Daily Archives: March 25, 2013

DADDY, I LOVE YOU

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I have a tough job. I deal with the living and the dying. I had a patient yesterday that had a subdural hematoma (a bleed in his brain). He had been in a car accident and among other things had a tooth lodged in his airway laying on top of his vocal chords. I assisted the doctor that came into Trauma room 3 to try to remove the tooth. He was unsuccessful.
After the Doc left the patient went unresponsive and became diaphoretic ( sweating a lot) and his heart converted into an irregular beat. I called my ED Doc and I rushed this patient back to Cat Scan.

The brain bleed was twice as big and he had a “midline shift”. ie. so much blood leaking into the brain that the pressure caused his brain to move to one side, instead of staying in the center of the skull.

A serious decline in status.

His daughter was in the room when we got back from Cat Scan. The doctor explained to her how critical her father was. She was terrified.

The patient was not responding but I assured the daughter that he could still hear her, which I truly believe from years of experience.

I suggested she tell him she was with him and how much she cared for him.

She held his hand and whispered in his ear “Daddy, I love you”..

These are the moments that stay with me, night after night..

Most likely this young woman will see her father return to God. But he heard her proclaim the love she had for him and I believe he knew just that.

What a remarkable things.. to simply hear the words “I LOVE YOU” when all else is failing..and know those words to be true!