Wedding in the Intensive Care Unit

There are a few things you don't see often. The other day, we had a wedding ceremony in the intensive care unit. The patient and her husband had been legally married several months earlier but had been saving money for a ceremony. Unfortunately, she developed a devastating infection which resulted in life-threatening respiratory failure. She had been on a breathing machine for over a week when they decided simply to hold the ceremony in the intensive care unit. With a Catholic priest dressed in a yellow isolation gown and a handful of friends and family, they held a quiet and heartfelt ceremony in the corner room of the ICU. The patient wasn't able to participate greatly because of her grave disability, but given that her chances of pulling through are small, we were glad to help them organize this ceremony. It was a tender, poignant moment that reminded me that there can be much richness even in the scariest of times, so much left at the end of life, and so much in the hospital that is not medicine.