I miss laughing like I did when I was a child
I think we all do
Laughing so much you cried
When a drunk Auntie Betty trapped herself on top of a child’s slide with a packet of chocolate buttons melting down her cleavage
When Gran Fry got locked in the lavatory and was calling out for help
When one of the posh girls from Brynterion Close put on a dance show and shouted out “Crumbs” when she fell over
Great moments of pure humour.
Night Nurse Hysteria is a common phenomenon on busy wards.
It often occurs right at the end of shift and is culmination of over tiredness, stress, the need to debrief and realisation that you will have to do the whole thing again the next night.
Once I was sat at the end of my patient’s bed on Itu, totally knackered.
A domestic decided she was going to clean the floor with a loud buffing machine and in a low voice I threatened to kill her with a drip stand if she didn’t stop
The domestic knew me and knew I was joking but the nurses around me saw the funny side of the threat and started to laugh.
I remember laughing until I cried as they did the same, the Filipino nurses still polite , shielding their mouths with their hands
And that morning all you could hear was the bleeps of the monitors and the strangled hysterical laughter of the staff
In work the likes of which you do surely laughing is not only a release and relief but is essential to maintaining one's sanity. Laugh away with abandon - please!........ :-0
ReplyDeleteThere is something rather moving about watching someone really laughing
DeleteTimes when laughing wasn't the expected response to a situation, when it wasn't necessary to have anyone understand what I found funny,they understood it was a relief valve, we could either laugh together or cry alone,
ReplyDeleteI am glad you had ones that understood laughing was a needful choice, rest well when you do,Mary
Even today , hysteria will often surface around 6 am
DeleteI'm a 'laugher'; big time. When I really get going I find it difficult to stop and all the family say "Off he goes again" etc. Still, I'd rather that than be miserable.
ReplyDeleteWhy does this not surprise me cro x
DeleteAs a long time rotating shift worker, I understand the hysteria. and rather dreadful black humour.
ReplyDeleteThe photo of you fourth down on you side bar is rather good.
It’s good because it’s not me lol he’s a Latino actor from a zombie show
DeleteI think I need to rethink my life, I can't remember the last time I laughed.
ReplyDeleteSurely reading going gently x
DeleteYou make me smile and you brighten up my day but unfortunately I still cannot raise a laugh.
DeleteI come from a family of great laughers and gigglers!
ReplyDeleteI find humour in almost everything, particularly at the most
inappropriate moments.
Life's too short to be taken seriously! X
Me too…I may not be handsome but I have a cracking sense of humour
DeleteSometimes laughter is the best medicine for the patient and the care giver.
ReplyDeleteI agree…..I’m halfway through my email xx
DeleteOh, hysterical-pee-your-pants laughing is the best, especially in the middle of something dark! When my sister and I were in the midst of caring for our elderly dad, and SHIT got real, (Literal shit) one of us got the sillies about it, and next thing you know, we were laughing so hard we couldn't breathe, and all you could hear was our wheezing in between snorting! It made an awful scene bearable, and we got through it. Laughing like that is a work out and a release!
