An ER doctor in a busy inner-city hospital was performing rounds in the early morning when she noticed a man in his mid-60s in one of rooms, constantly checking his watch, and looking around impatiently. She asked a nurse, “What is that man waiting for?” The nurse responded, “He got stitches last week and needs to have them removed.” The doctor noticed a long list of other patients slated to be seen before the man, so she decided to try and quickly attend to him prior to getting swamped with the other patients. She went into his room, introduced herself, took a look at his wound, and removed his stitches. As they were wrapping up, she asked, “I noticed you checking your watch a few times while you were waiting. Are you late for another appointment?” The man replied, “Kind of. I try to have breakfast with my wife every morning, but I have to be there by 8am or else they won’t let me in to see her.” “Where is ‘there’ and who are ‘they’?”, asked the doctor. “Oh”, said the man, “She has been in a long-term care facility for the past ten years. She developed Alzheimer's in her early 50s.” The doctor was impressed, “Wow. And you have breakfast with her every day, huh?”. “Yes”, replied the man, “Dinner as well. Every day.” The doctor was touched, “She must really love that you spend time with her like that every day”. The man replied, “Oh. She doesn’t know who I am. She hasn’t known me for at least 5 years now. Sometimes it takes her 15 minutes to stop calling out for the attendant to protect her from this ‘strange man’”. “Oh”, said the doctor, “I am really sorry. It must be tough for you to make such an effort every day when she doesn’t even know who you are”. The man patted her on the hand and said: “It’s okay honey. She may not know who I am, but I know who she is.”
.
.
.
Note: I adapted this story from a Tara Brach talk, but she did not quote the original author, so I cannot credit it appropriately
No comments:
Post a Comment