When It's Your Time, It Must be Your Time

Hi everyone -

I have just enough time, to write a short little bit about something that happened at work this week. I haven't really been able to get it out of mind for a couple of days.

I was having this wonderful day the other day - I was totally in love with my job and all my patients for the day - which isn't always the case. No one could seem to get on my nerves.

I had this cute little 5 year old girl who was such a joy. She never made a peep when I poked her for her IV. And she even told me, it didn't hurt at all. I could not believe it. How can some people just scream and cry and carry on - and this little girl, who really wasn't sick, not make a peep. Amazing.

I also had this nice guy whose wife worked somewhere in the hospital. He was just a crackup with a sick sexual sense of humor.

Then, there was this really nice lady with this amazingly nice family. We joked around all day long and talked about a lot of personal things - mostly gardening and some hot peppers that I had been growing and sharing with my co-workers. Thanks to Duane, we were having a good laugh - especially with his translation from Spanish to English for habanero.

Anyway, I knew this lady had a new diagnosis and probably a weakened heart. But at 80+, she'd been doing pilates, yoga and some aerobic exercises less than 2 weeks later. She was feeling a little short of breath and weak - but her troponins were negative. We thought she'd just spend the night, get an echo of her heart and go home with some new medications and a few more good years. I left that day without saying good bye to her or her family.

A couple hours later, she coded - not once, not twice - but probably 8 - 10 times before finally moving on to some place else - hopefully very peaceful and joyful.

I guess that just really does prove when it's your time, it's your time. When you're in the hospital and on the monitor and you go into VFib - get shocked and shocked and shocked - keep coming back - and you still don't make it. Sometimes, it's just so bizarre to me.

I'm guessing I wished at this point, I had gone back in the room before I left, to say what I usually do - I'm leaving. I hope you get better and get to go home quickly. It's been fun spending the day with you. I hope I run into you at Walmart or McDonalds sometime.