The Tale of a Patient: The Pen That Was More Than a Pen
The other day, I met a patient in the hospital admitted from an assisted living facility for an acute care needs. As I prepared his discharge paperwork, he suddenly began to speak, not about his health or medication, but about a missing pen.
To most, it might have sounded like a minor inconvenience. But to him, it was irreplaceable. He explained that he had owned that pen since the 1960s, a gift from his very first job as an intellectual property lawyer. It wasn’t just an object; it was a vessel of memory, history, and identity. It was part of him.
The staff was notified and they searched his entire room, but the pen was nowhere to be found. He left the facility without it, and although his medical condition was stable, there was a quiet sorrow in his eyes, one that medicine could not touch. His lost memory.
This moment reminded me of something I have witnessed many times in healthcare: as we grow older, life slowly strips away the possessions, roles, and routines that once defined us. Eventually, even the most cherished things slip away, until in the end, we part with the most precious of all: our own life.
It is a sobering truth, and one worth remembering.
-Pal Ronnie-
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