Hospital Food
By jabs
- 396 reads
Hospital Food
- Hiya! It's only us again.
O God.
- How're ye doing, today? Ye're looking a bit better today. Better
colour. Do you no think he's lookin better today?
- Aye, a bit less peaky.
Excuse me. He's down here.
- Aye, I ken ye cannae tell us, dinnae fash yersel tryin.
- What about this hand? Can you move it any yet? Here, let's see. Shake
hands, shake hands. Naw, there's no any movement there, cannae feel any
pressure at all.
- Och, never mind. It'll come. It'll come soon enough, eh? And soon
ye'll be able to speak again and aw. And swallow. And then ye'll be
able to get some real solid food inside you, instead of this liquid
drip up yer nostril aw the time.
- What dae ye think, dae ye think he kens it's us?
- Aye, he kens awright, don't ye, eh? The ward sister said the other
day that they reckon that when he's awake he can recognise folk, and
he's aware of everythin goin on around him, and that he understands
what ye say, it's just that he cannae respond.
- Och, what a shame. What a shame, eh? Never mind, it'll come back. It
just needs time. Here, what's the matter with you?
- That guy, in the bed across the passage. He's eating a bun with one
hand, and peein into one of thae urine bottles with the other. It's
disgustin. He could easy enough get up and go to the toilet himsel, I
saw him walkin around the other day when we were in.
- Do you want me to draw the curtain?
- Naw, it's awright, the nurse is drawin the curtain across his bed.
God, some folk have got no shame.
I think that when you're always being prodded and probed, and pushed
and pulled, like some kind of rag doll, when the privacy of your body
is constantly being invaded, maybe you can lose your self-restraint,
maybe you can not care that much any more about any embarrassment you
might cause.
- Er, excuse me...
- Oh, hello, nurse...
- It's just that, there were two gentlemen discharged from the ward
this afternoon, but their dinners were already ordered, and I was
wondering if you...I mean, they'd just go to waste.
- Yes, thank you nurse, that would be nice.
- Uh huh, thank you.
And the only ones who have any privacy any more are the members of
staff. And the visitors.
- Let's see, what have we got here...pea soup, and what's under this
cover, what's the main course...
Fried liver and onions, maybe?
- Roast beef, and roast potatoes, carrots, and peas...and I've got
pudding too...semolina, it looks like, with a dollop of jam in the
middle. What have you got?
- The same.
- Let's try the soup. Mmm, quite nice. You not havin your soup?
- Naw, I think I'll skip it and just go straight to the main course.
Mmmnnuh-huh, it's nice, it's really quite tasty.
- I tell you, I dunno why folk complain about the state of hospital
food.
- Naw, nor me.
Dinner. Not where I eat, but where I am eaten.
- Very good. Very good, eh?
- Aye, aye, very good...oooh...hic! That's better.
The miserable sport of every wind.
- Well, that's that. I was goin to have a frozen hotpot for my dinner
when I got home.
- Well, it'll keep for another day. Or ye can have it later on, if
ye're still feelin peckish. Is it one of those microwaveable ones? Aye.
Only takes a couple minutes to cook, eh?
- Aye. But I think that'll do me for the day. Got to watch my
figure.
- Ha-aye! Me and aw.
- Now. Just you rest, just relax. Ye're getting better, I can see wee
improvements every day. It's just gonnae take time. A day at a time. A
step at a time. Just you relax, and I'll tell ye aw the latest
news.
I'm saying nothing.
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