The Sound of Silence
A detailed Summary of The Sound of Silence
I have attended to many deaths in my short career as a nurse. I guess that is the
hardest part of geriatric nursing. I remember one man in particular, Joe*.
He was a veteran of World War II, and a retired mechanic. He was nearly 90 when I
met him. His beloved wife of 45 years, Sara, had died only months earlier. He was
diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). In this disease, the
lungs lose their elasticity and begin to fill up with fluid. Eventually, a person will
literally drown in his or her own secretions. It is slow and sometimes very painful for a
Taking report from the off-going nurse, I was not surprised to hear that Joe was
taking a turn for the worse. The physician had been called earlier and ordered some
Morphine to ease his pain. The unspoken thoughts exchanged between us had been the
same, "This is it". As I prepared for the long night ahead, I looked over Joe's chart. He
was listed as a "DNR-Do Not Resuscitate". His wishes were to die without any
*All names have all been changed to protect privacy
life extenting means, only comfort measures to

his father at that age. The pictures in Joe's room confirm the resemblance. Jack's wife,
in my heart that he would not make it through the night.
normal. Kim kept a couple of warm blankets on him and the room heater on low. He
as a relative. I proceeded to call his son, Jack, to inform him of his father's change in
Some common words found in the essay are:
Fortunately Joe's, Immediately Karen, Disease COPD, DNR-Do Resuscitate, Sound Silence, War II, Joe's Placing, Minutes Jack, touched hand, ease pain, vital signs, minutes jack, sound silence, jack appeared,
Approximate Word count = 1216
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
Category: Miscellaneous
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