humbled beyond words

I don't know what else to put in the title..... but I was blown away by the gift that God has given me this week. Last weekend was my first time 'rapid responding' a patient. That means that you call in a team of respiratory therapists to trouble shoot when a patient isn't breathing/breathing well. I was scared; one of my patients has a tumor in her throat, and she's been getting radiation. The tumor is sloughing off (diminishing) from radiation. As a result, she has all this gunk in her throat and can't clear it out. I was scared, as I didn't know what to do. It was really a situation we all felt helpless in. We ended up intubating her and I took her up to ICU. I was worried about her all weekend, wondering if/how she was going to recover from all of this.

Well when I got back to work the other night, I saw her name on the patient census. And I saw that I had her that night (meaning she was sent back from ICU and was stable). After researching my patients, I knocked on her door and peeked my head in. She got tears in her eyes, and just started BEAMING thanking me for all that I did for her. She grabbed my hand and would not let go. It was one of the most incredible moments of my life. I helped save her. If I would have just let her go on struggling to clear this gunk from her throat, she might not have/probably wouldn't have made it. I felt so rewarded. A confirmation that I do make a difference in this world. In a huge way. And I've never been so proud/humbled in my life. We ended up having a talk late that night about life. And about how wonderful care we took of her; it made her wish that she would've taken a little more time to care for the others she served when she was working. It's incredible to me that I would ever have that impact on someone; making them want to be a better person. Wow. Humbled isn't even the word.



On a completely different note, I watched The Real World tonight and admittedly started balling at the end of it. Those who watched know what I'm talking about. I was SOBBING, like I know him and what he's going through. But I have absolutely no clue..... and I cannot imagine being in that situation as Ryan, his family, his friends, or his girlfriend.



The other EXCITING news that I got is that my friend, Ande, is going to be my pseudo-roommate. She has clinicals here at my hospital next semester, so she's going to come spend every Thursday night/Friday afternoon at my apartment!!!! There are a few weeks where she has clinicals Thursday & Friday, so she'll be here Wednesday-Friday. That blesses my soul so much. I cannot even tell you how happy that will make me. :-D I am soooooo excited! It'll be wonderful to be able to chat with her face to face once a week, pray together like we used to....... thank you Jesus, for an incredible last couple of days.