ReplyDeleteI was telling my sister of how I collapsed at Heathrow , and described being surprised at seeing my green shoe flung across the floor…I just KNEW she would find that funny, and I was right, it was entertaining waiting her bite her cheek
DeleteWe were visiting my elderly mother in law in her care home on Xmas day.Our teenage children were with us and an old dear came out of the dining room holding on to her Zimmer frame wearing a pirate’s hat.That set them off and they just couldn’t stop!Barbara
ReplyDeleteI love irony too, something the trolls here miss completely
DeleteI try really hard not to laugh at the wrong time, But it usually pops out as a loud snort! Such a lady.....not. x
ReplyDeleteEven better a good loud snort often gets everyone going
DeleteBut then I blush like a hot flush and do nervous giggles. I can't wait to grow up x
DeleteI got the giggles during my first wedding when sweat started dripping off the ministers nose. I should have left the room and run away then.. I laughed so hard during the movie “Up in Smoke” the first time watching, that I lay down on the floor rolling around, then everytime I remembered the scene, I started all over. Now that I’m alone I sometimes recall something and start laughing out loud. The dog thinks I’m nuts! It feels good to have a good laugh and also a good cry, which I never did till after my husband died four years ago, not even when my parents died. I guess I was just brought up to not show emotions. It is a good stress reliever to laugh or cry, but laughing till you pee yourself is the very best. Gigi
ReplyDeleteI’ve never peed myself laughing but I have fallen overskipping which resulted in lying in the road in Sheffield sobbing with laughter
DeleteI would pay money to see this! hehehe
DeleteThis reminds me of one of my favorite movie scenes. In Steel Magnolias Sally Field is expressing anger at the death of her daughter when Clarrie grabs Ouiser and makes Sally laugh. Jackie
ReplyDeleteOuiser shouting to mlynn “ Slug her!!!!!”
DeleteOlympia Dukakis best line
Yes!!!! Jackie
DeleteOh yes….Dukakis was a class act and role model for me
DeleteKeith
Xx
Mine too Keith
DeleteI worked nights for years and at 4am, everything is funny as fuck.
ReplyDeleteSay this one to any nurse at 4 and cackling would follow
DeleteI did love this story. Humans have been given the gifts of laughter and tears. Sometimes both happen at the same time. One of my absolute favorite memories happened within the last year when my grandson and I started laughing at the way I was reading one of his books- the voice I gave to a mother bird. We did literally laugh so hard we cried.
ReplyDeleteIt was a special moment lightened by the laughter , how lovely
DeleteI love a good, uncontrollable laugh - good memories. My husband has been known actually to fall off his chair laughing.
ReplyDeleteI’d like him for that
DeleteMy family loves to laugh. We find humor at odd times but it helps to keep us going!
ReplyDeleteIn jokes within families are adorable
DeleteI remember as a child sticking small stickers all over my grandmothers face and glasses in our parked car
Her embarrassment when a young policeman looked through the window still makes me laugh ( and cry) some 55 years later
And the worst kind of uncontrollable laughter is when it strikes you (and only you) in some solemn setting. Like at church during a sermon. That happened to me!
ReplyDeleteI adore that……
DeleteIn looking back we have all had those moments. That makes us humans, be it man or woman. No matter the country it is the same.
ReplyDeletePerhaps a few more jokes should be told in the UN
DeleteDo I ever identify with that medical dark humor and the helpless laughter of bone tired fatigue.
ReplyDeleteWishng us all funny situations and people to laugh with.
Hugs!
Hugs babs
DeleteIt is sometimes an absolute necessity to find something to laugh about. I could tell you a story about a clicking pen. Years later all I have to do is say 'click click' and my sister and I fall over laughing.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry for any offense given yesterday. None was intended.
None taken x
DeleteI can't remember the last time I laughed till it hurt, but I do remember how good it felt. xx
ReplyDeleteWatching Roger gleefully chasing bees around the garden
DeleteWe all need a good laugh. I do not remember the last time I laughed and cried. i remember it was great.
ReplyDeleteI remember both ….gawd get a grip john lol
DeleteLaughter is a stress reliever. The patients must have wondered what the heck was going on!
ReplyDeleteThey were all asleep on ventilators Steve lol
DeleteJohn, all my life, since I was very young, I have always tried to make people around me laugh. Now that I'm a senior, particularly whilst going to various hospitals for treatments during Covid, it's made me feel even more upbeat and positive by joking around with people I meet. When I come and go, usually everyone waves and smiles. That's made dealing with the difficulties we all experience in life so much easier.
ReplyDeleteI get that, because I too often feel it’s my responsibility to lighten a mood …I need to remember it’s not always my job
DeleteThe only person I really laugh easily with is my brother. It's like we are children again when we are together, and still annoys my sister who just doesn't get what makes us crease up.
