I need to share

I don't have any pictures to post today. I wanted to share about my night at work the other night. I was charging the monster and we were absolutely crazy. We had trauma after trauma and they were all heartbreaking. A young man who took his own life as a consequence of an argument with family and some alcohol. The family is left to reel for years from that one split second decision. They were heart broken. I cried outside the room and other healthcare workers involved cried.

Then a 27 year old man, young and married just a few short years, had a cardiac arrest. Why? I don't think it was ever determined until after the code was called. But the ER team that worked that code was desperate. They tried everything. The doctor was in tears, as were all of the other members of the team. I stood outside the room and watched as the mother of this grown boy tenderly knelt down on the floor and took his head in her arms. I had to go to a secluded spot to compose myself.

I've always thought of a team as a sports term. It's nice that kids can learn to work as a team to accomplish a unified goal, and that's where my thinking about teams stopped. I've been profoundly influenced in the last three days since this code happened. Having been disgruntled lately about my job and frustrated with administration, that night I remembered why I love what I do. I watched this team of doctors, RN's, respiratory therapists, radiology, phlebotomy, patient care techs work on this man. This was a desperate team and they would have done anything possible to save this man. A group of people can become unified through teamwork, especially when trying to accomplish good for another person. And there will forever be a bond between these team members as they remember this night.

Watching death happen is sobering. I am more grateful for my life and want to appreciate every day. Even the 90 year old patients that I talk to tell me that their life has passed like a dream. I personally find it so easy to become wrapped up in the difficulty, the stress and the concerns. When I see a young man only 27 pass from this life I am humbled. I don't know why I've been allowed to stay on earth this long, but I am immeasurably grateful.

I remember as a kid I would listen to my little "My Turn on Earth" cassette tape. A woman is called home after her time on earth and she resists. She can't believe that her life is over. She feels like only yesterday she was scared to leave the security of her Heavenly Father and go down to earth. She asks herself if she has done everything she should have done here on earth and looks back as if it had been a dream. She sings that she's not ready. I love the music from this production. I can only be so thankful that it is my turn right now. It's my turn on earth, and that is sobering. I always wanted to be a stay at home mom. I have to work, and sometimes I be-moan the fact, but today I love what I do. I am grateful for my turn here on earth.