The First To Know

Today's post is reblogged from radiology tech Holly Franklin's post, "A Path to Mercy".  May you enjoy it as much as I did.

During week 12, I realized something…

I’m always the first to know.

When it comes to our patients official radiology report, I’m always the first to know what their exam showed. What their official diagnosis  is. And sometimes, it’s not the best news…

I’m struggling with that fact.

With the fact that I’m the one who reads the report & then has to pass that news on to our doctors. Although this isn’t always the case, with our critical patients, I always page our doctors to give the results as soon as possible. And I’m finding that with every digit I dial, a small piece of my heart goes with it. Because I’ll never forget that moment.

I’ll never forget all the emotions that emerged as I read that report & how they crashed over me when I had to speak those words of bad news. 

While we all try to stay positive in these critical situations, we also try to remain realistic.

It’s hard to confirm that the “worst case scenario” pathology that we were all praying wasn’t happening, is indeed what is going on. That realistically, there’s nothing more we can really do for this pathology. That everything we’ve done may not be enough. The patient will either improve, or they won’t.

But no matter the outcome, God has the entire situation under His watchful eye & in His hands. Our knowledge of these patients is not even a spark compared to His blazing flare of understanding. He knows every single thing they need.

It’s His will, not our own, that will be done.

“You hem me in behind & before, & you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.” 

-Psalm 139:5-6

And it’s because of that very reason, that we’re in the middle of watching yet another miracle unfold before us. This particular patient came to us extremely sick, so very close to deaths door. While they are not out of the woods yet…not by a long shot…they are still with us & they are still improving. And that, in & of itself, is a miracle.

---

I realized something else in week 12…

I’m in big trouble when it comes to our ortho kids…

BIG trouble. 

They had me totally & completely wrapped before they even made it into the room…& they knew it. Seriously, they could not be more adorable.

Some of the simplest things in life, things we all take for granted, these children have never been able to do…

Walk without pain.

Run.

Climb into a chair by themselves.

Kick a ball.

I can’t wait to watch these sweet kiddos discover what it’s like to walk normally & on straight legs. To watching them discover that walking doesn’t have to be…& shouldn’t be…painful. Watching them take of running for the first time in their life. Watching them climb into a chair…or up onto the x-ray table…

by themselves.

Oh how I’m looking forward to all those moments.

-Please join us in prayer for all of our patients, both critical & non-critical alike. Pray for comfort & peace throughout their time with us. That their healing will be swift & without complications. Pray for all of our little ortho patients as they go in for their surgery & as they began their road to recovery. Pray for all of their caregivers & parents as they try to provide comfort.-

Until next time…

YMCA Swimming Instructor V6

That, my friends, is the name of the course I took at the Burnsville Y this weekend in order to keep my job as a swimming instructor there.  Class was scheduled from 1-5 p.m. yesterday and 9 a.m -2 p.m. today.  When we stopped at 4:30 p.m. last night we were all thinking, "Yes, we'll be done early today, too!"  We were pumped!

We started in the pool right away this morning and we watched the hours tick by, soggy, wrinkled and beginning to chill - without a break.  Finally, around 1:30 p.m. we finished our in water component and got ready to review for the written test.  At 2:20 p.m., I walked out of there with my V6 certification and the knowledge that the Vikings were ahead.  And did I mention - exhausted beyond all belief?   

 

New Speed Record Set!

Matt was working at the front desk at the Y this afternoon when he heard a long whistle.  He knew that meant all hands on deck and he decided to see which pool someone had puked in so he went over to the windows to take a look.  What he saw was a man down by the hot tub and he knew we had an emergency situation.  Even before the pool staff could push the emergency button, Matt had raced in there with the AED and the oxygen tank and had notified his co-worker to call 911!  He has now set the fastest response ever by the front desk.  Way to go, Matt! 

I know you!

Meanwhile, I was sitting in the Y Swim Instructor Class V6 when we heard the alarm go off.  Since the Midway Y Aquatics Director and our Assistant Aquatics Director and one of our lead staff were in the class, class was temporarily suspended.

