As a doctor or nurse, what is the saddest scene you have ever seen?
It was December 23, 2018, I was working as a surgical nurse. At 3:30 p.m., the emergency room called me to tell me that a patient was arriving. A few minutes later I saw an emergency room nurse arrive and push the bed of a young patient, 28-30 years old, red eyes all around, mouth closed, I greeted him, he did not answer me, we put him in his room then I went to the staff with my colleague for the report. When he sat down, he let out a long sigh, I could feel him on the verge of tears, and began his speech:
“Mister is waiting to get treatment, so he came to the emergency room to get a prescription for cough syrup. During the exam we heard abnormal noises, so we did an X-ray, then a CT scan… He has balloon. lung cancer, we did an MRI, he has metastases everywhere, probably due to testicular cancer, but now he has metastases in the spine, in the liver and one in the brain… he is screwed, the oncologist told him that his life can now be counted in days…”.
lung cancer called “balloon release”
We remain silent… I look at her “December 23, it’s sick…” she answers “he got married a month ago, his wife is at the end of the corridor, she learns the diagnosis”.
My colleague leaves, I head to the door to let the patient in and I get stuck in front of the door… what can I say? What can I say? “How are you? Are you in pain? What would make you happy?” Everything I could say or do seemed stupid and awkward, and it was even more so when his wife arrived a few minutes later, I was there, embarrassed, doing the walk-in, they weren’t talking, both in shock. Later that day, he was repatriated at the request of his family and I never heard from him again…