Two patients and one nurse. Courtney contacted me wanting to know how we could allow two patients that were involved in the same accident meet. I came to the unit and rounded on the patient with her to inform him that the person who was involved in the same accident wanted to meet him. The patient responded by saying "Oh, I don't care, I would like to, but you have to speak with my wife first. She is somewhere with a cellphone glued to her ear." We both laughed and said ok. As we left out of the room to find his wife, we noticed her on the phone just as her husband said and she said, "I just can't take any more bad news today please." She broke down crying in Courtney's arms and you could see the bond they had created. Courtney was tearing up looking at me saying "I cannot do this." I just ignored her because I was in tears myself and so all three of us were in the hall crying.
After a few minutes, she explained to us what was bothering her. Courtney grabbed her hand and said to her "it is going to be okay, do not you worry, remember one day at a time." I informed her that the other person involved in the accident wanted to meet her husband. Her face lit up, she started asking a million questions, and Courtney being her professional self, kept saying "I cannot disclose any of this information." She wanted to know if she was in the ICU, what kinds of injuries at this point and Courtney said, "I do not know anything about this patient, I just know she wants to meet you all." At this point, we escorted his wife to the nurse's station and asked her to wait. Those tears turned into excitement quickly after learning she was about to meet the other person involved.
When we entered the room to meet the other patient with the wife, you would have thought they knew each other already. They encouraged one another and talked about the accident. They also had to let Courtney know that she would never be able to play poker because her facial expressions are horrible. The patient's wife said to her "I knew something was up when I kept asking and all Courtney would say is 'I do not know ma'am' with a funny look on her face." Courtney replied to us by saying "I'm not a great liar", as she laughed.
The next day we planned for both patients to meet. Patients held hands letting each other know how much they were worried about each other. Then they talked about how God placed the right person (Courtney) in place that allowed them to meet and they are forever grateful. Both patients stated they wanted to take Courtney to rehab with them because she made this traumatic experience very pleasant and easy to cope with.