing anytime soon. This experience showed me that everyone develops their own feelings about a hospital and everything else around them. The symbols we all see are only depicted how

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we decide to, and those depictions may not match those of others. My depiction: the hospital is a place to avoid and only with good health is that possible; therefore it is my goal to keep my brother in tip top medical shape.