My Week In The Hospital Part II (Room 316)

This is a continuation of the post that I made a couple of weeks ago. I was talking about being in the hospital and walking the halls of the third floor. I was realizing that although I needed to be in the hospital, I was not in danger of getting any worse. I was doing what I was supposed to do. That is, I was staying attached to my IV (I named it Joey), I was drinking plenty of water, and I was going to the bathroom every 15 or 20 minutes because of the IV and the water. So I was getting better with every passing day. But because I was in the hospital, and I was not in danger any longer, I had plenty of time to think. So I walked and thought. As I went into the cancer area every day, I would go to an area that I began to call the sun room. It was an area that was about 10 feet wide by 20 feet long. There were three doors in it. One door was the door that I always used as an entrance to the area. The other two doors were locked and marked Employees Only. I assume that they would take me into the secret lair of the hospital. The room was large enough to contain two sofas and three large windows. If you looked out of the windows, you had a lovely view of I-35 and the latest construction going on at the hospital. I have to tell you that I hated that room for two reasons:

1. It was the dead end road on my hallway highway.
2. It was at least 15 degrees hotter in that room than any other area on the floor.

Nevertheless, I still visited the sun room on a daily basis, spent about two minutes in there, and immediately turned around and walked out. One particular day when my wife came to see me, I started getting restless again and told her I wanted to take a walk. She decided to walk with me. So we did my usual route. Down the hall to the ICU area, take three left turns, up the hall to the other end of ICU, take three more left turns, through the double doors back to the main hall. From the main hall, you walk down to the cancer ward and take a right. Go through the double doors and walk down the hall to the end. At the end of the hall is a left turn only. After the left turn, you go through the final set of double doors and viola! You are in the sun room. Now you must remember that I take this walk about three times every day, so I have already decided that I will spend my usual two minutes in there and go back out. But since my wife was with me, she asked me to sit down for a while so that we could relax outside of my room. She immediately liked the sun room because it was an open space. I gave her one of my looks. She told me she liked in there and wanted to sit for a minute. So I lay down on one of the couches in the room and she took the other. As I lay there on my back, I noticed something that I had not seen in about four days. Laying there on the couch I could look out of the window and see the sky and the clouds. I had never stayed in the room long enough to notice. Because my wife made me stay in there, I was able to see the clouds and remember what it was like to be outside. It was a wonderful feeling. For a moment, I was not in the hospital attached to an IV. I was lying on my back, bathing in the sun. I never would have experienced that moment had it not been for my wife. I told her later that I never liked that room until I went in there with her. For the rest of the week, I would go visit the sun room and look out the window. But instead of looking at the highway and the construction, I made it a point to look up at the clouds. And every time I did, I remembered my wife and the beautiful blessing that God has given me in her. When was the last time you looked at the clouds and remembered God's blessings in your life? Why don't you try it today? You never know what you might see.

Peace and Love,

Rev. Mike





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