A letter from Whitehorse
I wrote this letter in March of 2005 while in the Great White North. I just wanted to share a small segment of what I experience on a daily basis.
Hello Everyone,
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Especially to all you Irish out there, St. Patrick is one to be proud of! I just got off night shift and you might think I am really tired, but I had an amazing night. Three of my patients are palliative care, that means they are going to die within a short period of time. Sometimes people think night shift is boring, or really hard to get through, but I never find that.
Tonight a lady who probably only has days left, rang for me to come to her side. She kept saying she didn’t feel right, felt funny, and would make excuses to see me. The funny thing is, she didn’t have to make excuses, I would just go and see her anyway. We sat and talked about what dying meant to her and how she was ever going to get through her last days. She told me she wanted to see the priest in the morning, so I arranged for it. She asked me if there was anything else she could do for herself and I told her ” If you believe that God has a plan, and a time and a place for you, you will know in your heart everything will be alright and you do your part, and God will do his.” She smiled and went to sleep.
I don’t know if she will be there tomorrow or the next day, but I do know, God has a plan for her and God will touch her in ways before her death that not even she will know about until they arrive.
God sends us people from all different walks of life to change our lives. She told me that I may have changed hers, but I don’t think she realizes how much she has impacted mine… I think even more so. And I get these amazing experiences in my life everyday by just going to work. I am very fortunate in my practice and career to get to learn exactly what I should be doing right now so I don’t look back with any regrets. I get to learn the mistakes people made and not make them for myself. I get the knowledge of all the elderly I work with and I have learned so much about what’s really important in life. I guess the most common things I hear are ” Don’t drink, don’t smoke”, “Get to know your family”, “I wish I would have treated my spouse better”, “Have good clean fun”, and ” count your blessings”. I consider myself priviledged to get this information just in my daily work. It’s like I have a foresight that I let touch me so I can be a better person.
Believe that God is working in your life, even when you don’t feel it.
God Bless,
Grace
