"Well, sort of," I said. "I've been here since last July."
"Oh," he said. "Well, I guess I haven't heard too much bad about you yet," in a tone that said that maybe next week he would hear about the former patients I had buried in my crawl space.
"I know you usually see Dr. Jones," I said. "But I'll do my best to take good care of you. What brings you in today?"
"It's my shoulder," he said.
The next several minutes were spent gleaning information about his shoulder and examining it. "It looks like rotator cuff tendinitis," I said. "You've probably just been overusing it."
"Well," he said. "What do I do about it?"
"I think the best thing would be to put a shot in it and then probably do some physical therapy on it," I said.
"What kind of shot?" He asked.
"A steroid shot," I replied.
"Is it going to hurt?" He asked suspiciously.
"Oh, a little," I said breezily. "You'll be fine."
"Easy for you to say," he said, sarcastically. "I guess go ahead."
I went out and drew up the medication I would be injecting, very carefully. I returned to the room with the syringe. I carefully marked the area, cleansed it with alcohol, and picked up the syringe.
"All set?" I asked.
"Go for it," my patient told me through his gritted teeth.
I gave the shot. "You'll feel a stick and then a burn. The burn is worse than the stick," I said as I pushed the Depo Medrol into the joint. I don't know why I say that, but literally every shot I give I say the same thing. "All done," I told him, slapping a Band-Aid on the posterior aspect of his shoulder.
"When are you giving the shot?" He asked.
"It's in," I said.
"Wow," he said. "You're pretty slick. I hardly felt a thing." He paused a moment and then said, "I do believe you might work out here in Brookneal after all."
It's a bit of a boring story from one of my days. No one passed out, no one had to be resuscitated, and there weren't gallons of blood being transfused. There was only a first meeting between a doctor and a patient and one that (hopefully) went well. Of course, the bigger question will be known in a few days. It doesn't really matter so much whether the shot hurts, it is whether or not it works.
I think about this a lot. The relationship between doctor and patient is built on trust. When I give my patients advice, they need to believe that I know what I'm talking about. That confidence comes because of experience. It comes because in each little event in my patient's lives I am there and take good care of them.
Our relationship with God requires even more trust -- we call it faith. The knowledge that God will lead us through whatever trial we are in and that He will not leave us. We can get this knowledge from God's Word and from reading the promises there. Even better, sometimes, is just to sit and remember the dark times in the past and how He brought us through each one.
My memory isn't always the best at remembering how discouraged I was in the past when dealing with my son's speech delay or, a summer vacation disaster, but if I try, I can remember that those times were awfully dark and God took me (and my family) through each one.
Today's trials are big -- maybe they are bigger than any we've faced in the past, but regardless, our God can take care of them all.
He's always been faithful before.
He will continue to be trustworthy, whatever we face, one day at a time.
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