Grumpy

When it comes to patient interactions, I usually follow the David Mamet school of acting (and playwriting):
Only NOW matters.
History is in the periphery, if at all.
Took care of a patient I've labelled as grumpy.
In previous admissions, even when he was ambulatory, he was grumpy.
When he was admitted acutely ill, he was grumpier.
Yet, his children has showered him with patriarchal affection.
I have no doubt they really love him.
He's loved by all, except me.
I don't see what is lovable in him.
I know that my compassion reserve has been running low for awhile now.
But I don't believe my feeling that way towards him was from that.
What I needed was to see who he was -
An "aha" from a qualitative research presentation that said having a picture of the patient before his or her illness has helped nurses in caring for the whole person rather than treating the person in the bed as a bundle of symptoms.
Maybe if I knew about him better,
I would've felt about him differently.