Sunday dinner at grandma's

One Sunday night i was caring for a patient who had "fallen out"at home in her kitchen that afternoon. Falling out is a southern medically acceptable description for fainting, especially if it happens to you at church. When you "fall out" it's either because you have been touched by the holy spirit or your blood sugar is dropping... .Anyway, my 73 yr old patient was cooking Sunday dinner for her family when she awoke to find herself on the floor. She told me that she had no memory of falling , had not felt funny prior to falling ; she just woke up on the floor with a good size bruise on the back of her head. When i asked her if she knew how long she had been on the ground she said "well no, but it can't have been more than 12-15 minutes because my potatoes were done just right" ! I will never forget how long i need to boil potatoes now!!

I don't know why, I just did.

Every so often a patient will really stick with you. Last night I had one. He raised the straw to his mouth and drank the ice cold ginger ale ; his 90 yr old hands trembling as he held the cup with shaky determination . Those hands . Long narrow fingers , paper thin skin bruised from all our attempts to draw yet another round of labs that will tell us that he is ...well...90. I read on his chart that he fell at home while trying to get dressed.... when he finished the ginger ale, he looked at me and said with a raspy weak voice "that sure was good". I went to the bathroom and cried.