Share This Episode
Our American Stories Lee Habeeb Logo

What I Learned from a Dying Patient

Our American Stories / Lee Habeeb
The Truth Network Radio
October 17, 2025 3:00 am

What I Learned from a Dying Patient

Our American Stories / Lee Habeeb

00:00 / 00:00
On-Demand Podcasts NEW!

This broadcaster has 4367 podcast archives available on-demand.

Broadcaster's Links

Keep up-to-date with this broadcaster on social media and their website.


October 17, 2025 3:00 am

A doctor shares a moving story about a dying patient and the importance of taking a spiritual history, revealing the connectedness we have in all of our imperfect, vulnerable lives.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:
A New Beginning Podcast Logo
A New Beginning
Greg Laurie
Kingdom Pursuits Podcast Logo
Kingdom Pursuits
Robby Dilmore
The Christian Car Guy Podcast Logo
The Christian Car Guy
Robby Dilmore
Truth for Life Podcast Logo
Truth for Life
Alistair Begg
It's Time to Man Up! Podcast Logo
It's Time to Man Up!
Nikita Koloff

This is an iHeart Podcast. Hey, it's Bobby from the Bobby Bone Show. I had an incredible time at this year's iHeartRadio Music Festival and even got the chance to hang out with Diplo and Bailey Zimmerman while I was there. How did Ashes come together, Diplo? I pulled up real quick.

He was about to leave on tour. You're about to jump in your tour bus, and we had like three hours. It was really cool. He literally just like randomly showed up to my house. I'm like, oh, hey, Diplo, what are you doing?

He's like, I have a song that I want to show you. And I was like, okay. You can listen to the full episode out now wherever you get your podcast. And big shout out to my friends at Hyundai for making this possible. At a blast, cruising around the festival weekend in the all-new Palisade Hybrid.

America is changing. And so is the world. But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere. I'm a smah in Washington, D.C.

I'm Tristan Redman in London and this is the Global Story. Every weekday, we'll bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet. Listen on bbc.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. JBL Tor Pro 3 earbuds are for those who don't conform to the standard.

Yeah, I mean, if you want to get into some touchscreen technology, how about the smart charging case, clear sound? These are not standard things. You're only going to get them with the JBL Tor Pro 3 baby. And I love the sound of JBL when it goes, Goombo? These earbuds are packed with innovation because you can't stand out by following others.

Touch screen smart charging case for one-touch control, instant EQ customization, true adaptive noise canceling, and the one-of-a-kind audio transmitter, which can plug and play with everything from game consoles to in-flight entertainment. What more could you want? First doesn't follow. Grab a pair at jbl.com. I'm NFL linebacker TJ Watt, and this is my personal best.

YPB by Abercrombie is the activewear I'm always wearing. That's why I reached out to co-design their latest drop. I worked with designers to create high-performance activewear that holds up to my toughest workouts. Shop YPB by Abercrombie in-store, online, and in the app. because your personal best is greater than anything.

Hey everyone, it's Sophia Bush, host of the podcast Work in Progress. Alexis is a company that believes in the importance of setting a standard. For me? A standard that matters to me? Is being a friend, being a person, being a co-worker who shows up.

The standard Lexis has set for themselves is to experience amazing. Lexis's benchmarks are feelings. Things like exhilaration and joy and amazing can only be achieved by knowing people on a deeper level. It's feeling like your car was designed and built. Just for you.

A machine that makes you feel more human. Because a car that doesn't make you feel something is a car that stops short of amazing.

So experience Amazing at your LexisTealer. This is Lee Habib with Our American Stories. And once again we're going to hear from our resident doctor on the show. Doctor E. Wesley Ely, a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University.

And here's Doctor Ely sharing his moving story. What I learned From a dying patient. I had a patient recently whose death was particularly harrowing. 39 years old. PhD, scientist, brilliant.

She was sent to the ICU team as a fasinoma. Meaning, a person with a constellation of problems the doctors couldn't figure out. This woman had been physically fine until two months earlier. and now she was growing progressively short of breath, had a little blood in her urine. and had pain in her toes.

which were turning blue and red in the cold. Imaging showed that she had a growth on her aortic valve. and that sections of her kidneys were dying. The doctors at the outside hospital had diagnosed her with blood clots in her lungs. and started her in a blood thinner, but her condition kept worsening.

As the day progressed, We started all the needed tests and interventions. to help sleuth out the problems and fix them. Hours into my periodic conversations with her and her mother and sister, My mother mentioned that my patient was agnostic. I realized that up to that point Perhaps because of the sheer rapidity of the way things are unfolding, I had neglected to take a spiritual history. Since I teach medical students and residents in physical diagnosis class about the importance of taking a spiritual history, you'd think that I wouldn't fall prey to this oversight?

But I had. The literature shows. That most patients want to be asked about their spiritual beliefs or non-beliefs. and that many think it rude If healthcare professionals don't consider this important aspect, of their well-being. The question should be asked out of respect.

and in a non judgmental manner. Thus I said to her, Do you have any spiritual values that you want me to know about that might influence your medical decisions? We'll get to her answer in a minute. Within 24 hours of our meeting, The patient had been checked with an array of blood tests and imaging studies. And there it was.

