Learning to be "flexible"

"Have any of your patients died?"

"Yes, they have"

"Do they die on the floors?"

"Yes, they do...but I think I would love to be home surrounded by my own things, in my own bed, with comforts of my home when I die...not here in this cold hospital"

"I haven't thought where I want to die yet"

This was one of the conversations I had with my patient given a 4 weeks to live diagnosis. It is amazing how these death conversations aren't as hard to have as one would expect and it is needed...they need to talk and express and think through this thing of death which we all have thought about but haven't faced yet.

I was in the ICU overflow in the PACU this past week, the ICU was full of bad traumas and we needed to use the flex space for the less "critical" patients. It was a pain! Noisy, monitors we werent use too, and constantly running back to the unit for this-or-that which you didn't realize you didnt have until you needed it.

At first, I wasn't a happy camper! But by the end of my 3 days in this overflow area I realized I was blessed by my patients and I was there for a reason. I was able to truly care for these patients and let them know someone thought they were special and worthy of love. It is when you are pushed out of your comfort zone, literally, you can experience the beauty of life.