Worst moment: Talking to parents of a really troubled young woman who'd just OD'd. I hate being stuck in the middle of people's messy lives and not knowing what to say. Um, so sorry your daughter is like this. Guess she didn't turn out how ya hoped, huh? Wish I could fix her but I can't.
Most emotional moment: Death of an elderly woman who was much loved by her daughter-in-law, who had cared for her at home for many years. When she passed away (after a week of waiting for the end to come), the daughter-in-law totally lost it, crying and hugging the woman's still body and telling me what a great lady she had been. It reminded me of that story in the Old Testament: Ruth. Whither thou goest... I don't usually give a damn when people die expected deaths, but those two women were something special. I needed a tissue.
Best moment: At the nursing station, we were talking about a patient -- a drug-addicted, malodorous kind of guy with rotting toes about to be amputated -- whose name rhymes with Moby Blow. I was saying that all the docs in my group have come up with different nicknames for him: E. calls him "No Toes Below" and L. calls him "Grody Toe" and I call him "Toeless Joe", which I think has a nice, swingin' kind of ring to it. Then the infection specialist put in her vote, drily noting, "I just call him disgusting." She had perfect deadpan delivery. I laughed and laughed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment