Human Connection

Cows in the Basement

I was shadowing neurology, and we went down to see a patient in the emerg.

He was older and had some previous diagnosed movement disorder. More recently, he had been having some issues with hallucinations and delusions. We took the history, and then I was talking with his son to just kind of trying to clarify a bit more about what had been going on. There were a lot of things that we had in common. They were both from a rural background, and we were able to really connect about that. It was sort of interesting because part of the hallucinations that this person was having is that they kept seeing baby animals around their house. They were talking about how he kept on thinking he was seeing calves in the basement of their home. I sort of found that funny because actually in the past, our family has had cows in the basement when calves would come too early. I come from a farming background so I was talking with the son about this and I was like, “Just to clarify, there aren't truly any cows in your basement?” And he said, “Well, no, not this time. You know, there have been times in the past where we’ve had real cows in the basement, but no, dad's just not doing so well.” There were a lot of shared things that I experienced that were similar to this patient, their son, and their family. It was interesting at that point because this person had lived such a full life. It was strange to see just the reality of what he had, and it was sad to see what he knew to be true was slipping away. I don't know ultimately what ended up happening to that patient and if they were able to get better control over their symptoms. I felt very connected with that family and their experience, even though my reality is different from theirs.  

 How do you think this like patient interaction is going to impact your practice or has impacted you like as a person?  

 I think about how human connection really allows you to build rapport with people, to open up, and to have a better understanding of what's really going on for them. When I mentioned that I had a similar background, it was a lot easier for them to share, and also for us to just help them. There was a lot of understanding around what was going on with them in that moment.