Last night I had a patient who was 34 years old and a quadripalegic. He had been in an accident and broke his neck a few years ago. At the time he was married with small kids. He is now living in a nursing home. He breaths thru a tracheostomy (a hole in his neck) and requires a ventilator to breathe. He is in diapers and totally dependant on others. He cannot speak, but communicates by mouthing words. I had never had him as a patient before, but apparently he frequents our hospital often. He was just there the end of last year for over a month with pneumonia.
When I saw him, I thought to myself, if I was like that, I'd rather be dead. I would not want to live like that. However, he had a different perspective. The ICU nurse that I gave report to told me that he was her absolute favorite patient. She said that he is always happy, he never complains. She said that he told her, he thanks God every day that he is alive. He said he is truly blessed because he gets to live to see his kids grow up!
That really put me in my place. Next time I complain that my life sucks, I'll remember him, and remember that it's all about perspective.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Tales from the ER....
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1 comments:
This sounds like something I think often. Whenever I get down or upset about something, I take a walk through the baby section of our local cemetery and I put my life into better perspective. I have been blessed beyond measure with my 2 beautiful and healthy kids, and a healthy body in which to raise them. I think of all those parents who lost their babies, and it makes me feel like non of my problems could ever be quite that big.
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