Thanks GOODNESS I don’t see this as my patients go through our Births R Us program!!! But, unfortunately this IS the norm elsewhere. So sad.
Not if they go through MY lamaze class…
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Category Archives: The Ins and Outs of Us
Healers and Healing
If needed, to catch you up read my Balance Beam and Mercy posts.
I opened my email yesterday and found this from my Husband. Knowing how much I am struggling he was trying to find something to help give me peace. In addition to having me listen to a 30 minute audio about death from Chuck Swindoll I found this in my email. A poem written by a Kristi A. Dyer.
Healing,
the ancient covenant between physician and patient
a promise to cure,
to save,
and to restore.
Healing
appears in many forms–
The right antibiotics for an infectious organism
The curative chemotherapy for a malignant tumor
The correct diagnosis in a complex case.
But what of the terminal diagnosis
with no treatment options
when your diagnostic skills are no longer required
your presence will not alter the course?
Then
Healing manifests on the purest level–
an extension of the soul,
aiding in the acceptance of the process
finding peace and serenity
on the path leading to transition.
Healing
of pain,
suffering,
and emotional distress.
No longer with technical devices
and the newest medication.
But just
A cheerful smile
An open ear
A gentle touch
A warm embrace
Taking the time to listen, to be
to share a part of yourself.
Healing
becomes an expression of caring and love.
The greatest gift of all
may be the ability
to walk with a person
help provide them with strength
and courage
Man I love this guy
Actually, I call him boy. And have so for as long as I can remember. Either boy or brother but never by his name. Not sure why. He calls me sister. Just kind of a strange thing really but it works for us. Next to Adam I can honestly say that he is really my best friend.
Adam and I have been sorting through thousands (literally) of pictures to put together a slide show for my niece’s upcoming graduation and I stumbled across these photos that I NEVER saw. Some of the pictures we are going through came off of my sister’s hard drive so I haven’t seen until now. I ’bout fell off my chair folks when I saw these three. My sister’s dog Copper had some sort of injury last year and had to wear the infamous cone but I never heard of this happening! And, yes it is a REAL lampshade around his neck and yes I bet he will be real shocked when he sees these pictures on here as he probably never thought they would re-surface. Brother~you’re the best. You crack me up!
A much needed day of fun
On Saturday we went to the Amazing Pizza Factory (and let me just say this….it was amazzzzinnnggg!!!) in Omaha with Jason, Missy and the kids. We’ve never been and it was sooo much fun. It is like Chuck-e-cheese on steroids so is ten times better. Even the food is way better. There were games, go-karts, bumper cars, a roller-coaster, bowling, mini-golf and I’m sure I am forgetting something. The kids behaved and so did Adam. He has a ticket fetish. You know those games…the ones where you win tickets. Ah, boy~if he were a gambling man we would be in trouble. We had 1600 tickets at the end so for those of you that understand the whole Amazing Pizza Factory/Chuck-e-cheese ticket lingo you know that is incredible. I mean you get to pick like a race car from the prize booth, not just a pencil or sucker. The race car isn’t one that is battery-operated or anything, it is like a little match box car but still…this is the big time people!
I tell ya…those kids. They’re the bestest. And, we are sure going to miss them (and their parents too I guess). Yep, Jason is now gainfully employed (Praise Jesus) and they will be moving to Tulsa. While he is going this week, Missy and the kids won’t be following completely until this summer. Our heart’s ache with the loss of their close friendship but God is good. They are blessed and boy did they need it! I better stop now as I’m getting a little teary and I was determined to make this a “fun” post as compared to my more recent ones. Here you have Adam and I making goofs of ourselves:
Mercy
I think I am slowly figuring out where my biggest difficulty lies with everything recently. In that I mean death, suffering, illness…it is just so painful sometimes. I don’t know if “pain” is the correct word as I am not in physical pain per se (my tummy would disagree) but my heart breaks a little each time I have to tell someone bad news or I see someone suffering so terribly. For example, there is nothing worse than seeing someone gasping for each breath or holding a crying patient that goes in week after week after week for more chemotherapy just trying to save their life and they are so sick that they cannot even function at a basic level and they are just so sad and scared and the horrible part is knowing that there is literally nothing that I can do to fix it for them. NOTHING. But pray. And, I do. I pray with my patients in the hospital often. Did you know that when we give chemo we basically bring the patient as close to death as possible and then try to bring them back~that is essentially how it works. The only way it can work to rid the body of the cancer. How awful.
With that said I am sorry to say that I think where I am struggling with all of this IS with my faith. Like I said I pray, man do I pray with these patients and do they ever appreciate it. I think it helps them, but I don’t know…I guess I am not doing the best spiritually and if I did better maybe I would be coping better with all of these things? While some may think it strange, blogging about this also helps. It is like journaling to me.
I have thought about whether or not I am in the right place, the right career right now. But since I cannot imagine changing to a different kind of medicine I think I must be doing what God wants for me to do. And like I said previously, I so love my patients.
I wasn’t going to post it. I was going to keep it private but I have a tendency to lose emails and I think I am going to need it to refer back to again and again and that is the comment from our good friend Jason to my previous post. Telling me that he believes I am annointed by God to do what I do~this is my calling. And, he reminded me that Jesus is my strength. That is where I am weak right now. It has slowly happened over the past two or three years…one of those things that creeps up on you like gray hair or wrinkles.
So. What now? Well we have a trip that we are both very much looking forward to. We will be flying to Mississippi on May 14th to see Adam’s Mom graduate from nursing school. I am sure you all know by now that Adam’s Dad is a preacher. They don’t know it yet, but I think I need him. I need him to pray over me, he just has it, you know. That touch of the spirit and I need that. So, as Adam’s mom reads my blog occasionally I guess this is their heads up…ha ha!
Reading. Gosh, I love to read. I know I need to read the bible more but I am not good at it. I have a learner’s bible to at least help but I need to be better. But if anyone knows of any good books about grief or anything that you think would help I am open. A friend just gave me The Shack by Paul Young and I am well into it already.
I sure want to be stronger by this fall when I hope the babe-making season starts (oops, did I type that?)! =0)
A good friend posted this on her site about 18 months ago and every so often I go back to that post just to listen to this song. In fact, I have probably hit replay and listened to the song ten times while typing this blog. We can all use a little Mercy.