All you need is ...

Do you know what one of my favorite things in the world is?

Old couples in love.

After just finishing 2 weeks in the emergency room at South's hospital, a place which can make even the softest heart just a bit cynical, I am now working for 2 weeks in a clinic at a private Catholic hospital, Providence.  The clinic here is what I imagine Heaven to be a bit like: wonderful sweet patients (most of them) who take their medicines, who want to get better, and who are so appreciative of everything you do.  They bring homemade cookies and fresh veggies from their garden at every visit, and people bring you tuna steak for lunch (yes, seriously).

Now I have to say that I do love working at South too.  The patients there are just more challenging, to say the least.  Many of them are "non-compliant", a doctor term for "daggum it why won't this patient take their medicine and stop smoking!!!" and as a result of that they show you the "natural process of disease", meaning "what happens to a body when its owner doesn't take care of it."  It's obviously a great place for learning, but not such a great place for your morale if you're really wanting to make a difference. 

So with that said, sometimes a place like Providence can be a bit of a respite.

Well today I saw these two patients that I just have to tell you about.  Let's call them Mr and Mrs S.

Picture it:  I walk into room number 1.  There in the corner chair sits Mrs S.  She is all dolled up for the doctor's office today in her bright blue cardigan with embroidered flowers, dress pants, and the cutest shoes I have ever seen.  Seriously, I wanted to borrow her outfit.  Her teal green cane was propped up against the counter; she has kyphoscoliosis (a hump and curve to her back) and the cane helps her get around. Her makeup was perfectly applied and when I walked in the door she smiled up at me with eyes wrinkled from 81 years of grinning.  We chatted for a while - she wanted to know about medical school, where I was from and if I was married.  Then she decided to tell me about her cold.  She told me she had been sick for about a week with the crud.  She just couldn't seem to get over it and finally decided to come into the doctor since she had been through a couple episodes of pneumonia in the past.  With that in mind, I do my exam.  Everything sounds surprisingly good and I'm not suspicious of pneumonia.  I go present my findings to Dr Israel, my proctor, and move on to the next patient. 

I look at the new chart and realize it's the same last name.  Mr S, the husband, is in the next room for his yearly checkup.  I can't help but smile a little when I walk in the room and see him with the same hunch in his spine.  He straightens up immediately and I wonder if his hunching is just habit so that he can stoop to help his wife?  He's not quite so dressed up in a plaid shirt and khakis with his orthopedic shoes, but smiles just as big.  He wanted to know about medical school and where I was from.  He then got on the subject of his time in the marines and working at a local plant nearby.  Then he decided to tell me about why he was there.  He was doing pretty well, despite the aches and pains of old age he said, but made more of an effort to shift conversation to his wife.  He said she had really been sick for about a month and he just couldn't get her to come to the doctor.  He was worried about her and wanted to know if I thought she would get better fast.  I told him I thought she would do just fine but that she would probably need an antibiotic, to which he replied, "Oh goodness!  I just want her to feel better!"  He then told me they had been married for 58 years.  I asked him the secret to their success to which he replied, "just know each other, listen to each other, and don't get all bent out of shape if something goes wrong".

Visiting with both of them completely brightened an already great day.  It's always great to see people who love and care for each other - even after 58 years!  It's even better to go into a room hoping to teach a patient something to improve their life, and they wind up teaching you something to improve yours.