Dignity

Dignity is one of those things that you don't notice you have until you lose it. You don't realise that being able to speak without drooling, change the channel on the TV without pushing the remote off the bed, and take a piss without having to call a nurse to help is quite a privelige. But every day I see scores of people who have had this privelige removed. And I hear you say, "it'll never be me, those people are different". Whatever. I saw a stroke patient today in his forties who up until last week was a fully functional man, working 9 til 5, picking the kids up from footie, kissing his wife goodnight. Then during a phone call he collapsed and now he can't even think of the words to say, let alone say them. And the crime he commited for this punishment? He possibly had a few pies too many, smoked a few fags with the odd pint. That's it. Remind you of anyone?
Life isn't fair. Health isn't fairly distributed. Some people smoke 40 a day for life and then slide away peacefully in their sleep. Some people get up in the morning and die suddenly in the shower from an undiagnosed hole in the heart. We'd like to think that there's some invisible force, a God if you like, who will be there to give us a hug when things go a bit wrong, someone to give us a reason and a second chance when we get the rough end of the deal. As much as I'd love it to be true, with my experience it just ain't.
You get one shot, and you'd better use it, love it, and regret nothing, because before you know it I'll be standing over you with my consultant, pretending to understand you because you can't speak without drooling and need help going for a slash.