By Marygrace Lomboy, CRNP
I was seeing a patient for the first time and was having trouble finding his house, as my GPS was leading me astray. When I finally wound up in his front yard, I couldn’t believe what I saw…a giant heart stone hanging from an old oak tree. The heart stone was really so unexpected—you see, I had been collecting tiny versions of this beautiful rock for years. I have quite a collection of heart stones that I’ve collected from the beaches of Cape May. Each time I’m there, I look for the perfect heart rock to add to my collection. So this one was really overwhelming…I had to find out more about where it came from.
I made my way in to see the patient and his wife. He was a sweet retired farmer with end stage cancer and his wife was lovingly caring for him. I told him about my heart rock collection and asked him about his heart rock in the front yard. He smiled and said that a few years ago; he was out in his field with his tractor, digging up the soil to get ready for the planting season. He hit something really hard, almost knocking him off of his tractor. When he uncovered it, it was the tip of a really big rock—he continued to dig and found it was this incredible rock was in the shape of a perfect heart. He later explained that this wasn’t just any ordinary day—it was February 14th. He went into the kitchen where his wife was standing and said “God just sent us a valentine…” They later found the perfect spot for it for all to enjoy. The next time I went to see this special patient; I brought him one of my heart rocks from my collection. At subsequent visits, I always saw it right there on his bedside next to him along with his prayer books and Bible.
It’s discovering the little pieces of love that patients are willing to share that lift the spirit.