This afternoon (12 July 2021), while I was talking to a patient, the staff asked me to see an elderly
woman who came in because of difficulty breathing. The old woman was accompanied by her
daughter-in-law.
I interrupted the
consultation with my current patient and approached the old woman.
I listened to her lungs and
noted crackles all over. Pneumonia. She had the look of distress painted all over
her.
I told the woman to seek
emergency care. Oral medications alone
would not help her. I also suspected
COVID-19 but never told the old woman about that possibility. She was in enough distress as it was.
As the old woman prepared to
go out the door, she turned her head towards me, smiled, and waved goodbye.
I felt that she was waving
goodbye not just to me but to the world as well. I doubt that I would ever see her again, and
that breaks my heart.
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originally published on my Facebook wall on date indicated
