It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly
gentleman in his 80′s arrived at the hospital to have stitches removed
from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at
9:00 am. The nurse took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing
it would be over an hour before someone would be 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.’
* found this on the internet and had to share it! so stinkin' cute. Now that's love.
No comments:
Post a Comment