DOCTORS ’ LOUNGE
DOCTORS ’ LOUNGE
HEROES
Brian Ferguson , DO , MPH
I
introduce myself to the frail elderly male in the medical ICU . I am resuming his care from the night staff . He has improved remarkably , and is smiling , speaking in full sentences — a rare feat for an ICU level patient , and a nice change of pace from the string of deaths we have recently experienced .
He will transfer out today , and probably , hopefully , this will be my last medical encounter with him as he continues to improve and is soon discharged home . My temporary relationship with him will be remembered and my image of him , suspended in my memory until either he once again falls ill and I am privileged to care for him , or , rather , 10 years down the road , I dust off my mind ’ s file of him to present it in a teaching setting .
Ironically , medical teaching about him is unlikely , as there was nothing remarkable about his medical care . His presenting illness was typical ; the pathogenesis of his condition , well understood ; and the treatment met textbook guidelines . It is his life that was memorable .
28 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
He was one of many enlisted to an overseas conflict in a time much different from our own . He was a Green Beret , an Army Special Forces operative , involved in Korea and Vietnam . He was a prisoner of war in North Korea . He did his duty , he never quit , he never gave up , he never complained . If it was not for my random morning questions about his service in the Army , I never would have known that this 115 pound , pleasant , thankful gentleman , eating his morning toast , was once one of our Nation ’ s utmost trained soldiers , making it through a training program that most of us would not dare dream existed , let alone graduate from it .
We often feel ourselves that we have accomplished something in the letters behind our name , our prestigious job title , our ability to make decisions , our long nights , our sometimes pompous and frequently esoteric knowledge and education . Yet , of the staff that participated in this veteran ’ s care , no one would dare compare their frequently recounted all-nighter study-athons , or their dreaded EMR initiation , or their reduced compensation , or anything else that brings us down , to what this man must have experienced . Our struggles in a warm library are cush compared to those of a starved man , alone on the cold cement of a dilapidated holding cell , waiting to be tortured in North Korea .
Out of respect I offered my gratitude and condolences for what he must have experienced , he sincerely and simply replied , “ I had it way easier than some of the others .” After he was rescued , in spite of what he endured , he continued to serve .
It was a slow morning , and if it had not been , I certainly would have been buried in charting , orders and morning labs , and speaking with this gentleman would be second , if at all : Medicine first . Yet , Medicine is not always about the labs or the antibiotics . Sometimes the relationships we form , and the lives we come across in our desire to serve others , are much more significant .
He may be elderly and weak now , but his mind is still that same , determined young 20-something , rucking for miles with a 50 pound pack , and marching for days on a single MRE and two hours of consecutive sleep . He may have a poor prognosis , there may in fact be little I can medically do for him , but his stout heart is still the same stout heart that sacrificed more than I can ever understand . My time and respect is the least I can offer him .
Because of what this man , and other men and women have endured , I am free and able to lead the life I am grateful for every day . And now , this soldier ’ s care is in my hands . Down the hall is a WWII veteran who was one of the first African Americans in the Marines . He tells me there will soon be a movie released about his particular regiment , and the struggles he and his comrades faced . He explains , “ I fought two battles : the war and racism .” He states if it had not been for the latter being so tough , he would have served until retirement . “ I love America and I love the military .” Desegregation of the Armed Forces was announced in 1948 , 16 years prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — making the military one of the first major US institutions to do so , thanks in large part to the sacrifice and precedents set by African Americans during WWII .
Nearby I am caring for another WWII survivor , a soldier who fought in the Battle of the Bulge ( the last major German offensive , notorious as carrying with it the highest American casualties of any operation during the war ( 89,000 casualties , 19,000 deaths ). After surviving the conflict with boots inadequate for the cold weather , he had such severe bilateral frostbite he begged his doctors to cut his legs off . Prior to our hospital evaluation , this 92-year-old was carrying haystacks around his self-operated farm , walking on his natural God-given
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