ReplyDeleteChildren often have hidden meanings and a language all of their own
DeleteI was only thinking that the other day. I miss laughing. Everyone is so serious and scared of saying the wrong thing. I also think younger people don't seem to have a funny bone anymore. They take everything as literal. There's no fun in life anymore. I want to laugh like a 7 year old!! I think that's the best age before they get serious.
ReplyDeleteI agree Dunham lass - that younger people don't seem to have a funny bone anymore. I'm sure some do but the ones I read about in newspapers and that my son knows seem very humourless.
DeleteThat was my reply to Dunham lass - Ruth
DeleteI remember having a lively debate with another nurse about something clinical . A patient in the room asked us to be quiet because he was “trying to die “
DeleteAnd we all burst out laughing
I loved that moment
If we are at Church - all is quiet - You can hear a pin drop
ReplyDelete- the Priest solemn - I dare not glance at any of my cousins -Though they are most mature with responsible jobs we easily regress again to our childhood x 😂
Childhood jokes the best
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ReplyDeleteI have a whole list of medical funnies, most I cannot repeat here
DeleteI have never laughed like that, maybe a chuckle at a pugs on TikTok vid now and then. I wonder if it's cultural? Upbringing? My family never laughed. And I'd be very uncomfortable hearing my nurses laughing while in the hospital.
ReplyDeleteI think that’s a shame , nurses need to laugh sometimes…at least on intensive care all of the patients were sedated and ventilated so could hear a thing
DeleteI have been in ICU but not ventilated. Ended there bec of nurses' inattention. Was not up for laughing.
DeleteI remember those fits of giggles and laughter. Can't remember the last time nor can I remember a specific one. I miss that.
ReplyDeleteWe need to have a giggle
DeleteI'm looking forward to it.
DeleteThe laughter you can have as a child..not self conscious...yet...
ReplyDeleteWe all need to laugh more, it's a happiness and a relief
I agree, we all need to laugh more
DeleteLong, and loud
And proud
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteI don't remember the last time I laughed really hard but it's fairly frequent. I'll probably laugh a lot less when my daughters move out.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend in hospital with sepsis right now and sent her a cookie monster get well. When she replied with "cookies" I felt she would make it
What a wonderful advert John. I still see my old schoolfriends. One I was in the infants with and the other I stated Senior school with. We have spent over 65 years making memories together and had some very special times and we still laugh and laugh until we cry. The best medicine in the world. XXXX
ReplyDeleteTina in west oz. Still get to do it when we have friends around the table for tabletop games. (Never Monopoly!) The sillier the better, though I do draw a line at the one where you throw a foam burrito at each other! It does the heart good!
ReplyDeleteI find I laugh a lot more around people I like a lot. A really good group fit of laughter is great!
ReplyDeleteI rarely see people laugh now. My Dad hasn't smiled or laughed for decades! (Due to constant ill health) I remember when the pair of us would crack up pulling ugly faces or he would say poiple for Purple and other silly things and we would snigger and chortle with a shared appreciation for each others humour.
ReplyDeleteI am a 70 yrs old woman. My husband has had really scary health issues in the last 18 months, between a 15 minute Dead ( passing dr and defibrillator saved the day) on Birmingham airport concourse, then an emergency toe amputation. It has been a hard time. Last weekend we flew to Glasgow to Husband’s nieces wedding. I was so excited to be back surrounded by family. The wine flowed freely. Very late on I left the function room to go to the loo, to find the bride tears streaming down her face surrounded by best mates ( bridesmaids) and I spotted he new husband lurking some distance away. I rushed forward all concerned and asked what was wrong. Her slurred speech between sobs, advised me that she wanted to go clubbing with her friends, not to her hotel with husband. I put my arms around her and guided her towards the exit, gently saying whatever words of comfort I could muster. I finally got her out of the building and said right off you go with your mates and I’ll go and have a shag with your lonely husband. Oops really inappropriate humour.
ReplyDeleteLol not much I can say lol
Delete