An open letter to the spouses of palliative care professionals

by Emily Riegel, MDMy darling,Some time ago you and I had a crazy idea that it could be the two of us against the world. In our naiveté we thought we had a connection previously unknown to any other human couple. We, in our love, became a superior being that transcended the “you” and the “I.” We agreed that Pablo Neruda’s Sonnet XVII was written about us.Of course, between then and now, life has happened, just as it happens for all couples.Our days are busy with children and meetings and work and parents and meals and errands and sick cats and lost keys, and sometimes in the routine of chaos we can say, “How are you? How was your day?”And I say, “Fine. Yours?”Sometimes that is true, it was fine.Sometimes I say, “Really rough.”Sometimes I say, “It was a crazy day.”Sometimes I say, “I just can’t even talk about it.”Yet, even as I have tried to give you a glimpse of the days, there is no way for you to join me in my sadness or frustration or mystified joy.As we close out another year together, I am going to be honest now, as I should have been all along.Before I say this, know that my intention is not to make you think my work is superior to yours, or more important, or more difficult, or more valuable.You see, though, my work IS incredibly hard, and important, and difficult, and valuable.In one day’s time I see humanity at it’s very best and it’s very worst as I hold another person’s hand while they walk the tight rope between life and d...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - Category: Palliative Carer Workers Tags: riegel The profession Source Type: blogs