First of all, what a wonderful resource we have at our fingertips in the midwest!! If you've never had the opportunity to see this small city in person, it's quite a site. It is a well-oiled machine of many different specialists in one spot, who truly have patient care as their focus.
Why was I at this amazing place? Well, my son (who is now almost 19) has a condition called Pectus Excavatum. What is that you ask? Pectus Excavatum is a congenital chest wall deformity in which several ribs and the sternum grow abnormally, producing a concave, or caved-in, appearance in the anterior chest wall. Cliff Notes version? He has a huge hole in his chest. This condition affects his heart and lung function and will require painful surgery to repair it. If caught early, around the age of 10 or so, it can be fixed with minimal pain....insert mom guilt here.
So yesterday while sitting in this small city of diversity I had time to ponder. Some of the thoughts were about the mom guilt I mentioned above. Other thoughts were of the many different nationalities around us. Still, others were of WHY were the other people here....what maladies did they have?
During one of our waiting periods for some pulmonary function tests, I excused myself to use the ladies room. When I got to the doorway, there was an older couple outside the door. The wife was in a wheelchair and on oxygen. The husband trying desperately to hold the chair, her oxygen tank, and help her up all at once. I didn't even hesitate but asked if I could help them out in any way. The look of gratitude on the husband's face was very apparent. I held the oxygen tank and gave the wife my arm. We entered the ladies room, I helped her into the stall, and told her when she was done that I would be here, she just needed to let me know when she was finished. At this point, she gave me that same look of appreciation I had seen from her husband. I finished, washed my hands, and soon she was ready to use the sink and make her exit. I held the oxygen tank again and we headed out to the wheelchair awaiting her. Her husband and I got her settled and they both thanked me profusely. I simply replied it was my honor and I can't imagine how hard it is when it's just a husband/wife at an appointment. Now granted, there are family bathrooms, but how many of us really want to have our husbands go into a bathroom with us?!?!?
I headed back to the waiting area with a smile on my face and a thought circling around in my brain.
There are opportunities all around us to minister to others if we just slow down, remember our manners, and offer assistance. The reward can be so great. It's been said that you tend to forget your own problems when you're helping others... I absolutely agree. The rest of my day was spent with an entirely different outlook.
Now, I didn't help this couple for the potential kudos I'd get from them or anyone else that might have seen me.
I did it because
1.) I would hope someone would offer the same help to my parents if they were ever in the same situation and
2.) Wouldn't you want someone to help you out if you were in that situation?
Mind you, in today's day and age it can be scary to trust a stranger, so maybe it was because we were in a hospital setting that it was easy for them to accept my help, or maybe it was because they were just at their wits' end and didn't care who helped them as long as they got help.
Maybe, just maybe, they saw a caring face, heard a voice full of sincerity, and decided I was a good person. That is my hope. That is what I want people to see...
The visit to Mayo yesterday ended with knowing my son will have surgery when he finishes college in a year and a half and reaffirming my belief that there are good people in the world and if we all take a minute to do good things, the world becomes a better place...even if it's just the small corner of the world you happen to be in.
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