But Not Exactly Like the Islands

I’ve been saying this to patients for years, receiving their confirmation. I’m just surprised I hadn’t already posted it.

10 Reasons why being in the hospital is like travel in a foreign land:

1. The people around you speak a foreign language.
2. They wear strange costumes.
3. They have strange and obscure customs, one of which is requiring you to wear a strange costume.
4. You’re living in a different time zone.
5. You experience a distortion of sleep not unlike jet lag.
6. The food is unfamiliar and doesn’t taste right.
7. Communication with the outside world is altered if not cut off.
8. Your cash has no meaning.
9. You’re far from family and friends; or, at least it feels that way.
10. By the time you get home, you feel more exhausted than when you left.