Just another day at the hospital

Just another day at the hospital

Seeing a very young man who’d been fighting cancer for the past year, on chemotherapy, now found to have metastatic disease, almost everywhere!  Even more heart breaking was to inform about the same to the spouse, while their little son was at bedside, by his dad, playing video games.

Seeing a darling ~ 80 year old lady, who accidentally fell at home, but was well oriented to place & time. Her family didn’t want her home anymore though. They were either too busy to take care of this lady, who perhaps spent her life until now taking care of them, or they were just too tired of her. More heartbreaking was to tell her that we were all looking for a safe place for her, as apparently it wasn’t her home or family anymore where she’d be safe now.

Seeing a young mother, with respiratory failure, on a ventilator, in the ICU. More heartbreaking was to know that the newborn who was also in the NICU & the mom in the ICU hadn’t even felt each other since they were not one body anymore.

A nurse friend who’s always smiling, cheerful, brings her spouse to the hospital because of another episode of exacerbation of mental illness. More heartbreaking was to be able to feel the concealed sadness, for the first time, behind her happy face.

A cute elderly little man, who said he wanted some time to decide about pursuing any invasive procedures to diagnose the type of cancer he had. He did not seem sad, but was rather proud about how he had been living without any family for years now and that how strong and independent he had been.. took his last breath today in my presence, the code team too watching him leave, as he didn’t want to be resuscitated. We respected his wishes and he passed in peace. The more heart breaking part was the ‘time’ he was talking about yesterday.

Saw a young woman paralyzed.. who couldn’t ever speak anymore because she had suffered a massive stroke. A gentleman who was brain-dead, but his family has been awaiting him to be off the life support, so he’d be back to normal.. a sweet old lady whose toes would be cut off tomorrow as they’re gangrenous, but she perhaps wouldn’t know as she’s so pleasantly confused… & saw many more who were happy to be discharged home, recovered & doing much better!

There’s so much sadness we see, that we feel helpless because of certain factors that are not in our control & unfortunately lives end… But there are many tears of joy too, when we cure people with some of the most challenging illnesses.. Their cure is our reward, our satisfaction. 

Kudos to all the healthcare professionals, who dedicate their lives taking care of the ones in need.

I though, would’ve been nothing, if not a doctor!

Pallavi Aneja MD

(Disclaimer: the above matter has age, gender & diagnosis changed for protecting patient privacy. Any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental).