A day in the life

Last Sunday was an interesting one for me. I had to go into the hospital and give chemo to our Hodgkin's lymphoma patient. Things went fairly smoothly aside from the fact that he threw up a lot. Poor kid. He starts before we even give medicine. A sweet moment, though, was that he fell asleep on me as I was pushing chemo (you have to give it over 20 minutes so I was just sitting beside him slowly pushing the medicine). He hasn't really been into us at the hospital though his uncle says he is a talkative kid. It was sweet that he felt comfortable enough to fall asleep on me. Maybe it's because for the last few weeks I was giving him chocolate if he smiled or said hello. :)

I came home and a little bit later Jeremie called and said the diabetic girl living with him was unresponsive. I went to her house and couldn't get her to respond even with putting sugar in her mouth. We drove her to the hospital and started an IV and gave her dextrose (sugar water). Within a few minutes she woke up to find me staring at her. The nurses all laughed that I was the first person she saw and that she was afraid she had died and was looking at an angel. ha! Soon she was alert enough to eat and then we were able to leave. I LOVE working on patients with low blood sugar. They go from unresponsive to talking within a few minutes. It's like being a miracle worker. :) Anyway...

On the way home I got to thinking about my day and how I would have never thought I'd be doing what I'm doing now. Cancer treatment was never a thought in my mind. We talked about HIV a little in school. We talked a lot about diabetes- but type 2 more than type 1- and I just foolishly didn't think I would see a lot of that here. I am thankful for where the Lord has brought me. I am fully aware that it is not me who does any of this but it is the Lord. He is working in my weakness. I used to be a perfectionist. I can't be now because if I were, I couldn't function as I'd be so down on myself. Of course I try to do my best but I always make mistakes. Thankfully, the Lord has taught me to rejoice in my weakness instead of being shamed by it.

It made me think of Dawson as he was playing with connected paper clips. He was swinging them like a lasso. They would get stuck in various kinds of designs. One of which was two of the paper clips hanging perpendicular to the chain. He said it looked like a swing without a seat. I heard him later saying to Kenan, "God was helping me make things with my paper clips. He almost made a swing out of it!" With childlike faith he was aware of needing God in everything he did. He knew God was with him as he swung the paper clips. He also didn't see the "almost" as a problem but accepted it as God had done it and "almost"is what He planned. It was a great reminder for me in the light of my day that God isn't seeking perfection but a willingness to give what we have for His use, whatever that may be.