The biopsy showed angry cells with too much nuclear size for healthy cytoplasm. and prominent nucleoli. Cancer. It was everywhere then. It became a whirlwind.

because she got shorter of breath by the hour as the cancer and fluid literally filled up her lungs. We went from her arrival in the hope of figuring out what was wrong and seeking a cure. talking about how when she got back to her lab and students she'd resume where she'd left off. to the depths of despair. The patient's conversations with her sister were difficult, to say the least.

and at times they both got weak. Eventually, They affirmed that they had to pave a way to prevent my patients further suffering. With her mother, however, It was much worse. She looked at me through tears and fear and screamed, This is not fair over and over. Her sister began printing off her will from an iPad and having things notarized.

It was surreal. I won't forget my patient's look of shock and surprise. as if she'd heard me wrong. When I told her that the cells we'd seen under the microscope were cancerous, and that the cancer had already spread throughout her body. Only eight hours after we told her that she had this incurable illness, and that our hope, which at the time seemed plausible.

was to get her off the ventilator so she could talk to her family. She stopped breathing. and died quietly, without any apparent awareness of suffering. Throughout the day I had tried to be diligent about ensuring that she was able to spend time with her mother and sister. The initial challenge was to use a specific approach towards sedation to ballast or comfort, and her clarity of mind.

so that she could really engage with the family. My last memory of this young scientist is that of her breathing, unconscious and unaware of her surroundings. At this point she was newly comatose on the sedation and painkillers as we removed the breathing tube and ventilator. I urged her family, nevertheless, tell her what you want her to know. It helps families to have no regrets in the days that follow.

The story is many things. and to you it no doubt means something different than it does to me. As this woman's physician, I find that one of the most enduring aspects of the story was the palpable oneness I felt with her. and in knowing how in sync we were with everything, body and mind. There was an unusually tight connection.

and I sensed that we both knew it. Since antiquity, the greats such as Plato and Aristotle have taught us the concept of body, mind, and spirit as the fulness of existence. a triad still embraced by many to day. My patient and I were in tune. After talking about those first two.

When I took her spiritual history, she perceived that our beliefs diverged. She affirmed what her mother had told me, Yes, I am agnostic. And it's okay that we differ on that. I nodded and was left to wonder how and why, Without having talked about this earlier. She had both understood that we differed, in this third piece of the Triad, and thought it important to offer me Reassurance.

An autopsy will answer many things. like what was growing on her heart valve and the source of her cancer. which we think was bowel, pancreatic, or ovarian. but no physical finding, Microscopic sighting or laboratory tests is going to help me learn any more about her spiritual side. I remember her loving manner.

and her inquisitiveness about life. I know that she was thinking of her estranged father, Her students and her nieces, whom she'd never see again. She wasn't sure about the existence of the divine. But her courage, daring to face what was happening despite not wanting to hear the worst possible news, utterly confirmed the human spirit. She revealed the connectedness.

we have in all of our imperfect, vulnerable lives. and I can still feel it now. And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Monty Montgomery. doctor E. Wesley Elysium Here.

on our American stories. This is Lee Habib, host of Our American Stories. Every day, we set out to tell the stories of Americans past and present, from small towns to big cities. and from all walks of life doing extraordinary things, but we truly can't do this show without you. Our shows are free to listen to.

but they're not free to make. If you love what you hear, go to ouramericanstories.com and make a donation to keep the stories coming. That's our American stories. Dot com. Hey, it's Bobby from the Bobby Bones Show.

I had an incredible time at this year's iHeartRadio Music Festival and even got the chance to hang out with Diplo and Bailey Zimmerman while I was there. How did Ashes come together, Diplo? I pulled up real quick. He was about to leave on tour. You're about to jump in your tour bus and we had like three hours.

It was really cool. He literally just like randomly showed up to my house. I'm like, oh, hey, Diplo, what are you doing? He's like, I have a song that I want to show you. And I was like, okay.

You can listen to the full episode out now wherever you get your podcast. And big shout out to my friends at Hyundai for making this possible. Had a blast, cruising around the festival weekend in the all-new Palisade Hybrid. America is changing. And so is the world.

But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere. I'm a smah in Washington, D.C. I'm Tristan Redman in London and this is the Global Story. Every weekday, we'll bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet.

Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Julian Edelman from Games with Names. Fantasy football can be exhausting. I mean that literally. You're so anxious over your lineup, you can't fall asleep.

Best way to deal with it is Unisom. There's a reason it's the number one doctor-recommended over-the-counter sleep aid brand. It helps you fall asleep faster, wake up less, and feel refreshed in the morning. Plus, Unisom sleep tabs are clinically tested and proven effective and completely Non-habit forming.

So, make the ultimate sleeper pick and put it to bed with Unisom. Use as directed. What kind of mayor? would let this happen to his family. Inspired.

By shocking actual events. I'm working on the story about the Murdochs. Their abuses of power are playing out in real time. Starring Academy Award winner Patricia Arquette and Jason Clark. It's only cheating.

If you get caught. Hulu Original Series, Murdoch, Death and the Family. New episodes Wednesdays on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus. For bundle subscribers, terms apply. Can small acts make a real impact in the world?

Sometimes a small thing has the power to become more.

Something big and meaningful. And when it comes to helping children, no act is too small. When you fill up at the Purple Giving Pumpet Shell, a portion of your purchase will be donated to support charities in your community. The Giving Pump. Easy to stop, easy to donate.

From 9-1-25 to 10-31.25, participating shell stations will donate a minimum of one cent per gallon of the fuel pump from the Giving Pump, or a minimum donation of $300. This is an iHeart podcast.

Get The Truth Mobile App and Listen to your Favorite Station Anytime