The Power of Positive Thinking

No one likes to be sick and I’m sure there isn’t a person on the planet who likes being in the hospital, but I’m of the opinion that the power of positive thinking goes a long way to helping a person feel better and get well. This philosophy of mine was put to the test two weeks ago when I had surgery, followed by a two-and-a-half day hospital stay.

I was in a room with two other patients, a man and a woman, both elderly. The man had recently recovered from pneumonia, probably had emphysema, and was in the early stages of delirium. He kept taking off his oxygen tubes and getting out of bed without calling the nurse. The staff was concerned he’d fall break a hip, so even my first night, while I was still coming out of the anesthetic, I was having to buzz for the nurse to come and help the poor old fellow.

On my last night there, a nurse pinned the call button to his gown so he couldn’t get out of bed without calling her. But in the middle of the night he took off his oxygen and the gown and went to the bathroom, stark naked! Then the next morning, after yet another trip to the bathroom, he said to the nurse, “There’s a water problem on the floor in there.”

“What kind of water problem?” the nurse asked.

“I peed on it,” he told her.

In my opinion, the nurses all deserved gold medals. They had infinite patience with him, and although they seemed to be run off their feet, they did their very best to keep a close eye on him.

The other person in my room was one of the most cantankerous old women I’ve ever met. There didn’t seem to be much wrong with her, yet she never stopped talking about how terrible she felt, how much pain she was in, and how the incompetent doctors and nurses were doing nothing for her. She even complained to the cleaning staff, the people who deliver meals, and other patients’ visitors. It turned out that her malaise had been brought on by taking too much of two different kinds of medication. She lived alone, but I suspect needs to be in a care facility where her medication can be monitored. The nurses did their best to make her comfortable, although how they kept their patience with her I’ll never know. She didn’t acknowledge anything they did for her, and her litany of complaints never let up.

While I was recuperating, I did my best to let the staff know I appreciated the care they were providing and all the attention they were giving me. And because of that, I think I got even more attention than I deserved. One nurse helped my daughter fix my hair, which had managed to turn itself into a matted mess. Seriously, I managed to take a bad hair day to a whole new level. Another nurse helped me have a shower.

In spite of the great care I was receiving, it was a huge relief when my surgeon consulted with the nursing staff on my third morning there and decided I was ready to go home. Home! I was finally able to get a good night’s sleep, which further strengthened my resolve to think positively. Now, two weeks later, the surgeon says that as far as healing goes, I’m in the top five to ten percent of the population, and that I’m now at the stage where the average person would be in two months.

So yes, I do believe in the power of positive thinking. It’s working for me!

And while I’m at it, I’ll send a huge thank you to the nurses and other health care providers who did such an excellent job of caring for me. Thank you is something they don’t hear often enough.

Lee McKenzie
www.leemckenzie.com