Have you ever had a patient you especially related to?

[SilverBells, BSN]

Has anyone ever had a patient they especially related to? 

Last week, we had a patient admit with the following noted in her dismissal summary: 

"Her diet is very poor.  She lives off of squirt pop and chocolate chip cookies."

When I read that sentence, I knew we would get along.  I thought to myself,  "She's my kind of person."

Who else has examples?

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

I had a few patients in my long term care facility that ended up with an attachment of sorts, but it grew out of the situation, not really because of any similarities.

We had a dementia patient from France who spoke more french than English as her dementia progressed. Somehow she couldn't remember what she had dome five minutes ago, but she remembered that I could understand her when she spoke. I always responded to her in English and I would tell her "you have to speak in English" and she would reply, in french, "of course I'm speaking English". I felt badly for her because she thought that people just didn't care when she would tell them her back hurt, or she wanted the window opened or closed. I ended up making single word signs so when other nurses heard "doh" they knew she was taking about her back, and if she said "fenetre" she wanted the window opened or closed. There were some other signs, but those were the main ones. 

I had another dementia patient that would come up and hug me every shift at some point. I guess maybe I reminded her of someone she had known. I so remember one day that when I came in she came up to me and smiled and I must have smiled back. She said "I love your teeth, are they new?" I responded they were my originals and she said, "okay, when I die, you can have mine." 

As difficult as long term care was at times, some of the residents were very memorable, good and bad. 

I hope you and your new friend are enjoying chocolate chip cookies together.