We passed the year anniversary of Stan’s death on March 15, 2020. It was one of the last days we could enter a restaurant to eat together, and the first day that in-person church was canceled.
We again wore Auburn colors, went to the cemetery after lunch, and celebrated Stan’s life.
We also remembered the lives of those who worked to spare his life.
And now in this deadly era of COVID-19, these nurses and doctors are again foremost in our minds.
May God bless those of you who are the healers in the wake of this new coronavirus. You are our heroes. You are God’s special servants.
And to the families of the healers? You deserve special blessings, too, for the sacrifices you are making. May God keep you all safe.
Why I’m Sad
I’m sad.
I didn’t like seeing Stan connected by tubes to bags on IV poles. I didn’t like that he needed round-the-clock care in ICU for week after long week. I didn’t like that the lights always needed to be on, that the machines always needed to beep, that the nurses always had to stick and measure.
I drove home from the hospital that last Friday morning, March 15, 2019, one final time of leaving Stan’s now quiet and empty Room 11 that he’d occupied for so long.
I opened my Lent prayer app to the prayer-of-the-day.
This is what God had planted for March 15.
We Still Need People
Stan died in the early hours that Friday morning. Monday was his visitation. Tuesday was his funeral. Stan was the husband of Kathy, one of the Four Corners, one of my life-long best friends.
I’ve known Stan forever. First as my big brother’s friend, then as my own friend.
Those previous few months, I watched Stan breathe through one machine and watched his blood circulate through another. Modern medicine can seem quite miraculous.
But technological improvements alone still aren’t enough.
We still need people.
So now, even though I’m sad, I’m also grateful.
Here’s to the Healers
I applaud you who work with the sick and dying, you who are strong for the weak, you who stay up late and get up early so patients can have 24-hour medical attention.
The 6th floor medical staff in the Cardiac Care ICU at our hospital that took care of Stan (Anna, Taylor, Will, Des, Brandie, Leslie, Mallory, +) are more than phenomenal workers, they are phenomenal souls.
They know what to do with their school learning: they adjust levels and change out lines and read x-rays.
But they also know what to do with their emotional instincts: they offer genuine hope and they give generous care and they cry real tears.
They have more than skill. They have heart.
So here’s to the nurses, the doctors, the assistants, the caregivers: Keep doing what you do. Keep nurturing and protecting and tending to us when we’re sick, when we get better, and even when we die.
We need you. We pray for you. We love you.
Thank you for how you took care of Stan. And thank you for how you took care of us.
* * *
Do you work in the medical field? Thank you! Have you had a good experience with your medical caregivers? Please share in the comments.
revised from the archives
