HAVE YOU EVER FELT VICTIMIZED??

My wife has regular visits to a major world renowned hospital in a vast medical complex in Houston, Tx. A person could quickly be disillusioned by the vastness and complexity of maneuvering through this hospital with a large amount of patients that come from all over the world on any given day.

This story chronicles one of those visits in particular.

On the day that we arrived at the hospital for several tests, my wife was experiencing "shortness of breath" and was not able to walk all the way to the 8th floor where we were to check in for our appointment. Seeing a hospital courtesy wheelchair, I pulled it out of it's storage area.

I will be quick to admit that I have had no previous experience in the operation of a wheelchair. As I tried to figure out how to unfold it, everybody was filing past us in the hallway. Determined not to let it get the best of me, I finally was able to unfold it amid chuckles from passersby that offered no assistance to help me resolve my dilemma.

At this particular hospital, once you checked in, you were required to have tests performed at different locations, on different floors.

After we checked in, we proceeded to our next scheduled appointment on a different floor. As I pushed my wife in the wheelchair, maneuvering all the corridors, I remembered thinking how out of shape I was. Not enough exercise, I thought. I was getting very winded and was starting to sweat. "Just a little bit farther ," I kept telling myself. We finally made it!!

By the time I got there, I was really huffing and puffing for air, trying to catch a breath with beads of sweat trickling down my forehead. When I arrived at our destination, I backed in a small space so she would be out of the way from all the other traffic.

Looking down at the wheelchair, I said, "Honey, I don't mind navigating this vast complex of halls and corridors to get you where you belong on time..., and I don't mind pushing you all over this hospital in this wheelchair....but the least you can do is RELEASE THE BRAKES!!!!" The parking brakes were partially set on the wheelchair causing a drag. The rubber on the wheel was very warm with the hint of a fragrance of burning rubber in the air.

I was victim of high-tech equipment. I learned to caulk this one up to experience.....