After a long shift at work, I usually leave all the stress and emotions as soon as I walk out the front door. However, today, I found it quite difficult to do so. I could not stop thinking of the hour I spent crying with a family I just met. The patient just told his wife and three children that he was diagnosed with cancer and had 6 months to live. This was the first time I experienced the shock a family encounters the first time hearing such tragic news. The cries and screams seemed louder than they actually were. The phrase "I'm going to be a widow" still echo in my head. What do I say to this family? I had nothing to say. All I could do was lend my shoulder, a comforting hand, listened and answered any questions they had. After such an experience, does one get better at comforting someone on such issues? or will one slowly get desensitized to life and death as many have working in a hospital? There is really no point to this post, I just wanted to share my experience at work today.
Hope you had a better day than me.
M
