Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The Rain

It was a busy
morning, about 8:30, when an elderly
gentleman in his 80's arrived to have
stitches removed from his thumb.
He said he was in a hurry as he had an
appointment at 9:00 am.
I took his vital
signs and had him take a seat,
knowing it would be over an hour
before someone
would to able to see him.
I saw him looking at his watch and
decided, since I
was not busy with another patient,
I would evaluate his wound.
On exam, it was
well healed, so I talked to one of the
doctors, got the needed supplies to
remove his sutures and redress his wound.

While taking care of
his wound, I asked him if he
had another doctor's appointment
this morning, as
he was in such a hurry.

The gentleman told me no, that he
needed to go to
the nursing home to eat breakfast
with his wife. I inquired as to her
health.

He told me that she had been there
for a while and that she
was a victim of Alzheimer's Disease.

As we
talked, I asked if she would be
upset if he was a bit late.

He
replied that she no longer knew
who he was, that she had not
recognized him in
five years now.

I was surprised, and asked him,
'And you still go every
morning, even though she
doesn't know who you are?'

He smiled as he
patted my hand and said,

'She doesn't
know me, but I still know who she is.'

4 comments:

mamasita said...

Awwhhh Paula...lets nangis together..boohoo boohooo waaaa waaaa..
So touching and sad!!!

Tiger said...

I remember this!
Sigh.......

PS Why is the Unplugged comments section so difficult to access?

Unknown said...

Dear Mamasita

Awwwww yes - I thought of you when the tears rolled down my cheeks, my dear friend.

This is a moving story!!!

Take care and enjoy each day as you touch people with who you are.

Cheers

Unknown said...

Dear Tiger

So sorry you have encountered problems. The other blog is best viewed with Firefox or Chrome. It is sth to do with the scripts.

Try switching to Firefox, Opera or Chrome. It is a problem with IE.

Take care and have a good day. Do keep in touch.

Cheers