compliment?

i think i got a compliment today. my patient needed a dressing change; when i asked if it could be done, he said, "are you gonna do it? or are you gonna send in one of those crackheads you work with?" i shouldn't have asked, but the question flew right out of my mouth before i could stop myself. "who do you think is a crackhead?" he proceeded to tell me the name of a nurse i work with and i had to chuckle. the nurse he mentioned is more than a bit scatterbrained, but he is kind and intelligent and more than competent enough to do a dressing change. but my patient preferred me and suggested i tell the other nurses on my unit how to scrub the hubs on his central line and how to administer his IV pain medications - fast and in large doses.

i must add, while we were having this comical conversation, my 31 year old patient lay with his eyes closed, nauseated, holding his 4 year old son's hand. after discussing the "crackheads," my patient shook his son's hand firmly and proceeded to teach him how to be a man. it was sweet. they practiced a time or two and then my patient, in a slight drug fog, tenderly touched his son's cheek. it was loving. and genuine. and oh so sad. i couldn't help but think - these lessons, on how to be a gentleman, are the only lessons this little boy will get from his daddy. my patient, the one who thinks my colleagues are crackheads, is not long for this world.