Pain

It's hard to watch another person suffer. There's something about another person's pain that makes us (me atleast) very uncomfortable. In the hospital, I've had ample opportunity to be present when others are hurting, and so far, I haven't really figured out what to do with it yet.

I went to talk to a patient who, aside from heart problems, suffered from seizure activity in her brain. As I began to speak with her, she suddenly became silent, turned her head slowly to the left and twitched her eyes to the left as far as they would go. She was having a siezure as I sat beside her. I don't know if siezures like that are acutely painful or not, but it can't be pleasant to suddenly lose control of your body. When it was over it was like her eyes snapped back under her control and she slowly turned her head forward again.

One man, after a grueling heart surgery, could only respond to me using one word, "help." I asked if I could enter the room, and he nodded clearly fixing his attention on something not visible in the room. I soon discovered his attention was fixed on the severe pain he was experiencing. He was able to talk, but when I asked him any question the only response he would give was, "help," as he winced in pain.

I've stood over car accident victims in the trauma bay in excruciating pain to which pain killer medicine can only do so much good.

As a non-medical person in the hospital, my job is not to relieve pain. Were I a doctor or nurse or whatever, I'm sure I would be able to offer hurting patients something to relieve their suffering. But, as a chaplain, my job simply to sit there. In the pain, watching pain, feeling some pain of my own. This is an awkward thing for me. I am trained to help you deal with your emotional pain (if you want to go there), but regarding physical pain, honestly, I'm pretty useless.

So, for me, at this point in my job, I'd have to say that sitting and watching a person in pain is one of the hardest things to do. But what are my other options? I think it's bad form if the chaplain fled the room everytime somebody was hurting.

Sometimes, I'll be talking with a patient who has pain hit him all the sudden for a few moments. I sit there, and when the episode is over we continue our visit. Sometimes, it's as if nothing had happened. Sometimes we talk about the pain the frustration, anger and fear that random acute pain can cause.

So, what do I do? Suggestions are welcomed. Other chaplains reading this: what do you do with tangible pain during a visit?