Every shift I go in I do so with the knowledge that there is a good chance my face will be the last or first thing a person sees as they leave or enter this world.

The one that sends a chill up my spine though happened while I was still doing clinicals. We received a call to a nursing home for a unresponsive 87 year old woman. When we picked her up it was obvious she was not long for this world. She coded three times on us before we got her to the ER.

What freaked me out though was when she became responsive briefly during transport. I was starting an IV and she just sprang to life, grabbed my arm with a strength unholy for a frail old woman, looked me square in the eye and in a raspy, guttural way quietly screamed my name. The look in her eyes was unlike anything I had seen before or since. It felt like she was starring straight into my soul.

What is so disturbing about that is that during no point had I introduced myself to her as she was unresponsive. Also being a dumb student I had forgotten my ID badge that day as well. I had never worked her before as a patient, nor meet her that I can recall in any capacity.

Could be she mistook me for somebody else by the same name but it sure seemed meant for me. She died less than an hour after admission.

To this day I still remember everything about that call like it just happened and it makes my blood run cold to remember her face and the way she called to me. Sometimes I close my eyes and still see that face.