THE POWER OF TOUCH

I have comfortably slid into my daily routine of seeing sick people and trying to nurse them back to  health all in good time. Most people look at us either as God or monsters, but the fact really is that we are human beings like everyone else .Today was a little different. Appreciation for your work makes you work harder. When it comes from your patient, it makes you realise why you got into this profession in the first place.

We have a patient who has been with us for over half a decade now. She explained to me the importance of "touch" in our profession. She explained to me how a very small thing like me patting her shoulder gave her so much of satisfaction and more importantly, courage to go about doing her daily chores.

Patients who carry the burden of a disease which is still considered stigma today are always looking for more love, in addition to care. These little things are never taught to us in med school. They are a mere reflection of our personality. She narrated to me how her previous oncologist always wore a mask face and would never answer queries, leave alone anything else. She, being a doctor herself,also spoke to me about how times and health care have drastically changed in the last 2 decades, when she was first diagnosed with cancer. 

Before I left her room, she thanked me for spending some time listening to what she had to say and did something that caught me by surprise - she held my hands and kissed them. That's when I truly understood what she was trying to say.