Palliative week

Mrs O died last night at midnight. That pretty much summarizes the week.

It was a long, grueling week, but probably one of the most rewarding weeks thus far. This week was essentially a learning experience in palliative medicine. I had one patient go home with home hospice. Took another person off of supportive care and started comfort measures (meaning controlling pain, taking them off of the ventilator, stopping dialysis and medical care), and then the bombshell was making Mrs O comfort measures yesterday. I spent hours with these families each day, and it was such a privilege to watch them go through the process of accepting the terminality of their family members... I realized, in the process, that a few of the docs I work with, suck at helping families in this process.

I'm starting a 7 day stretch, have one day off then have a 9 day stretch..