It is the day of the surgery. After saying goodbye to my dad, we had a few hours to kill in the waiting area. As the hours pass by, the tension level is getting higher. It is hard to be in a situation where someone you love is going though a potentially dangerous procedure, while you have no control and can’t do anything to help. You just need to wait. Finally, we get the news the surgery is over and it was a success. But then it all starts. Escorting my dad back to his room in the hospital, we are told that he had an extreme reaction to the anesthesia. He becomes confused and aggressive, screaming and trying to pull out the different tubes connected to him. The next couple of hours are hard and it was very traumatic for me to see my dad losing all his defense mechanism and common sense and acting wild, almost like an animal. Although my mind understand that it is a normal reaction for some people after surgery, it is very hard on my heart to see my dad like that. We hired a private nurse for the night. Driving back from the hospital at night, it suddenly hit me:
I can choose to dwell in today’s experience or I can choose to move forward.

I can choose to get stuck in how traumatic today was for me or I can accept it and hope for a better day tomorrow

When talking to other people, I can focus on how hard it was for me, or I can state the facts and share my hopes.

I can not change the facts, but I can change my reaction.