Trauma Room

At 08:00 a.m., the phone rang. My mother had had a fall earlier this morning, was in pain, and could not get up.

One hour later, she was in hospital again. I went there, knowing I might not be allowed into the emergency ward, but hoping I could persuade the nurses somehow.
And indeed, one of them told me where to wait for my mother to be wheeled to her X-ray, and follow her from there.

So I followed, all the way to radiology, and back into the emergency department (where I took this photo of the empty trauma room opposite my mother's cubicle).

Nobody complained about me being there.
I made sure my mother calmed down, explained the situation to her many times, and made her stay on her gurney for the next four hours. Because it took that long for a  friendly surgeon to turn up, tell us that my mother had bruised her hip badly, but nothing was broken.

They provided her with enough painkiller pills to last until Monday, and sent her home.

Phew.