Over the past 8 months, I have not only grown as a student in the medical field but as a citizen of the world. The Athena Institute Pre-Med Hospice program opened my eyes in terms of viewing patients and caregivers in the real-world, not just what you hear on the news and from others. Medicine is stigmatized and many people, including myself before this experience, did not realize the full story about what happens in hospice care. My best friend asked me at the beginning of the program, “what is hospice?” And I realized many people who are not involved in medicine like myself and my classmates who are looking to go into the medical field don’t know what hospice is. So when she asked this, I replied with, “it is a field of medicine to prepare people with long-term illnesses for death.” She still was very puzzled about the full idea of hospice care but as I completed the program and told her stories of my visits with my patient, she finally grasped the idea that it goes beyond just a typical doctor’s visit.
My short few months with my patient opened my eyes to a whole new world of medicine. She resided in a skilled nursing home. The employees and nursing staff at the facility had a sparkle in their eyes and were dedicated to their patients day in and day out. I visited the facility every Friday afternoon, and my patient would be sitting by the window admiring the view of the town she was born and raised in. She grew up only a few blocks away from the nursing home but her view looked a lot different at this time in her life. She had lived at the home for over 5 years and became the resident council president. At one point, her brother also lived there on the opposite hall as her.
During our visits, we shared stories about each other’s lives. I told her about my family and friends and my swimming career. I was going through a rough point in my life as well, battling a shoulder injury and my season was over before it even started. But seeing my patient and how she was doing every week always made me feel better. I learned that she was a seamstress and was never married. Her parents died when she was young. She told me a great story one time about her parents. They were family friends and when her mom was born, her dad was already 5 years old. He went to the hospital to visit the newborn baby girl. His parents introduced him to the baby. Little did he know, that tiny newborn would someday be his wife. Her parents knew each other their entire lives. That was just one of the many stories that she told me during our time together.
One of the activities we did together was write Christmas cards to her family. She always loved receiving cards from loved ones and I thought that it might be nice for her to return the favor. She was ecstatic at the idea. Nothing will warm my heart quite like that moment. After winter break, I visited her and saw that she was not by her window that day. Rather, she was lying in bed. She told me that she had been in bed for a week and a half. She had not been feeling very well and had been wondering where I had been.
The following Friday, I came back and visited her. She was asleep when I arrived in the early afternoon. Her lunch was delivered but laid untouched. Her color was not good and she did not seem like herself. This was the part that I had been fearing for the past few months. Less than a week later, I received an email that she had passed. I was very down for the rest of the week after that. I went to the service for her burial and it was heart-warming to see so many people there in her honor. It seemed like she was a local celebrity by the amount of people there.
Words cannot express how grateful I am for the experience and the amount of emotions that I have cultivated from this. My patient will always have a spot in my heart and I will always remember this involvement.