I woke up at 3 am thinking about the 93-year old lady whom I discharged the evening prior, wondering if she’s doing okay. Popo G (‘Popo’ means grandmother in Chinese) has a blue cap on her head, covering her face, shielding her from the bright fluorescent light of the exam room in the ER. Her family brought her to the ER because she’s been complaining of right-sided back pain since she fell off her bed the day before. She stares at me blankly when I greet her in her native tongue, Cantonese. Her daughter at bedside tells me she’s very…
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Found this note deep in the Draft section. Didn’t post it then because the pain was still raw. And so I kept it contained. I’m good at that, hiding emotions so people can’t see, can’t tell. All is well- on the outside. Nobody knows what goes on beneath the smiles. But years have passed, and it’s long enough that I feel like I can share now. So here it is. — Every beep and blip means different things in the ICU. There’s the cardiac monitoring alarm that goes off when oxygen level drops; the tone gets lower and lower, it’s…