Working on vibes

"She's not consenting," we were informed. "Her kids want the surgery, but she is saying no," was then clarified. There was a visiting Orthopedic Surgeon, Dr. Lindsey, this past week and that morning an xray had been brought to our attention. Grandma had fallen a few days ago and her hip was cracked in a couple of different directions. Easy enough for our visiting Orthopod and we immediately recommended surgery.

Lindsey and I walked down the hallway to the emergency room to discuss with grandma her concerns. "I was eating," grandma told me. "I was bringing food to the table, and I fell." "How did I break my leg while eating?" she bemoaned almost embarrassed. "It happens," I reassured her and went on to express my thankfulness that she had come and sought help. "I wanted the Lord to heal me," she confessed with tears in her eyes. "I was praying He would heal me." And it was suddenly 100% clear to me. Let me segue and explain. The specific fracture grandma had sustained is not one that I have fixed myself. However, with our visiting Orthopedic surgeon not only would grandma be in expert hands, but if she had waited one more day the opportunity would have passed. It was the last day for Dr. Lindsey and she actually had open time that day for grandma's case before packing up and leaving. Segue done. "and that's why you're here," I said definitively. I went on to explain the unique and divine timing of grandma's situation. Her family at bedside recognized and appreciated the situation. And in her Honduran indirectness, grandma conceded, "...I did tell them to bring me here. Even though Tocoa was closer, I asked them to bring me here."

It was a very busy week for Jake and I this week. I am so thankful for the visit of both a General Surgeon (Dr. Scott) and an Orthopedic Surgeon (Dr. Lindsey). Dr. Scott had a long schedule of general surgery cases waiting for him. This allowed me to be able to scrub with Lindsey and learn from her this week which was a huge blessing. We tackled cases such as grandma's as described above as well as the following gentleman.

This x-ray is of the gentleman's left femur. The bone is broken and had been broken for years. Dr. Lindsey saw this gentleman in her clinic, which had been arranged for the beginning of the week, and reported that initially the patient had refused her offer of surgery to debride and straighten his leg. Not only had he presented walking on his broken leg, but he had even demonstrated for her his ability to balance on one leg... his broken leg. Thankfully a day later he had returned in agreement for the surgery. I found it humorous that as we worked through the case together, Dr. Lindsey repeatedly apologized, admitting that so many of the potential teaching points of the case were missing for me, as so much was simply "vibes." In other words, her feel and interpretation based on her years of experience. The bone was so crooked that she couldn't explain by measurements or even by location on xray where and how to place the hardware, the best she could do was explain she was working on "vibes." Either way, it was a blessing on multiple different levels, for the patient, for me, for the Hospital, for the community, and so on and so forth. Amen.

Much Love.