Prayers for my Patients

It's December. And that means an increased number of ambulance calls for me.

The last 24 hours have been a whirlwind of emergency calls, with very little down time in between. Now that I have time to reflect on it all, I think about the patients and their circumstances. I think about the man who jacknifed his semi truck into a guard rail, and could have been seriously injured, judging by the damage to his vehicle. His first words to me were words of praise to God for escaping serious injury.

I think about the young girl we resuscitated with Narcan after she overdosed and went into cardiac arrest. I thanked God that she has been given another chance at life.

I remember the mutual concern that two patients had for each other after they collided their vehicles on icy roads. Their genuine concern and lack of blame towards each other was heartwarming.

I remember the love letter a wife tucked under the pillow of her husband, who we transferred out to another hospital as he was dying of end stage COPD.

I remember the compassion we showed to a five hundred pound man as six of us tried, as gently as possible, to lift him from one bed to the other.

And I remember the obvious anguish and frustration of a wife who couldn't help her elderly husband cope with his pain. And I recall how the man suffered silently so he would not upset his wife any further.

Tonight, they are all in my prayers.