Parents10:00 PM
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Back to work today on Christmas Eve after a week of annual leave. And I witness something very depressing.
My patient is a very happy uncle, who doesn't like to bother nurses even if we offer help to him. He will always smile and thanked us for helping him. He was fit to be discharged so i happily went over to him to inform him. To my surprise, he wasn't happy upon hearing the news and was getting upset.
As nurses, we need to be patients' advocate so i asked him why wasn't he happy to be discharge? Staying in the hospital isn't good and getting discharged means he is healthy again. He mentioned to me that he won't get discharge to his own home but to a nursing home for 'abandon elderly'. He said he was married and has 4 kids, 3 sons and 1 daughter. Initially he stays in malaysia. However, due to a mild stroke, he had to come over to Singapore for rehab. His daughter agreed to take care of him so he came over to singapore and his flat in malaysia. To his horror, his daughter refused to let him stayed on once he got slightly better. His 3 other sons, also refused to let him stay. In the end, he was place in a nursing home. I asked him about his wife and he told me he has no idea where she is now and who is she staying with. He doesn't have a way to contact his wife nor his children.
When it was time for him to be discharge, he kept saying although he is smiling on the outside, he is crying in his heart. He left the ward with tears flowing down his face. It was a upsetting moment. This is my very first time witnessing my patient being discharge from the hospital in tears.
I can never understand why kids can abandon their parents and feel nothing about it. Parents, the ones who raise us up, love us, worry about us and are always there for us when we need them. Our parents aged but yet their love for us doesn't stop and yet, we choose to stop giving them the love and care they need. When we were born, they were given a choice to keep us or to abandon us, to teach us good or just let us learn the bad things. I believe every parent shouldn't go through the pain of being abandon. It's just too unfair to them.
Never take things for granted and always appreciate what your parents have done to raise you up. It wasn't an easy process to raise a kid. Be thankful, grateful and love your parents like how they love you. Treat them fairly. And if the thought of abandoning them comes to your mind, think again. How will you feel when you are a parent yourself and got abandon by your own kids?
Think Deeply, Act Wisely.
