I've never been in a hospital before.

There's so much going on - beeping from the instruments around me. The squeaking of a gurney wheel on the linoleum floor. Many, many people walking and talking outside my room.

I've been in doctor's offices, of course. And the clinic back home. But this is different. This place is big and terrifying, and everything is more intense than what I've experienced before. Not just the sounds - the lights are brighter, the antiseptic ...