Report of 20 June '13

Good evening -

Go home and hug your kids.  Hug those you love.  We had a patient come in, 18 months old, and he was found at his daycare somewhat caught against a "child gate."  I don't know all the details about the gate or the incident, but suffice it to say that the child could not be resuscitated in our Emergency Department, and died.  He had been looked after at an in-home daycare.  The parents were remarkably composed, and some saw fit to talk about how long they'd taken to get to the ED.  Who knows what was going on in their lives.  What is going on now is every parent's nightmare, that they have outlived their child, that they must plan funeral details, that a little being who delighted them just by his being and eating and smiling and loving will no longer do that.  They will likely look for him and be harshly reminded of today's reality. 

There were police officers aplenty in the ED.  They will investigate what went on in the daycare.  Respect for human life is large here in the U.S. 

I have another patient who is 35 and has an unusual cancer that has spread.  She speaks in a monotone and I asked her boyfriend if she usually does that; he mentioned that she usually speaks quietly.  I have urged her to consider palliative care, which she is balking at.  She is a nurse and knows what is happening.  She has finally agreed to consider the palliative care option and I am relieved.  As I told Naren, perhaps there is something finite and certain about cancer, so that you can nicely plan your life and what to do with what and whom.  Naren felt that was my non-cancer-patient viewpoint, that someone afflicted with cancer would be sad and scared.  Navin does not enter medical discussions, usually.  I like the boys' candor. 

So, there it is.  Hug someone, love, eat something you like, do something you enjoy.  We are blessed in whom we have.

Unw -

R