INTERESTING TIMES

The relief of suffering and the cure of disease must be seen as twin obligations of a medical profession that is truly dedicated to the care of the sick. Physicians' failure to understand the nature of suffering can result in medical intervention that (though technically adequate) not only fails to relieve suffering but becomes a source of suffering itself.
--Eric J. Cassell

( notes )

DNR means DO NOT RESUSCITATE. When a patient in the hospital is in very bad shape, and everyone including them knows they are going to die soon no matter what medical miracles are applied, it is a great relief to see a DNR order on their chart. No one wants to use horribly violent measures to save a life that is on its way out anyway, but if there is no DNR order, the hospital staff is required by law to do CPR etc on you if your heart stops. This version is sung by a few acute care nurses, and sung to Rockstar by Nickelback. It expresses the sentiment of having had quite enough medical care already, and wishing to be allowed to live and die in peace. And it's pretty cute. "We all just wanna be a DNR."

She had a stroke last week. Wells called me on Saturday certain that she would die that day. She didn't die. I just called him tonight and he is still sitting with her. She is not on a feeding tube nor IV fluids, and so she has been without sustenance or liquids for four days now. He sits patiently with her, listing to her breathing. She was raspy for a while but now her breathing is shallow, faint, and without rattles. He wants to be there with her at the moment of her death. He sleeps on the hard floor beside her bed. He doesn't mind. His sister also sits with her, so he can go for a run. It is amazing how long a frail old unconscious lady can cling to LIFE. If there were a legal way for her life to have ended already, her children would have done that for her. It would be an act of love. It is an act of love that he sits with her waiting for her to die. He prays that he will not linger when his time comes. I pray that someone will be there for me when my time comes.

Like Denny used to say when he was training us on CPR, "Ten out of ten people die".

So Be It.