| This morning, I trudged up 3 flights of concrete stairs with a centimeter thick worth of paper to file away. Front and back, I had neatly alternated black and blue pen each day for a month, painstakingly documenting a diary of a teenager's failing battle with cancer. Like many other kids before him, his prognosis was poor and even if Humans won this battle, Cancer will only retaliate and take another stab at a wounded body. Infection slowly conquered from the head, to the lungs, and to the heart, and before long, his body was in multi-system organ failure. Are you in pain? Teenager shook his head no, never opening his eyes. Do you want medication? Teenager nodded his head. A brave young warrior never admits to hurt. I asked to give more pain medications; I asked to stop the drugs that were causing more risk than benefit; I asked to feed him; I asked if anyone had ever asked him if he wanted to stop the misery. But, no one asked him and no one wanted to change a single thing they were doing. We don't know how to save him. Then, the next day, he stopped nodding or shaking his head. The doctors had such solemn looks in their eyes that I walked right passed his room. Even though I had spent hours a day taking care of him, today was a day to take care of the twenty other children. Where there is death, there is new life. I filed all my efforts away. He will be remembered but only for a little while. I was immediately called to another room to translate to Mandarin for the most precious baby I have met. I have been speaking to the mom for a week now. The doctors in China said this baby will not live longer than one year because her family did not have enough funds to pay for heart surgery. The mother had sacrificed as much food and living expenses to collect money, only to be turned away by greedy hospitals and seemingly incompetent doctors. Mom was left to hug her baby and cry. The mother would not give up. She collected her money and purchased a fancy cigar and managed to bribe a person to give her information on where her baby could find help. America will help you with a Heart Gift Program. Not knowing what lies and deceit they may encounter, mom and baby boarded a 20 hour train to Beijing and flew across the world. Without having to spend a cent, our doctors repaired the baby's heart. You get to leave the hospital today. The mom tells me, I only met you this once and I may never see you again, thank you!. The doctor wanted me to tell her, thank you for having faith in us, and your baby is very blessed to have such a loving mom. Sadly, I did not know the Chinese words for "faith" or "blessed". It was quite a sad realization. Whatever the case, I said bye to the luckiest baby who got a second chance at life. Her mom said she will send me pictures when she saves enough money for a computer. I will miss them. Then it was time to go see the new kid. She was already in the room where the previous warrior passed away. Whew, she doesn't have cancer. People ask me what I do at my job. Don't you just stand behind a counter and fill medication? No, I've never done that at my job. I can never explain what I do and I can not even come close to explaining what my job does for me. The above is just a snapshot, and I hope you can walk away from it feeling blessed, as I often feel after a long, hard day. |
