Best Friend
This is my last MICU rotation until I’m a third year and while I do enjoy the feeling that I really make a difference in my patients’ lives, I am looking forward to getting away from the intense emotions that go along with the unit.
The other day, we were brought in as consultants for a patient on the oncology floor who had presented from another hospital with multiple medical problems and who needed evaluation for an unknown metastatic cancer. He was transferred to the MICU for respiratory distress. When I first laid my eyes on this guy, I could tell he was in trouble. We could not get him off the CPAP and a CT scan of his chest, abdomen, and pelvis showed diffuse cancer in all of his vital organs.
We were evaluating him and mapping out a care plan when one of the nurses asked about his wedding ring. It needed to come off because he was becoming increasingly swollen. He refused. We explained the risks involved with keeping it on, but he wouldn’t budge.
During a conversation with his son later that evening I learned that his parents had been married for 62 years and that they had never removed their wedding rings. Not once. They had wed while still in high school and had been inseparable. Over the next few hours, it became clear to me that the parents' devotion to each other clearly had spawned a close family.
The need for a clear directive on code status eventually led the family to the tough decision to support DNR comfort care. The son shared that he felt like the decision meant saying goodbye to his best friend. After two days, the patient passed away comfortably.
Heading home one evening shortly afterwards, I started to think about how living in Cleveland hasn’t been ideal for keeping in touch with my own family. While we do talk on the phone, meaningful conversations don’t happen very often. Instead, quick chats are wedged in between reading about patients, socializing with friends, and doing research. Inspired by my recent patient, I called my father and told him how much I love him. I am in my shoes now because of the guiding light that he has been and I’ll never forget that. He is a huge part of who I am and after this MICU rotation, one thing has become abundantly clear: Life is too short to not express love for the most meaningful people in life.