Sometimes I prefer the patients with dementia. Most of the patients, for obvious reasons they're often not in a very good mood. They can be angry, hard to deal with, complain a lot. But most of the demented patients are actually pretty cheerful, happy to let me examine them, forget they're in pain when they're not reminded of it, and generally don't make the job harder than it needs to be. Five admissions overnight. Four of them nursing home patients with dementia. One of them talked to me for twenty minutes non-stop while I did his history.
"Do you know where we are?"
"Slovakia."
"Are you from Slovakia."
"No."
"Have you ever been to Slovakia?"
"No."
"Why do you think we're in Slovakia?"
"I don't know."
"And what year is it?"
"1978."
"You know, in 1978, Slovakia didn't exist."
"Of course not."
"Do you know what day it is?"
"Only if it's Tuesday."
"Interesting."
Thursday, September 9, 2010
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