"When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold on to them. They are the life boats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely illusive. So the question becomes, or should have been all a long... What would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What life boat would you grab on to? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write?"


Friday, May 20, 2011

A Nursing Funny

So today I had a 92 year old patient, female. She had a bit of dementia but her long-term memory was intact. Well, she was telling me all about her life and about all her adventures and travels and whatnot. As I left to say goodbye, she asked if I could fix her covers again. No joke, I counted 14 covers, and she was still cold. But, I took them all apart again and fixed them. And then this is the next line of conversation:

Patient: My husband does a really good job of tucking me in. When he tucks me in, I stay really warm.

Me: Oh? Well, he has a lot of practice.

Patient: Yeah About 8 or 9 months or so.

Me (thinking she meant thats how long shes been in the hospital or nursing home) : Oh...Thats nice. How long have you two been married?

Patient: About 8 or 9 months or so.



Lesson learned? Never assume.


~WNB
Posted by at
Labels: , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)