We all have our patients who have never left our hearts, ones that when we remember them we think about our careers.
In his 2014 memoir, Do No Harm, Dr. Henry Marsh, a British neurosurgeon, discusses being haunted. Those patients that have taught us and will never leave us.
Over the next few Sundays I’m going to share a bit about the patients that haunt me.
My first patient, in my first hospital experience in 1994, was one of these patients. She was an older lady who was in rehab following her second AKA. It was with her that I performed my first bed bath, as well as assisting the physical therapist with her therapy. Despite her bilateral AKAs she was in good spirits, laughing with the other nurses and the therapist. She told me that life was too short to feel badly about things and if she could keep a smile on her face, surely I could as well.
First lesson, be positive.
Dispatches from the Evening Shift 