28. She Said Thank You
I (F 27) was training to be a nurse. Here in Germany, you have to visit and practice at a lot of places. I was working at a hospice, a place where terminally ill patients can stay until their last day. I was there for 8 weeks and was in my last year of studying. I was doing a round, checking on everyone, making sure they are not in pain, need any help or just a talk. One patient, a woman who was there for days, had different breathing and I called her husband who was in the group room (don’t know how to exactly describe it). She had her final breaths, while her husband was holding her hand. It was peaceful and I know she was gone. At this moment another patient made a call (we had phones, which would ring if someone requested a nurse). I excused myself and left her room. Deep breath and going to the patient who was calling. I entered and smiled “how can I help you?”. The man told me his guest would like to know where the exit was. I was a little confused, because he hadn’t had any visitors that day yet, so I asked: “who do you mean?” Maybe I just didn’t see anyone, because I was with half an hour with the dying patient. And he answered: “Well this lady here. She wants to know, where she could get out”. I went pale, blood falling to my knees. I was shocked. I stuttered while opening the window: “ahm. err. here is the way to the balcony and right to left, down the stairs is the door. I’ll get you some water.” Left the room, and was hardly breathing, leaning against the wall. Was standing there for 5min. One of the nurses saw me and asked if I was ok. So I told her what just happened. All she did was smile and say: “yes, that kind of stuff happens a lot here.”
A few hours later I asked the man if his guest found the way out. Him: “Yes, she did and said thank you for everything.”
Had to process that for days, weeks, and months. I still can’t believe it. But I am sure since then, that we carry a soul.