Elisabeth.

That night was busy in the hospital. I was giving a prep bath for an 80 year old woman, before open heart surgery. She was a nursing home resident:  no family, no friends.  Her mind was lost somewhere in dementia land. 

She repeated one phrase “I will die tomorrow….” 

“No, you will not!” I said.

 “How do you know?” she asked.

 “How do you know, you will die?” I replied.

  Nursing time is limited and my therapy session was over.

About one week later, I was admitting a patient, Elisabeth, from the Intensive Care Unit, after open heart surgery. As I leaned toward her, holding the stethoscope to her chest, she grabbed my hand and said “I didn’t die, as you said. I believed you.” I was speechless, my words got through to her, even though her mind was ravaged by the dementia.

c:Nina KO 5/18/2012