we treat a patient,
Not a disease. But in the hustle bustle of fire fighting daily, how often do we lose sight of this?
Dont get me wrong, I dont think we become entirely devoid of human emotion, and neither do I fall on the other end of the spectrum and have a calling for special needs. But because humans are forgetful, we could all do with a reminder.
It was yet another routine day and I called in a patient, aged about 30, wheeled in on a wheelchair by his maid and mother. According to his mother, he had a fall over 10 years ago and became paralysed waist down, injured his head as well and underwent a brain surgery. He seemed able to grasp most of what was being spoken to him, but his speech consisted of slurry replies that I had trouble comprehending sometimes.
So, he had some pain for a few months now, but above that, he had severe dental phobia. He was literally trembling on the chair as I did a check. After discussing his treatment plan with his mother and maid, I decided to attempt cleaning his teeth. It was a difficult procedure. He winced, moved, trembled and attempted to sit up repeatedly. While I attempted to comfort him and continue with the procedure, at the back of my mind undeniably I was thinking "the queue is going to jam further". From an original plan to complete full mouth scaling, I cut it to half, seeing that he was unable to tolerate it any longer. After which, I spoke to his mother and maid on how to help him keep his teeth clean.
Then came bye-bye time. His maid said to him "eh say thank you to doctor". He reached to his sling pouch and unzipped it, with quivering hands, pulled out a paper like structure (for a second I thought he was about to give me a sticker or something) and passed it to me. It was a picture of himself, before the fall.
That was his way of saying thank you.
In actual fact, I should be the one saying thank you.
For sending me this reminder that patients are real, feelings are real and that I treat a patient, not a disease.