On My Way to Medical School :: Personal Narratives

On My Way to Medical School As I paced the long dim and silent halls of Floor 3, I breathed in that distinctive â€Å"hospital smell,† that one cannot even begin to describe or pinpoint. Looking down another long hall, I finally saw a doctor come out of the corridors briskly walking toward the waiting lounge where my family had been the past few hours. My grandfather anxiously stepped out to speak with the heart surgeon and for the first time in my life, I saw tears flow from my grandfather’s pale and tired face. After the doctor left, my family members each took turns to go in and see, visit grandma. Between the visits, my grandpa and I sat together while he told me wonderful stories about my grandma and what a wonderful lady she had been to him through their fifty years of marriage. He told me my favorite stories; how they met, how he courted her and how he proposed, but most of all how she had taken care of him through it all. The time had come when it was my turn to go into her room. My family didn’t pressure me at all; in fact it took me three attempts to finally go in. When I did walk in, tears immediately started to flow, but I continued to get closer until I was right beside my grandma holding her hand in mine. I started talking right away and telling my grandma the details of my last few weeks in high school. My turn was over and while on my way out, still holding her hand, I leaned over through all the wires and machines and kissed my grandma on the forehead and whispered, â€Å"I love you† in her ear. For the first time in two days, she responded. She squeezed my hand as if she were saying, â€Å"I love you too!† My grandmother had been diagnosed with colon cancer a few weeks prior to when the doctors found a blocked artery in her heart. Because this took precedence over the colonoscopy, this heart by-pass surgery had to be completed before or else she would not make it through the colonoscopy. The recovery time for this surgery was not supposed to be very long at all, thus permitting her colon surgery to be performed shortly after.