A tribute to my patient

2 months ago , I was able to pay my last respects to one of my patients who I have been going to for Physical therapy. I think he was my longest patient since I started my practice, I've been going to their house since 2018 for conditioning exercises. When I first saw his chart, I noticed that his last name was very unique, I never heard a last name called Slay here in the Philippines. He was an American who married a Filipina and they have two daughters.

As I was sitting and looking infront, it was giving me all the memories from his progression to his regression. I remembered the days when I was making him stand and walk around their house, we even progressed to climbing their stairs. During therapy he used to tell me a lot of stories wherein he said that he was from Mississippi and was a cotton picker. He used to be in the US Navy and he became a chemical Engineer. I asked him if he played any sports and he said football and his other hobbies were hunting. He also told me that he loved steak.

I won't forget that during Therapy his dog would go to him and jump at his lap. Their dogs name was Antonio and he called him "my little brown dog".

They also had a cat called Smokey and he called it "Mr Gray"

I also remembered that during some our sessions of therapy, he used to poo , maybe it's because he was being mobilized. I remember at one point in time, while I was making him walking he started shaking and he said that he was pooping, he was shouting "Mama" which is his wife. We had to let him sit in the wheelchair and brought him to the bathroom. After that he told me to come back another time because he was exhausted. There were also times when I'd joke around while letting him walk, I noticed his wife was observing, I told him "Walk to mama so she can give you a kiss" and he ended up doing it. I thought to myself that this motivation worked.

I actually became close with his family, there were times when they called me to eat out with them and that was the first time I saw him walking around outside his house. They usually invite me when there would be a special occasion like anniversaries and birthdays. They even introduced me to their other close friends. They were like my second family. While I was at the wake they were reminding me what happened during one of our session, Mr. William wanted to adopt me to be his son, he even asked his wife "Mama can we adopt him"? His wife replied " But Papa, He already has his family" and he said "It's okay" and I was just chuckling while they were having that conversation.

2019 had been a bad year for him, I remember that he was confined a couple of times because of his infection. It came to a point that he suddenly stopped talking and all you can hear from him were groans. They also had to put a peg on him because they were scared to feed him because they noticed that he had a difficult time in swallowing and they didn't want him to choke.

Throughout the months he was wheelchair bound and he regressed and became bed bound wherein I could only do my conditioning program in his bed because of what has happened to him. I remember that there were times where he had apnea for around 10- 20 seconds and sometimes he would not respond to me. When his condition worsened, I saw how much his wife cared for him wherein she was very faithful in doing the log rolling even at the middle of the night because she didn't like him to have a bed sore and she would feel guilty if she saw him very sweaty. She's so dedicated and she loved him so much.

I continued treating him until the Doctor discontinued his PT this month because he was already fragile. The last time that I saw him was the day that he died, I was about to treat our in patient with my colleague and then I noticed that the wife was inside the ward where we were going to treat our patient. I was able to talk to her and asked what happened and why was he here, she told me that she had to rush him to the hospital because his limbs were turning blue. For some reason I asked her "Are you ready if anything happens to him?" and she said "Yes". I couldn't talk to her that much because we had to treat our patient. After treating our patient, I went to him looked at him, and felt really sorry, he had so many attachments and he even had a mechanical ventilator. I just held his foot and prayed. Later in that day, his wife texted me that he was gone. I really felt sad for them, but I couldn't console them because I felt really sick that day. I was looking through my phone and some old messages. Last November 22, 2018 they invited me to celebrate thanksgiving with them and I went there and had fun conversations with him and watched him eat a lot, who would have thought after a year he would be gone. One thing that I would miss is his genuine smile.

Thank you so much Sir Williams for all the lessons that you have taught me, all the memories that we experienced and for making me feel like I'm part of your family. Thank you also for helping me grow in my profession. We will miss you. May you Rest in Peace