Thread

Topic: " Hospital Corridor "

By:Ariella

In June 1999, when I was 12, my twin sister went to hospital for a day only appointment to have a scan of her neck... and she stayed there for five weeks. For at least two of those weeks the doctors didn't have much of an idea of what was wrong with her and that was a very scary situation. She had to lie flat on her back, staring up at the ceiling and do nothing, whilst in spinal traction. For three days I didn't get to see her. When I finally did, it was in a room very softly lighted, and the bed she was in seemed so much bigger than I would have imagined it to be. I remember how worried and nervous I was. For all of those five weeks that she was in hospital, it was like out lives were in fast forward. There were people coming and going from our house, people sending cards to and visiting my sister in the hospital... people asking lots of questions that I honestly didn't know the answers to. How they expected me to know the things that they asked me, I have no idea.The familiarity of the hospital was a major issue. After a couple of weeks of my sister being there I could have drawn a map of the ward. I could have walked around it with my eyes closed. There was this long hallway, that went the length of the ward and it always seemed so empty especially up the end where there weren't any patients, only empty rooms and a "parents room", which had disgusting meals stored in a fridge, a microwave and a TV. That end of the halfway almost seemed empty enough to echo. When my sister was finally discharged, she was wearing a head-to-hip body brace. She, as well as my mother and the rest of my family, just wanted to get away from that hospital and never have to see it again. But a few months later we were back... I vividly remember walking down that hallway with my mother and her saying to me "It feels like we never left here"  and me agreeing with her so much. You can go away from a hospital for a few months, but as soon as you have been back for two minutes, it feels like all that time in between never existed... never happened... because you are in a hospital again, wondering what is wrong with your sister again... and wondering how long it would take you to walk down to the "parents room" with your eyes closed again... When my sister was in hospital it changed everything around me. You'd think that it would only change a few immediate issues, but so many other things were dragged into it, and my opinions about other things happening at the time were changed by the fact that she was there. And since that year, my sister has been to hospital many more times, and every time my family practically goes to hospital with her if one family member is there, then the rest of the family is too.

 Siblings of people with disabilities often have their Sib go to hospital for one thing or another. I have been in contact with many, many Sibs and that is always one of the things that they tell me annoys them the most. So to any Sibs reading this - know that you are not alone, know that there have been other Sibs walking down hospital corridors knowing that not only is their brother or sister in hospital but in practice their whole family is as well and know that others have thought everything that you have before you.

When you have a brother or sister that spends a lot of time in hospital it affects the whole family. Parents often have to spend a lot of time in hospital and that means that Sibs are either sent off to relatives or friends, or have to tag along and spend many hours in a hospital ward. Not having a normal family life means it can be difficult to see your friends, or keep up with homework. Sometimes you can feel as though you don't count, as if nobody sees you and your needs. Sibs are often not told how sick their sibling is, being left in the dark can leave Sibs feeling worried and scared.

My grandpa was in the hospital a few months ago and died in November. I wasn't allowed up in his room but my mom said it was a sister hospital to the children's hospital where rach was. She said it was really hard because his wing was close to the children's wing and it was way too identical to Rachel's wing.