Saturday, November 22, 2008

Tale of two souls

My little ARDS kiddo was perfectly well this morning upon pass over. I guess she didn't need the BiPAP so much ; her gases were acceptable and I quickly changed her to nasal prong.
I asked my nurse to give their parent's a call ; to bring her favourite drink as she has not been eating/drinking for the past 2 weeks ! ( She was otherwise well nuorished with TPN and N/G feeding ! ). In a flash his father came and I could see the joy in his face. Iasked him what is her favourite drink and he said Coke... Hmmm.. opps.. i think maybe not that now ! I asked if she liked ribena and the father said definitely.. and within a minute he was back with the cute little packs of ribena !
Seeing her wheeled out of ICU this afternoon really made me feel satisfied and a bit sad. Sad because of my attachment ; she'd be the first patient that I'd visit every morning and see her overnight progess. She's not fully fit yet , but she definitely improved and on the road to recovery !
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I somehow knew ; when i blogged about the ailing meningitic young mother that I would see her go when it was her time. The brain stem death test criteria was not fulfilled on Wednesday , therefore she could not be pronounced dead yet. Her brain function however deteriorated ; almost textbook stepwise with one by one brainstem regulating centres affected. When i took over this morning , her haemodynamics were not so great.
I confronted the family and informed them of my concern ; and I guess they've expected the worse sooner or later.I'm always personal when it comes to this , because i feel that the family should be by one's side during one's last moment.
At 1614 I pronounced her death with all the family members around reciting syahadah for her on her final second. And it was my name ; certifying her unfortunate death.

Alfatihah...

1 comment:

dochisyam said...

Bro,
thankfully my line of work doesn't involve too much the task of relaying bad news.
I just wish our younger doctors are more 'peka' to the feelings of grieving family members in times like this. Normally we just sign the COD and burial permit and head for lunch. For the family, the struggle continues.
Hisyam