Definitely a lump in my throat... : (
The things we see as doctors and nurses. Very insightful post.
This is the most touching thing I've ever read on this blog. You're sounding a bit like Dr. Charles. Excellent writing, thanks for telling this story.
Mimi
Very touching. I hadn't thought of it like that (sometimes the patient is gone before their body stops living). This is both comforting (your procedure didn't take her away) and yet sad. Thanks for this.
I don't know how you surgeons do it... I've scrubbed/circulated on cases where the doc had to cut the surgery short and head to the family waiting room to break the sad news (finding cancer, etc.). It impacts everyone involved in the case. Where do you find the strength to face a patient's loved ones?
There's a commercial on TV for Cancer Treatment Centers of America in which a woman relates how her surgeon told her, in the recovery room, she had breast cancer. (Paraphrasing here): 'You have cancer,' and then he left.
It must have sounded cold to her, but having gone through this with my mother a year ago, I can empathize with the doctor. When they finally diagnosed my mother's cancer, she cried and said she didn't want to die from cancer. I still cringe when I recall my knee-jerk reply: You have to die from something. How I wish I could take back those words.
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Very nice blog. Having "seen that face" of a surgeon or doctor coming out to tell me my sister, father, mother, and nephew were gone (all on separate occasions), there are no words. The face tells it all. And that's really not a bad thing...because you can tell in the surgeon's or doctor's face, that they are truly sorry as well, and have done everything they could have possibly done for your loved one.
Thank you for that post. When our son was diagnosed with a brain tumor we were simply told that he had a "mass". We had to figure out that mass = cancer on our own.
We were told that 99% of these tumors were benign. When the surgeon saw what to his experienced eye was a malignant tumor he had the task of telling us this awful news. We met in a quiet hallway and he explained what he had found, with tears rolling down his face, a very wonderful combination of the professional and the human person.
Thanks, from all the people you have talked with care.
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