Dying man

I thought I had

aleady

blogged

about

my patient and his dog.

 

I hadn’t.

 

He was breathless

And now,

I realise

At the time,

things were too

raw

too

proximate

to translate

into 500-odd words of text.

 

The man was dying.

 

Heart failure,

COPD,

Frailty –

The mechanism is not what is important.

 

He had a smile

and

a white goatee.

 

He had been dying for days

but

for a variety of reasons

I hadn’t

been on my game.

 

we had treated

and

likely

investigated

when what he needed was being made comfortable.

on this account I failed.

 

Then,

Came the point

When it was unavoidable,

When I called-in his family and explained the situation.

 

It turned-out he had a dog

Who he missed

Who he loved.

I can relate to this as I gaze into the dark eyes of my dog Maisie.

 

‘Bring-in the dog!’ I said.

But then,

For reasons

I cannot explain

At that point it didn’t happen.

 

We agreed, let’s wait until the weekend

And

Break the rules then.

I’ll carry the can

then,

I said.

 

And

That night

He died

Without seeing his dog.

 

I don’t think I will ever forget this.

 

It talks of missed opportunities,

Of the fragility of life,

Of unnecessary treatments

And failure to consider what is important.

 

When in doubt…

…Act.