My husband, D, is a cancer and kidney failure patient with difficulty breathing. Some signs were that of anxiety, but in addition, tests by the neurologists during verbal exams made D display much confusion. Seizures have now been discussed as a possibility. After 13 years of cancer, he has endured much. I don't cry in front of him, but after hearing my very brilliant, mathematician, computer programmer husband not be able to subtract 7 from 97, I left the room with the neurologist continuing her verbal testing.
As I walked out of the room, Melissa Fix, my husband's nurse, could see my wretched emotions and asked if I were okay. Her care and concern extended to comfort me with a warm heart, an open ear, and a pat on the back as I told her how it hurt to hear and see his confusion. Her eyes welled up and she said all the comforting things to encourage and support me. This has been a very busy day with several "code reds" announced and patients rolled in and out everywhere, but Melissa took the time to comfort a distraught wife of one of her patients.