Turning Nine

My daughter Anna turned nine this week. 

It doesn't seem that long ago that Elaine and I went to the hospital with the hopes that our daughter would appear shortly. 

Well, we met Anna for the first time about twenty-four hours later -- a very rough twenty-four hours for me and obviously, very much harder on Elaine.  I remember that long night clearly and I remember praying a lot for two people -- one of whom I had met and loved dearly and one of whom I had never met and loved, sight unseen.

It is easy to forget how dark and uncertain those moments are, when ten minutes of pushing turns into two hours of desperation and yet, it is in moments like these that God teaches us trust.  In times like these, we grow to doubt our own strength and throw ourselves on His unlimited strength.

The darkest hour is always darkest in that moment before I fully throw myself on the strength of my Savior.

Nine years later, there is no doubt that God blessed us in the early morning hours of October 26, 2006.  He blessed us with a little baby girl, but more than that, He blessed us with the knowledge that whatever dark times we face in the future, He will go through them with us.

That fact alone brings a lot of hope to a sometimes very hopeless world.

Flu Shot Season

Flu shot season is here once more.  It seems as though you can flu shots every where -- your local pharmacy, Walmart, your grocery store, your fire station, and maybe even your family doctor's office.

When it comes to flu shots, people fall into two camps.  One side believes that they cause illness:  "Dr. Waldron, I've never been so sick as I was after you gave me that flu shot last year!  I'll never get another one!"  The other side believes that flu shots saved them from certain death:  "I got the flu shot last year and I don't think I even had one cold."

The reality is that neither camp is right.

I get vaccinated for influenza every year and I usually do get a couple of colds.  I have even had a couple of stomach viruses as well.  By God's grace, I haven't had influenza.

Influenza is an illness in which people run high fevers, get muscle aches all over, and usually have a dry cough.  It lasts two to three days and then usually goes away, leaving its victims pretty weak, but still alive.  This is the only illness that flu shot prevents.

There are a lot of other illnesses out there.

Everyone puts their trust in something.  For those who don't trust vaccines, there is something else that they do trust.  Hand washing, antibacterial scrubs, probiotics, Plexus, or maybe Essential Oils.  These are things they rely on to prevent and sometimes treat the illnesses they fear.

Flu shots are certainly not perfect -- they are made by very smart, but also fallible humans.  They are at best a limited tool in a world full of deadly viruses and bacteria.  But then again, so are all of these other things in which people are putting their trust.

On the other hand, there is One who is worthy of trust, who is neither fallible, nor limited.  There is no virus or bacteria that He does not understand and cannot heal.

I would trust God, even as I get my flu shot.  He's a lot more trustworthy than anything that humans can come up with.

Country Kids

 

My children are from the country.  This fact was made really clear to me when our family travelled out to a medical conference in Denver.

Anna, Vince, and Elliot would attempt to strike up conversations with others in the airport, on the plane, and even on the shuttle going to our rental car.  Often the person would look up from his or her smart phone with a look of distress.

In a small town, your are expected to converse with those around you, whether or not you really know them.  On the other hand, for city dwellers, it seems to be their goal to pretend that none of the thousands of people around them really exist.

Someone who lives in an urban area told me that if they acknowledged everyone around them, that's all they would get done in a day.

Perhaps that is true.

At the same time, there is something important that is lost when we lose that sense of community that is present in a small town.  It is sad that some of the loneliest people live their lives surrounded by multitudes of humans who seldom acknowledge their existence.

It is a good thing to talk to other people, even if we don't know them.  It is a blessing to interact more with real humans than with Siri.

"No man is an island."  All too often people act like they are living on a peninsula -- scarcely connected with the others around them.  Far better to reach out and speak to someone in your path today.  You both will be the better for it.

Physician Assisted Suicide

Physician assisted suicide is in the news again, as California recently became the fifth state to pass a law allowing it.  I guess it is the new "hospice," a way for people to deal with terminal illness -- a law that allows doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of narcotics for a dying person to take, if they so desire.

I have heard these sorts of laws described in terms of "choice" and "death with dignity."  In all honesty though, I feel like it is the opposite of choice and an example of the failure of modern medicine.

I have entered these dark rooms many times.  They are places where Death lies waiting just beyond the window and Suffering lies beside the patient within the bed.  It should be my goal in these situations, not to hasten death, but to bring relief of suffering.  True choice would be to offer patients a chance to have relief of pain and such light as can be brought into such darkness.

Real choice means offering dying men and women comfort, even as they are dying, not a firing squad.

This whole discussion saddens me, because it feels like a false choice.   The real decision should be between pursuing further treatment and accepting comfort care.

The end of life should not be a dark time, although it does include the sadness of good-bye.  My hope for my patients would be to provide relief of pain and also the hope of life beyond these fragile bodies.

Some day, we will be better at taking care of people at the end of their lives, than we are now.  Even so, I pray today that I might provide comfort for those in need.  I pray more, that none of my patients would ever feel that suicide is the answer to any question that comes to their mind.