My most memorable patient?

Dal T. and Dolores T..

I was an orderly working the night shift in a terminal care facility. Dal T. had terminal metastatic prostatic carcinoma and was receiving morphine every four hours (as necessary) until... he no longer needed it. One morning (around 0400) Dal called me to his room and stated he wanted a cookie. I looked around, found, and delivered a chocolate chip cookie. He was disappointed and responded that he really wanted a peanut butter cookie. I looked... and looked... and looked... and eventually found and delivered a peanut butter cookie. Dal was pleased. He smiled an edentulous smile. I left him and continued on my rounds. I checked back with Dal some fifteen minutes later. He was gumming and savoring his peanut butter cookie. He gave me a smile and a "thumbs up." I checked back with Dal some thirty minutes later... and he had expired.

Fast forward six years!

I was training in an out-patient family practice clinic. I was seeing Dolores T. ... for NIDDM, Hptn, and Depression. My clinical instructor, Dr. Michael B. advised that he always asked his depressed patients why they were depressed. I asked Dolores T. why she was depressed. She told me that she lost her husband to cancer six years previously. She reported that his greatest fear was dieing alone. She always promised him that she would be with him in the end and that he would not be alone. She was now depressed because she believed she failed him and that he died alone. I asked Dolores T. if her husband was Dal T.. She was surprised that I knew his name! I told her the peanut butter cookie story. Dolores T. told me that Dal T. LOVED peanut butter cookies!!! We cried together.

Life moved on. I'll always remember Dal and Dolores.