revisiting

The convention I'm attending began today at my alma mater. The hospital looked run down and needing a fresh coat of paint, at least. I walked the nooks and crannies of the place where I learned medicine and felt like a ghost, roaming unseen and unnoticed, trying to recall memories from a very distant past.

The pedia ward has been moved to the upper floors. I remember the pedia ward used to be on the first floor and that was where I lost the desire to become a pediatrician, seeing so many children suffering, it was so depressing to go on duty, wondering who survived the night and who would need continued ambu bagging and who would need a difficult new IV insertion.

The emergency room is still in the same place. I remember how we could not go home for two weeks straight when we were assigned ER duty.

I could not find the nursery, where I remember being so tired I slept on top of a very narrow shoe rack.

There's a new hemodialysis unit in the Pay Building. During my time, we interns had to monitor and change the bottles for the peritoneal dialysis. All through the night.

The loonies are still in the loony bin.

The jampacked parking lot, which used to flood when strong rains came.

The dirty Pasig River at the back of the hospital complex.