I don't buy into the entire religious part of the book, but it was a wonderful insight into the man I respected and appreciated as an influence on some of my 'better' times as a teenager.
With his book, he requested stories he can use in his next book. 300 words or less (which I thought would be plenty, but several edits later, I was ok with a 298 word version of what was originally probably more than double that....)
So, I figured I would share it here as well... along with some commentary I added afterward in the email.
20 Minutes In the Emergency Room I'll Remember Forever
Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm or “triple A” is a weakened spot in the large blood vessel that supplies blood to everything below your chest. That’s what was coming by air ambulance… and it was leaking.The patient had to be stabilized as much as possible and the operating room was getting set up for the patient to go directly to surgery after we made sure he could survive the trip up the elevator.
He was awake. I don’t know why I expected him to not be awake, but he was. Something about that spoke to me directly and made me stop looking at him as a nurse sees a patient and instead looked at him as a beautiful, wrinkled, blue-eyed man who was alone in a big hospital where none of the faces around him were familiar.
Chaos around me; people collecting blood, checking his heart rhythm, his blood pressure, and other necessary but impersonal tasks and never in my life have I felt that need to simply ‘connect’ with a patient. I spoke with him, made sure he didn’t have any pain or any needs that I could manage immediately, and I straightened his hair and made sure I talked directly to him with calmness in my voice and a smile in my eyes.
He was dying. It was evident from the mottling in his skin from where the aneurysm had leaked into his body. He was alone. His family was coming but weren’t as fast as the helicopter and all I could do was be the one person who looked at him, made sure he was comfortable, hold his hand and pray. I didn’t pray for a miracle, but simply for someone else to be ready when he got there to hold his hand instead of me.
Without the title.. it was 298 words after much editing and re-editing and all... but I hope you at least get a feeling of a little of what I felt... to know a complete calmness and understanding that I was doing exactly what I needed to do for that patient at the time.
The patient did not survive the surgery, and the surgeon did come back to ER to tell us that "it was like Mount Vesuvius when I opened that guy up". Pretty vulgar and all I could think about was how much I really think that advances in medicine sometimes.... well, maybe interfere with the way things are supposed to be. Don't get me wrong... I think there is a plan for everyone... including those who advance the capabilities of doctors and surgeons to prolong our time here, but there are times when I seriously wonder if people like this 80-something year old aren't missing out on better ways to leave this path of life.
I know I wished that I could have been a family member instead of a nurse who was there with him, just one familiar face in the craziness.... but maybe that's why I ended up where I am today, so I could be there and can do things like that in order to make things a little easier.
