It was an unusual home health visit. The patient said she was tired of nurses coming to see her. She was not very nice the whole time I was there. She was either saying that she didn’t want me there or talking bad about her doctors.

She had also not let her wound care dressing alone. Once again it had been pulled off even though I had explicitly told her that she needed to keep it on for the wound to heal.

At the end of the visit I told her I needed to do one more thing before I left. She said, “What, slap me?”

I said, “No,” and kept sliding closer to her on the couch. I said, “I need to give you a hug before I leave,” as I wrapped my arms around her.

She asked for another hug at the door and I gave her another one. She was probably the least deserving of hugs that day, among my patients, but what one deserves and what they actually need, are sometimes two separate matters.