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Healing Hands

—in appreciation of the care provided (free of charge) by
the NHS, the National Health Service of the UK, while I was
hospitalised as a pain patient.

I thank the Lord for healing hands, indeed!
For Satan gripped me with his razor claws;
In agony, just begging to be freed,
Extreme affliction, no reprieve or pause.

A tender nurse admits me in their care,
The doctor sympathises with the grief.
Prescribed a drug which saved me from despair:
Kind Morpheus rushed in, giving much relief.

The God of dreams expelled that vicious devil!
Though I’m advised to be discreet and wary:
“Morpheus carries his own risks and perils.”
Since opioid addiction’s so damn scary.

Sweet morphine gave me great release from pain,
Yet it can seize your body, soul and brain!

.

Poet’s Note: Morphine was named after the Greek God, Morpheus, the God of dreams and sleep because of its tendency to cause both vivid dreams and sleep in patients.

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Drilon Bajrami is a nascent poet who lives in the United Kingdom and is currently finishing up a dystopian novel he has been working on for a few years.


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21 Responses

  1. Paul A. Freeman

    A workmanlike sonnet, and on a subject often unfairly treated.

    Good luck with the dystopian novel, Drilon.

    Reply
  2. Roy E. Peterson

    This may be the only poem in praise of the UK National Health Service, but we are thankful you were given a quick solution for your pain problem. “King Morpheus” is an inspired personalization.

    Reply
    • Paul A. Freeman

      Check online. There are plenty of poems in praise of the NHS. Don’t believe all you hear in America’s Made Up Media.

      Reply
    • Drilon Bajrami

      While I’ll admit there are a lot of problems with the NHS — like long waiting lists — it is far better than the US system, where the taxpayer pays more per capita for healthcare but most of that money doesn’t go towards care but right into the pockets of healthcare companies. That’s just a horrific system and why in western countries healthcare is usually a bi-partisan issue sorted with a single payer system. The NHS isn’t broken but the US system certainly is.

      How many tens of thousands would it have cost me if I was hospitalised in the US?

      Reply
  3. Joseph S. Salemi

    Morphine is an effective painkiller, but its addictive qualities were recognized very early. Because of its wide use with wounded soldiers in World War I, many surviving veterans became hopeless addicts in the 1920s.

    A friend of mine had surgery two years ago, and his doctor told him that he would be in great physical pain after waking up from the anaesthetic. His doctor also told him that he could have a solid dose of morphine for one day to counteract this, and the following days would be much easier to endure as a result.

    My friend refused, saying “I’ll take the pain. There’s no way I will allow myself to be dosed with morphine.”

    Reply
    • Drilon Bajrami

      I’m academically trained as a pharmacist, so I know quite a bit about opioid painkillers and if used responsibly there is very low risk of depedency or addiction — if it occurs it’s usually because patients did not follow instructions. This is why most doctors, if there is good reason, won’t mind prescribing strong painkillers for up to a week and then switching to a weaker opioid or tapering the dose. Though, these drugs should always be treated with caution, naturally.

      I had a similar case with my grandfather, who refused opioid painkillers while dying of cancer. He was old school like that and believed men should just suffer through it, at least that’s my conjecture since why not make the dying less painful? I don’t think becoming an opioid addict or any other dangers of opioids matter when you’re going to die soon, that’s why palliative care doctors usually prescribe massive doses to terminal patients. I, for one, will ask my doctors for massive doses of oxycodone once it’s my time to go!

      Reply
  4. Mike Bryant

    You’re a lucky man, sir.
    I know a man that was killed by the same Covid protocols that killed so many here.
    I know a medical professional who became a whistleblower after witnessing four patients die because of new protocols performed by novice nurses. This person was promptly fired and told to keep her mouth shut.
    The NHS is NOT the NHS of old.

    Some notes from a quick internet search by ChatGPT:

    Public Satisfaction

    According to a 2023 survey by The King’s Fund, overall satisfaction with the NHS fell to 24%, marking an unprecedented drop of 29 percentage points since 2020. Dissatisfaction reached a record high of 52%. The primary reasons cited for dissatisfaction included long waiting times, staff shortages, and inadequate funding.
    THE KING’S FUND

    Waiting Times and Backlogs

    The NHS has experienced a significant increase in waiting times for elective treatments. In September 2024, approximately 6.3 million patients were on the waiting list in England, with over 3.1 million waiting more than 18 weeks and nearly 249,300 waiting over 12 months. The largest backlog was in trauma and orthopaedic care, affecting over 850,000 people.
    WIKIPEDIA

    By the way, neither THE KING’S FUND nor WIKIPEDIA are affiliated with “America’s Made Up Media.”

    Reply
      • Drilon Bajrami

        I think it’s disingenous to put the issues on immigration, especially when the government spending figures are what they are. Spending on a service directly correlates to the quality of the service.

        And even though Labour is considered liberal, right now it’s actually centre right due to it’s leadership under Starmer. Labour is actually doing a better job of controlling immigration than the conservatives did:

        https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/commentaries/labours-pledges-on-migration-the-data/

        The future of the NHS is looking good because of Starmer’s £3 billion pledge (something the conservatives never did and would never do) and the overall decline in immigration. Though, I think immigrations effects on the NHS are overstated.

      • Mike Bryant

        I wasn’t being disingenuous at all… I think it IS disingenuous to assert that I put the problems down to “immigration” when, in fact, I said, “uncontrolled immigration.” It’s also disingenuous to assume that bringing in millions of people that have few skills and then immediately supplying them with food, clothing, shelter and healthcare out of public funds doesn’t have an effect on the country… in all areas.

