When Native Americans visit a friend,
they symbolically place any troubles they have in a willow box at the
door so they don't bring them into another's life. I mention this
because hospitals are suprisingly cheerful places if you ignore the
illness and suffering that accompany the lives of most patients.
The reason for this is that the people
who make up the NHS—the consultants, doctors, nurses, cleaners and
caterers—all have their own troubles, but they are experts at
leaving them “in the willow box” as they enter the hospital.
There is so much good humor, good will
and optimism. And they don't mind being sent up. (See cartoon!) One
way I deal with my depression is humour. For example, when a nurse
comes to take my blood, I greet her with, 'Good morning, Dracula.' If
my temperature's too high, I pretend to bribe them, asking them to
probe the other ear.
We all deal with our depression in
different ways and we all have mechanisms to combat it. I am
fortunate because I have my wife, Anne, who is my rock and my island.
I also have other family and many friends who seem to want to visit
me. Others are less fortunate and seem to be entirely alone in the
middle of their illness and the worries that accompany it. They are
entirely dependent on the willow box.
Music. Simon & Garfunkel
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