Back to Larry (continued)

This is actually a continuation of Larry's story from my previous post,"The night I was Shelley." I made it a separate post because if I included this part, I wouldn't be able to tag the first one as humorous. Unfortunately, his story ultimately has a sad ending that I struggled with for a little bit.

I took care of Larry at least 5 times and grew quite fond of him. He was very kind and patient, very grandfatherly. I've lost all of my grandparents by now, so feeling the grandfatherly warmth he exuded was a refreshing reminder for me. One night, I was home in bed and about to sleep. I was actually thinking about Larry that night, wondering if he was doing okay since I last saw him and imagining a scenario where he declined acutely and we had to intervene.

Literally an hour later, I got a text from one of the techs working that night.

"Hey, it's Lauren from work. I wanted to let you know Larry passed tonight." I felt my heart sink. Apparently it happened very suddenly and unexpectedly, but it appeared to be mostly peaceful. His nurse was at his side waiting for the rapid team to arrive as she had activated a rapid response when she found him breathing rapidly with dropping oxygen levels. Unfortunately, he was DNR with support, so once his heart stopped, there was nothing she could do. I suppose there is comfort in knowing he wasn't alone, but it was still a punch to the gut to hear about it.

At first, I didn't cry, but I thought about it a lot. However, once I stepped foot in the hospital on my return to work, it felt more real. I rushed to my unit to see for myself that he was gone. My eyes were filling as I walked swiftly down the hall towards his room. As I turned the corner, I slowed down and looked in. Sure enough, a new patient was there, and I burst into tears. Larry was gone.

After talking to others about it, apparently the day he died was the day he saw his daughter whom he hadn't seen in a long time. It was almost like he was waiting for her to visit before moving on. Whether or not this is true, I don't know, but I'm choosing to believe it is.

RIP Larry. I'll never forget that rapid where I was Shelley, the only rapid to ever make me laugh.