Characters
As a naval corpsman I met quite a few characters. Some of them were patients and some of them were fellow staff members. Some things I share are the stories from patients past lives that they shared with me.
The following tale involves all three. A retired veteran was in and out of the Orlando Naval Hospital for problems from his diabetes. We heard him say that as a young soldier he had ridden with Pancho Via at the request of the United States government to harass the Mexican officials. Later, when Texas broke free from Mexico, he rode against Pancho Via to protect the independent and sovereign state of Texas until it was annexed to the United States of America. He also protected the towns, farms, and ranches in Texas from other marauding desperados. He shared these stories with us while he was a patient.
His diabetes had crippled him. He had lost one leg to gangrene and finally the second one was due to be removed because of a lack of circulation. His first re-admission after losing his second leg was an embarrassing moment for my corpsman roommate and yet it was humorous at the same time.
As a health care worker you develop a routine when admitting a new patient, asking the same questions in much the same order. This was what happened when my roommate Eric asked the old veteran what was his birth date, whether or not he had any allergies? Eric eventually asked, “How much do you weigh?”
The old man replied, “I weighed one hundred and forty-five pounds when I still had one leg.”
Eric automatically asked the next question. Can you guess what it was?
“How tall are you?” Eric said and as soon as the question escaped his lips, he recognized the question for what it was. Immediately, he understood his blunder. He was flustered and said, “Never mind” and went asking the rest of the admission questions.
Although the old man was very sick he would smile and relish sharing with visitors and other staff members about Eric’s mistake and embarrassment.
Another patient I recall was a doctor. He was a mule skinner in WWI and used his GI bill to go to medical school. He was a quiet, frail man who spent Christmas in the hospital before passing away.