Vital signs: Blood pressure 130/85
I went to Room #20 to see my patient, a forty-something year old thin Iraqi man laying on the stretcher, with two of his adorable children sitting in the chairs. His eleven-year old son began translating for his dad and I immediately felt uncomfortable with the situation so I used the phone to get an interpreter on the line. It all started when they were at Wal-Mart looking at gold jewelry (but the gold was bad....the boy said), when his dad developed a terrible pounding headache. It took a long time to understand what was going on but basically this father was suffering from terrible anxiety not having frequent hypertensive emergencies.
After telling my attending about this patient, we also realized that he was under the wrong impression about an episode of numbness/tingling he had 3 months ago. When he presented at that time, a full work-up was done to rule out a stroke. This man, however, though that he did suffer from a stroke and had been living his life thinking he had a stroke. So with my attending, the first thing we wanted to clear up was that he NEVER had a stroke.
The man began to weep in disbelief. "What do you mean? I was told I had a stroke? I have been living in utter agony. I have been so stressed. How can I get my lost time back?" I felt so bad for him, watching his children, the three of them, watch their dad weep. "Baba, you shouldn't be crying. You should be happy that you got great news today."
I get to witness a lot of very human experiences. It really is a honor. And lately, I've also been more focused on seeing this as service to God and as an opportunity for me to witness the Love and Salvation of Christ. When people are suffering, when they are getting good news, I can be that supportive presence, a person that is in the room with them, praying for them, just like those kids were with their dad. Glory be to God.
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