The Hot Seat

So the adage tells us we have to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes to really know how they feel.

But I think that saying should be revised.

I think it should say that you have to sit on someone else’s seat.

Last week I visited the dialysis unit to see a friend who goes there on a regular basis.

The word dialysis didn’t mean much to me, as I only vaguely understood that it meant that people needed to have their blood cleaned.

As I step foot in the dialysis unit for the first time I froze.

All the people lined up with tubes and blood circulating throughout the room was overwhelming.

Each patient was set up in a big cold-looking chair and most of them would spend the day at the unit receiving treatment.

This wasn’t one of those hospital visits where a patient is admitted and receives flowers, cards and visitors.

Rather, the hospital was a regular part of these people’s lives.

As I regained my composure and walked into the unit, the patients all gasped with disbelief.

“Oh, a dog,” many of them exclaimed.

At first I wasn’t sure if this was a good or bad thing.

The arms that seemed to have been weighted down with tubes of blood began to rise and so too did the smiles on their faces.

The smiles began to flow around the room like a chain reaction and as I like to believe, the energy warmed the patients’ hearts and soon they were all sitting in the hot seat rather than the cold hospital chair.