To the nursing home, or to Paris, France?

My patient has jet black hair with 3 inches of white roots showing. She weighs 300 lbs (136kg) and gets around in her wheelchair by pushing herself with her bandaged feet. Huge metal oxygen canisters are her constant companion, and they are connected to a long, long plastic tube that blows oxygen into her nostrils. I visit her in the back half of a small home in Mesquite, Texas, where her tiny dog keeps guard in an overgrown back yard. She's slumped over her enormous belly most of the time, and I'm never sure if she's awake until she pops open her beautiful blue eyes and answers me. I imagine that she got this habit from spending many long hours at dialysis.

I may never see her again. She's going to Paris, France as soon as her boyfriend comes to get her. She met him on Facebook, and he works in Europe, but he's from Georgia, USA. He has put down $30,000 on some kind of deal that's going to make him $3.4 million. So, when he comes to pick up my patient, he will be a millionaire.

This generous man gave my patient a chance to participate in his lucrative business deal by putting in her own money. But she didn't give him any money. Her brother has warned her not to give people any money, so she didn't give him any; but, she hasn't told her brother about this boyfriend/fiancé either.

I say "fiancé" because he wants to marry her when he gets here on July 4. From Europe. To take her to Paris, France. To live happily ever after. Which is good, because she needs to live in a nursing home, because of her many many health problems. And since he's a millionaire, and all, he can afford a nursing home for her.