A memory of past humor at the hospital

My last post reminded me of when Hannah had surgery when she was 4. There was no problem when we took her in and waited with her in pre-op. Well, unless you consider the fact that we had to keep her occupied for an hour and a half in a cubicle not much bigger than the bed, a problem! At times it took both Mike and I to keep her in the room, as she was bound and determined to wander around the hospital, no doubt looking for things she could climb on, throw, or otherwise destroy! It was a relief when she happily went off with the nurse.

The funny part happened when the surgery was over. The doctor came into the waiting room and talked to us first, to let us know that the surgery had been successful and Hannah was doing very well in recovery. She said one of the nurses would be out to get us very soon and we could go be with her. A few minutes later, a nurse came in. She wasn't one of the nurses who had taken care of us in pre-op, so she wasn't sure who to look for. She called us, butchering our last name, as always. We started to walk towards her, but I realized that she was paying no attention whatsoever to the white couple who got up when she called. She was looking over at a large family group, on the other side of the waiting room, a large black family group. As I got to within about three feet of her, she looked over my shoulder at the black family and once again called out that she was looking for Hannah's parents. The look of complete shock and confusion on her face was priceless as I told her that we were Hannah's parents. She looked at us and then looked back at the black family for a second, as if she didn't believe me! She said, "Oh!" a few times and then took us to our little girl.