This week has been busy. I have been rounding at the hospital seeing patients. Hospital work has its own challenges and charm. It is a noisy place with alarm bells, beeper sounds going off, telephones ringing, staff talking, overhead announcements, all sorts of sensory overload. At times the sounds are similar to the busyness of airports. It is not a place one goes to heal, for there is no space for the body to rev down to repair itself. Most patients get little to no sleep. But that is not the purpose of this musing.
SO I am sitting at the desk in the work area, glued to my computer screen typing notes into the EMR when I hear a distinctly different irritating noise to disturb my concentration. Yet this was a pleasant tone. It was different. It is was a few plucked strings of a harp. And just quickly as it came, it was gone. Now in the past at other hospitals I have heard a similar sound, which is a reminder for nursing and staff to turn their patient over if they have been lying down too long in one position, so they do not get bed sores. Being that was an every 20 minute sound, it was just another “noise” that I have tuned out since it does not particularly pertain to my work flow as a doc. Other similar tunes have been to remind the staff to pause and take a breath. A clever idea yet I know that this was stopped at this hospital as it did not seem to have much traction and was canceled. Yet this was a rare novel sound.
So I turned to the one other staff person who was sitting next to me along this desk and I jokingly said “ Are we supposed to see any angels with that sound? “
He engaged me by saying “ HA ha that is funny. That sound is infrequent but it comes on nwhen a baby is born.”
“I had no idea. That is so sweet.” I replied as I pondered about this new information that had entered my brain.
“ One of the few things we do right in healthcare” he said as he started to get up from his seat.
“ hear me out. Do you think we should have some sort of Imperial march tone from Star Wars when someone dies then, you know just to keep things in balance with the births?” I stated out loud.
He laughed “ That is dark, but it may freak everyone out hearing darth Vader walking around”
“ Maybe, but you can follow me for more bad ideas” to which he introduced himself, broke the ice and we chatted for a few moments and we parted ways. I was left to my EMR screen and all the cacophony of the alarms in the background.
This got me thinking. A new life into the world. That had a nice “ring” to it. In an environment that is so stressful like all hospitals filled with illness and death, this was a cool reminder that the cycle of birth is happening outside our awarenesses. Often I am not thinking along those lines, as I drudge around with my plans for the day, does anyone? ( Apart from expecting parents).
The more present we are, we can tune out the unnecessary, and pay attention to the essential. The moment of NOW holds much magic. The deeper we go with our breath and get grounded into our body, we can connect with all this happening around us. We can “listen” to the movement of the divine within us, and feel its flow around us, guiding us.
Pay attention, lest we miss the flow of life as water trickles through our fingers.
………….
I love you