      • Drilon Bajrami

        What do you mean by “uncontrolled” immigration? The UK has pretty stringent requirements when it comes to immigration. In terms of illegal immigrants, that’s always going to be an issue for any country with wealth — impoverished people will try to come here for a better life, but this is almost impossible to prevent. And any illegal immigrants caught are usually always deported, so it’s not the UK is a save haven, you’re better off in Germany as an illegal immigrant.

        Part of the UK’s stringent visa requirements are bringing in skilled workers to plug in that gaps. If I want to immigrate to any country, the first thing they ask are what skills I bring to that country, it’s no different here.

        I generally support immigration, especially skilled immigration, but even if that’s not the case, people have inherent potential. My family came to the UK fleeing war and if there’s ever Wikipedia articles made about my literary career, they’ll say I’m British and they’d be correct and I’d have contributed to British literature (I already have infinitesimally and hopefully I can do more with novels and further poetry) . Immigrants tend to start more businesses and outperform natives academically and this can be a great economic benefit to a country. After all, taking a business risk doesn’t seem daunting to someone who risked their life to make it here.

        Though too much of anything can be a bad thing. I think Britain should be British and America should be American. With current projections, by 2100 and beyond, they may become ethnic minorities in their own countries!

    • Drilon Bajrami

      While I don’t know enough about the covid protocols to comment on those, I know enough to comment on the other things.

      You might not agree with me but the reason the NHS stopped being the envy of the world, in terms of healthcare systems is because the conservative party has systemtically slashed spending, because they want to destroy the NHS but they know for that to ever happen HERE it would need to be so bad the people would BEG for privatisation, that’s the entire plan. The former health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, wrote a book on how to go about privatising the NHS! And since you reference the King’s Fund, here is their analysis of NHS spending and how each government has spent:

      https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-analysis/blogs/nhs-spending-squeezed

      It cannot be denied from the statistics that that is what they’re trying to do.

      And from that Daily Mail article you linked, you can actually see that when Labour (the liberals) were in power, waiting lists were decreasing and then as soon as the conservatives took over, patients on waiting lists skyrocketed, increasing by a factor of 3 in 15 years.

      It’s no wonder to me that satisfaction is way down and waiting lists are they way they are, the wonder to me is how anyone can wonder why this is the case when it’s clear the reason is the conservative government had control of the NHS for 15 years is the reason!

      Reply
      • Mike Bryant

        It seems to me that whether the government is Conservative or Liberal the same things keep happening. I don’t suppose you think uncontrolled immigration could have anything to do with the problems.
        Milton Friedman said, “You cannot have open borders and a welfare state.” He was wrong, of course. You really can have both… the problem… you can’t have them both for very long.

  5. Maria

    In defence of the people who work for the NHS they do an amazing job given the circumstances.
    We the working people of this country have paid thinking it would look after us instead we feel a burden. If only we had some of the money we had paid in and had taken a private medical plan instead. Yes we want to help others but how far do you keep loading a sinking ship? Make no mistake the NHS is not free , not for those of us who have spent a lifetime working and paying taxes through blood , sweat and tears. And still do. inheritance tax will take care of the rest.

    Reply
    • Drilon Bajrami

      Yes, the employees of the NHS deserve much praise, they do a great job, no matter what they must deal with.

      I’d be very dubious of private healthcare, as I simplu just see it as a scam. At least with the government, you know all of the taxes allocated for the NHS will go towards running it; when you’re dealing with private healthcare companies, they have to take their massive cut, which would you leave in a worse position than if you paid the tax instead. There’s a reason 32 out of the 33 richest nations have universal healthcare, in some form or another. The USA hasn’t cracked some secret code — unless you’re a shareholder of a private healthcare company.

      And while I don’t have much faith in Kier, his £2 billion bolus and £1 billion of investment into efficiency should somewhat help relieve some burden on the NHS. Waiting times have already gone down and some doctors are happy with the changes. Time will tell if this can be improved upon.

      Reply
  6. Maria

    Drilon I neglected to say that I am glad you are well and had a good experience with the NHS.
    There are so many issues in the UK right now and the saddest thing is that it is all impacting on democracy, freedom and law and order. Hopefully the more debate there is over how to move forward the more we will arrive at some common sense.
    Thank you for your poem.

    Reply
    • Drilon Bajrami

      Thank you for your kind words, Maria, I’m glad you enjoyed my poem. And honestly, I haven’t had many great experiences with the NHS (especially in terms of my GP practice), this experience was overall positive and pleasant, but a few things could’ve been better.

      I think the UK is facing many issues that a lot of other countries are facing right now, in terms of those factors you mentioned. Maybe things must get worse before they get better but I hope that’s not the case.

      Reply
  7. Aaron S.

    A touching poem of great quality, Drilon. As a Brit myself, I am very grateful to the NHS for providing us with free healthcare services. This poetic piece is a splendid ode to the NHS and all of the people who keep it running — they’re the lifeblood of the NHS and deserve much more! One of my best friends is a doctor and I’ll be sure to show this poem to him.

    Reply
    • Drilon Bajrami

      Thank you for the very encouraging comments, Aaron. I concur with everything you said about the NHS and hopefully your friend likes the poem — I wrote it for him! (Well, not specifically, but you know what I mean.)

      Reply

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