The most amazing thing happened to me this morning. I was paged by the ER and instead of being given a patient to see (amazing enough!) the unit secretary asked if I had time to talk to a patient that was trying to find me. She connected me with her via phone and the patient proceeded to make my day.
I had a vague memory of her but no clear picture. She told me who she was and then thanked me for saving her life. She had come into the ER in August with very atypical chest pain and I was asked to see her in consultation. I remember her perfectly now: she looked like complete crap. Her symptoms weren't classic for a heart attack but she just made me really nervous for some reason. As soon as I finished examining her I was called by one of our cardiologists regarding results on another patient. I asked him to come by and see her in the ER. I remember telling him that I wasn't convinced it was cardiac but that there was just something about her and I felt like she should be cathed sooner rather than later. He saw her and said he'd take her right then.
About 20 minutes later he called and said "Amy, I like your eye. I mean I hate your eye but I like your eye." The poor lady infarcted right there on the catherization table and had to be taken emergently to one of our sister hospitals for intervention. He apparently told the patient later that everyone was stumped in the ER before I saw her and that I saved her life.
She only has a very vague recollection of me, she told me today that she just remembers me sitting down next to her bed and telling her that I was going to figure out what was wrong. She's doing fantastic now and came all the way out to the hospital to thank me for saving her.
Unless you do this job everyday you probably can't imagine how rare it is for a patient to make this kind of effort. So much of the feedback we get from patients is negative.
That's a global humanity thing: we are all so much more likely to complain than to applaud. But this one sweet lady made my morning. And, more, she inspired me to spend more time clapping.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
That's got to be an awesome feeling. You know you've got it, right?
That IS awesome. I'll bet there are so many more people who feel that way but never do anything.
For about 5.5 years, I've meant to send flowers to a certain MPD detective for really helping me through a tough time. She was just doing her job, but it made all the difference to me. I still want to send flowers, but I haven't yet. I should.
Post a Comment