NeverGiveUp_Boy's Blog

April seems to be such an emotional month for me this year. I guess it is because Melbourne is going through autumn and all the colours affect my mood. Here are two stories about my recent two patients that I want to share with you. Firstly, to let you know there are still beautiful thing, although hidden, in this world; and secondly, to keep a journal of my healthcare work for my life later. I will not comment a lot on these two pieces of stories, I will let you think yourself after reading.

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[Beautiful Mind No.1]

I recently spot the beautiful arrangement of a wooden board on the tablet in one of my patient’s room at the hospital. It was so nice that I had to sneakily take a picture (above).

I then sat down and spoke to him when I had a bit of free time. He was from a country that does not exist anymore: Yugoslavia (now has become Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia). He spoke his Slovene language, also English, Italian and a bit of Croatian. From the arrangement of the wooden board, I can tell he is also an artist. I asked and he is a painting artist with acrylic, also a wood sculpture artist. His dad was a famous sculpture artist back in Yugoslavia time. During his stay in hospital, he borrowed from colouring pencils and start doing his colouring books.

He is one of the nicest and calmest man I have ever met. He previously live around the city in the suburb, but recently move back to the country so he can have more time for himself and continue his art passion. Even though he is 82 years old, he is still very clear-minded. He does all his medications himself at home. He is very educated and wise, and spoke in a very polite manner. I think it is what he has been through that help to shape his behaviours.

He will be out of hospital very soon and he said he is very happy to go home and go back to his painting.

He smile a lot and I have not seen him frown once.

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[Beautiful Mind No.2]

A new patient being admitted to the Dementia unit for permanent stay. He is 73 years old.

This patient truly remind me of the movie ‘A beautiful mind’. I was sad when I see him. He was just sitting at the tablet mumbling to himself and looking into far away without any emotion on his mind. However, he seems to be gentle and calm when the staffs took his blood pressure.

I open his file to have a read.

He was a mathematic professor in the UK.

He used to compete in mathematic and computer programming competitions in the past.

Now he just drifting to the land of forgetfulness. I turned around and look at the man’s face one more time, still could not believe what I was reading, or more like trying to match what I was reading to the person in front of me right now.

Maybe he still calculating maths in his head at the moment, hence, the mumblings! Who knows what is going on in his beautiful mind at the moment. He came into the age care facility with only a small luggage, that is all his possessions. A whole life of a man packed up in this piece of luggage.

We truly cannot say where we will end up, we better live a good life so even, later, when we start to forget our own life, other people won’t.

(27/04/2018)