There is a patient who I have seen several times in the hospital during the last couple months. He has a blood disorder that is rapidly becoming fatal yet he still embraces the joy of every day.
Every time he is admitted to the hospital, with the frequency becoming less than two weeks intervals now, he receives at least 6 - 8 units of transfused blood products. Every minute of the admission, he is eager to get home. He says he just enjoys spending time with his wife. He values every minute he has.
His life lived.
I do not know the patient on a personal basis, however I can easily imagine what his life has been. He has just turned eighty years old and looks 20 years younger. He and his slightly younger wife have probably lived a full life. Reaching their 20's during the late 1950's in the era of Elvis being King and with an innocence in the air. Living the 1960's with all its exploration as they proceeded through their twenties. Settling down and raising a family in the 1970's in the little oceanside community where they still live. Traveling the world and enjoying the finer details of life in the later years. Now they focus on his transfusions and when to get them. The day after being topped up with blood products, he feels well enough to walk the beach by his house and go to one of their favorite restuarants. It is the only date nights they have now. They talk and care about each other's words as if they are young lovers again.
Just a reminder, it's the little things and the daily little caring from one to another that really are what matters. Somehow I feel like he gave me more than what I gave him. Best to always be thankful in the moment.