I want to share a little bit about a special lady who came to our office as an emergency on Monday. This woman is not particularly fond of the dentist as she has had some really bad experiences in the past. And she was not n a good place in life as I will explain in a minute
When I walked in to great her she looked at me with fear in her eyes and confessed that she should have come in to see the dentist a while ago when the tooth first broke. She had been taking care of her parents and recently had lost her mother. She was still talking care of her 91 year old father, but the pain had gotten so bad she had not slept much for the last 4 nights.
So here she was in pain, not loving the dentist and when we took her blood pressure it was through the roof 171 over 115. Not really a good pressure to work with, but she was in pain. Long story short we ended up prescribing her some antibiotics and some pain medication and scheduled her to come in a few days.
On Wednesday she came in and she had actually had some relief from the constant pain, but the tooth was still painful to the touch. And luckily she had gotten some sleep. And to my amazement her blood pressure was down to normal. Everything was a go for the extraction.
But here she was more comfortable and yet more emotional. She really missed her mom who had always been with her when she had dental treatment. Her father offered to come but he was not strong enough for her to take him up on his offer. But she was being brave and we were starting to form a relationship, the single most rewarding aspect of be being a healthcare provider. We had talked on Monday and she knew that my dad has been in the hospital for the past 2 weeks and our common life issues..dealing with aging parents was probably the reason that she came back. We were in the same place in life.
I got to tell you, she warned me she was hard to get numb. This is what had soured her on dentistry, the last dentist didn’t believe she could feel everything and kept on working. That was a simple one to overcome; I told her she had absolute control of the situation, to raise her arm if she felt anything. And she was hard to get numb, but I did and I removed the tooth without any complications.
At the front desk she said if she didn’t have the gauze in her mouth she would have given me a kiss (I never had that offered before) but she told me a hug would have to do. And a hug is what I got and she slept that night without any pain and was a happy camper.
Unfortunately we live in a time where it is easy for us to criticize the efforts of others. And criticize we do. But do we take the time to thank others for their service and help as often as we should? I know how great I felt after the hug and I have actually let that feeling last for 4 days now as it is an intoxicating feeling. I helped someone and they appreciated it. How about that for satisfaction on the job.
And all it took was a little hug. And now I need to be giving more hugs to the people around me.