Unit 6  Section 3Exercise 8Caring for patients with dementiaSomething to remember
Something to Remember
Frank, my hospital patient with appendicitis, had Alzheimer’s disease. We’d written it in his chart: mild dementia. His wife said his memory had gotten much worse last year, but while he was in the hospital, we didn’t pay much attention to this problem.
The residents and I went to his room every day after surgery to check on him. We were glad to see his temperature and his appendectomy wound steadily improve. “How are you feeling today?” we asked the day after his operation.
“Pretty good,” he said.
“No pain?”
“No, not really.”
He had hardly required any pain medications.
Another time I said, “You’re doing wonderfully after your surgery.”
He looked up from his bed, grinning. “What surgery?” he asked.
After that, we reminded him at each visit that he’d had an appendectomy.
“Is that so?” he marveled. “Well, I’ll be doggone.”
Frank,” I said to him finally. “Tomorrow you can go home.”
“I can?” he asked, igniting the room with his smile.
“You had surgery, you’re better now.”
“I am? That’s good news.”
It was good news. Every day it’s good news. How glad and how sad I am to give my patient this little bit of daily pleasure.
Study question
- Write a brief reflection on the comment ‘how glad and how sad I am to give my patient this little bit of daily pleasure’ that ends the vignette “Something to remember.”
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