As healthcare providers we make judgement calls, it is needed to give someone in a possible life or death situation the best care possible, unfortunately it can also mean labeling a patient a little “Not all there” if they act unusual or out of the norm. My patient I was checking in was tearful, she was having surgery and her sister, who looked like her identical twin was asking and answering just as many questions as she was. A bit unusual, but families can be close and she was very anxious. As she was being wheeled into the operating room suite, her sister almost went through the double doors. Her eyes were full of tears as she said, “We just lost our mom, she would have been here today.”
I was taken a little aback, as I said, “I also just lost my mom, and it was very difficult for my sisters and I also. She said, I believe our moms with be together with her.” I thought that was a bit strange, as my mom doesn’t know this patient, but I said her mom would be with her and I would take good care of her.
The patient had no medical knowledge that I could tell, let alone know much about the process in the operating room. The procedure is unlike Grey’s Anatomy or E.R., or House. I help her hand and told her to pick out a good dream, as I had told her you usually remeber the place like I picked out the beach when I had surgery and remembered the beach. I told her to pick her vacation spot. I went on to use a special soap I only use for a small amount of surgeons, It is a pink soap with little pink sponges. We started the surgery and during the middle of the surgery we have a special procedure where we test labs to make sure the surgery is sucessful for the condition. It required standing still patiently, and not doing much as we wait for a few minutes, when the labs come back the small incision is closed and the patient wakes up and is taken to the recovery room.
When she woke up, she immediately starts trying to talk, to get my attention. I pull her oxygen mask down to listen. She repeating, “that’s so crazy, I had a very vivid dream, I never remember dreams with surgery, this was lucid it was vivid!” I went on to ask her to descibe her dream thinking it would be the beach, the sun, or something most people talk about. Her eye’s filled with tears, she said, “my mom was there, I saw her standing next to you while you were washing me off with little pink sponges.” She went on to say, then you were all standing around, waiting next to me and my mom was right there!” As goosebumps crawled up my arms I tried to distract her and told her everything went well, but she could not contain herself with her vision of her mother in surgery. I left her while I could still hear her trying to explain to her recovery nurse what she had seen. The interesting thing being she has decribed part of the procedure and her prep exactly and only I knew that to be the case. I walked back towards my room to prepare for the next patient thinking of my sisters and what what a terrible time we had with my mother. I wondered if my mom had come to visit with this other mom. She was that kind of a women. I looked down at my phone as I felt it vibrate, and not surprisingly that exact moment my sister who I hadn’t talked to in a few days was messaging me. Thanks mom for visiting.
Raven and Roses 