7.11.2008

True Love

I was just a witness to true love.
I entered the room of one of our patients, a 68 year old woman. While I was taking care of my duties in there, I noticed her husband trying to sleep.
I say trying to sleep because he had his head in one very uncomfortable weird mesh chair, and the rest of his body laid across 2 hard wooden chairs.
We have a slightly more comfortable waiting room just outside of the unit, but this man wanted to be by his wife's side. I said to him, "Mr. NeedsAChiropractor*, that does not look comfortable!" and he said, "Oh, it's fine."
I brought him a sleeper chair. It's not a California King with a pillowtop, but it's far better than those awful, hard chairs he was stretched across. He thanked me over and over.
I got him all settled with pillow and blanket, then the nurse and I got his wife repositioned in her bed. Before I walked away, his intubated wife grabbed my hand and mouthed, "Thank you."
But what I took away from that encounter is, that is true love. Who else, but someone with a true and deep love for you, would sleep stretched across three hard chairs, just to be by your side, all night long?
That is love. And there is nothing more beautiful in this world.

*Not his real name, HIPAA.

11 comments:

Unknown said...

awh, you made my eyes well up with tears by the end. thanks for sharing this tender thing you saw.

happy friday girlie, kathleen

Anonymous said...

I think it's really sweet that the wife thanked you as well. I imagine it's small moments like this, that make your job so worth it.

Putting the FUN in DysFUNctional said...

Tammie, helping the patients & their families is by far the best part of my job. I wish I could do just that all night long!

GypsiAdventure said...

That is so sweet! It's moments like those that remind me of the level of human compassion that is rarely ever seen.

Thanks for sharing.
~K

Kat said...

That is precious. What a sweet story. Thank you for sharing it with us. :)

Lisa said...

*Sniffle* That is so sweet, what a wonderful thing to witness.

Thanks for the sweet comments over at my place. :-)

Tara R. said...

That was beautiful. Such a lovely story, thank you for sharing.

Anonymous said...

That really was such a beautiful story!!

anymommy said...

I love stories like this - true love lasts!

Ari_1965 said...

Beautiful story.

Unknown said...

I just sneaked over from AllMedocre...this is such a beautiful post to "meet" you...