Sunday 15 / November / 2026
When I visited my uncle at the hospital last week, I learned something very important about the world we live in and all the things that we take for granted.
He had a big smile on his face and that made me wonder if he was on holiday or on a hospital bed. I looked at his swollen leg and I wondered how he coped with the pain. I sat next to him and he started talking about everything but never mentioned about his problem that brought him to the hospital.
There was no crease on his face to show any discomfort. He chose to talk about life well-lived marking moments of joy that he shared with relatives and friends over his long lifetime. He is 90 now and told me that the rollercoaster of his life had many bumps, hitches and scary moments.
But he never allowed any one of them to push him back or dictate his life. In other words, he takes everything in his stride. And now, he never allows anything to dominate his thoughts at any one time. But how does he cope with his pain?
He is doing it by turning the facts in his life into a wheel of fantasy. Mind you, he never exaggerates anything. He is spinning his life into story-telling full of harmony. He never told me that but his tone suggests that he has no regrets.
And that brings up another question. How does he reconcile with the ups and downs in his life? Very simple. He turns the story-telling into fantasy but based on facts. It is all amusing. Listening to him, in that hospital bed, is like reading a novel that you do not want to put down.
It did not take me long to understand it. His narrations were an escape route from his hospital ordeal. No bed is big enough to nail him down. His body may be forced to lie down, but his mind was free. Just like a bird on fluttering wings, his thoughts wander beyond his fragile body.
It has been a lesson to me. The mind has no muscles but it is stronger than the body. In his case, the transgressing thoughts in his mind are also a pain killer. How does he do it? Very simple. He let his thoughts loose but carefully maneuver them to a safe transition.
While he was at it, the doctor walked in his room and asked about the medication. My uncle gave him a bright smile and said it was all fine. He did not say it but his expression told the doctor, “run along, there are other patients who need you more than me.”
Minutes later, a nurse also walked in. My uncle gave her an encouraging smile and repeated the same thing. But the nurse was not going to be put off that easily like the doctor. She made more fuss over him. So my uncle decided to put the nurse in the fantasy of his story.
“Do you know that you have the eyes of heaven?” He told the nurse.
She blushed but still continued with the routine medical monitoring. It was not until she completed the routine that she said to me,” your uncle has a way with words. He is different from all of our patients.”
That summed it up for me. It was not just me who got entertained by him but the medical staff as well as my uncle escapes the reality of his situation.
