Please Open the Window

I work in a CTICU and a patient came in with severe aortic dissection. Originally, they were going to do emergency surgery, but then they found out the patient had taken a ton of her blood thinners thinking she had a clot and it would help break it up. *face palm* That combined with her age (late 80s) made her not a candidate for surgery. The doctors predicted she would pass before the following day.

The patient asked to be a DNR and sure enough, five hours later, she became super bradycardic in the 30s, then asystole, and passed. While we were performing post mortem care the nursing assistant seemed extra troubled. When I asked her what was wrong, she said that earlier that day, the patient asked her to open the window if she passed during her shift. The windows in our hospital don’t open. The nursing assistant lied to her and said that she would not thinking that the patient would actually pass during her shift and now she felt super guilty. As soon as she finished telling me this,  the window started rattling. We both looked at each other and laughed it off as being the “wind”.

That was until EVERYTHING THAT WAS BY THE WINDOW LEDGE suddenly FLEW OFF and onto the floor!! Blankets, her care kit, her shoes. The nursing assistant screamed and we both ran out of there! She wouldn’t go back in but I went back in later with two other nursing assistants to finish up. I said a prayer over the patient.