I went out to see what the commotion was and a little girl I later found out was in kindergarten, pulled on my shirt and asked me, "What happened?"  I explained to her that someone had gotten hurt by the pool, but if she looked, she could see that we had a lot of people in there to help him out.

That's when her mother turned to me and said, "I know you!  You were my teacher!"  And you know what, she was right!  The Molly I knew was a second grader at Washburn and she had a sister Maggie in kindergarten.  Seriously, that had to have been when Sam and I were first married, so almost twenty years ago.  And now she's the mother of three . . . Only at the Y! 

The. Margo.

Tuesday night I taught CPR and First Aid for ISD 196.  One of the men in my class was named C_____ K_____.  Oddly enough, that was the same name as the father of two of my swimming students.  So I asked him, "Are you the father of N_____. N_____ and N_____?"  An awesome shocked look appeared on his face.  "And,"  I said, "The husband of K_____?  I am Margo."  He responded with, "You're THE Margo?  The one my entire family talks about?"  I replied, "And you're the dad who makes the best chocolate chip cookies in the world - not that I would ever know!  I just hear about them!"

Well, it was cookie baking night at the K_____ house last night and the girls came to swimming lessons with a bag of the BEST chocolate chip cookies I've ever had.  Not that I got to have a lot - by the time I was done swimming, Matt had eaten three!  Bless my son . . . 

Thankful Thursday!

There is so much to be thankful for but I'm going to limit my thankfulness to just three things today:

• My sophomore year of high school, our football team won on Friday, October 13th - ending our dubious record of the longest football losing streak in the State of Iowa.  Today, I am thankful that that same high school played in the Iowa Eight-Man State Football Championship.  Unfortunately, we didn't win, but we've come a long way in such a short amount of time!
• I am thankful for my girlfriend who shared the right perspective yesterday.  She's had to put her mother in assisted-living; her oldest son is struggling with his college courses and her youngest is struggling with mental health issues.  Yet, she said, "Other people at work have it so much worse.  They're struggling with cancer . . . "
• And last, but not least, I am thankful for man's best friend who totally licked up the entire glass of milk I spilled on the kitchen floor last night - happily!  I didn't want to deal with it and Annie took care of it.  Of course, I did mop it today!

Of course!

Off course is more like it!  I arrived at the Y yesterday morning to teach a full CPR-PR class only to find out that my room had been absconded by Youth Sports for team pictures.  Not only that, but Youth Sports had taken both gyms.  All the classrooms upstairs had classes in them.  And we no longer had an MOD (Manager on Duty) to make an executive decision for me.  

So Shalom from the front desk did it - peacefully!  She told Youth Sports they could split the large gym in half and have their two gyms.  I was teaching CPR in the small gym.  Problem one solved.

Things went totally great in class - they were an excellent group - until we finished.  Everything I needed to clean the manikins was MISSING!  On the one day that I had hoped to get out of there early because I was going to do team building for Micah's youth group that afternoon, I had no cleaning supplies PERIOD. 

The second aquatics staff I talked to told me our supplies had been borrowed by another department, but she was pretty sure we were out of bleach.  She helped me "take" a bottle from the custodians.  Yup, you could say we stole it because we did not ask anyone if we could have it even though it was in the aquatics area!  And I did find the rest of our stuff in the kitchen - where I never would have looked!  Problem two solved.

I had really hoped to be home by noon and it was now 12:15.  The cleaning was done, the manikins and supplies were back in the closet and I was going to the aquatics office to finish my paperwork.  

Danae was in there and after a few minutes she asked me how soon I would be leaving.  I told her I was hoping to gone in ten minutes.  She said she was done for the day and she wondered if she could get a ride home.  She is a new staff who is going on her third month at the Y and I had heard her car had died a few weeks back.  You know what I said - "Of course."  Problem three solved.  Because you never know when you just might get to be Jesus with skin on.