Cory and Brad

  Sometimes the first few years of a nurses career are the most vivid. Like the time I collected my first 24 hour urine sample. By the end of the shift I had about 20 of those clear plastic 8 oz pee sample cups stacked neatly in the fridge placed in the weird brown shelf-thing the lab had sent up to house them in. The nurse I gave report to giggled as she showed me how the brown shelf-thingie actually turned into a big JUG when you expanded it!!! I was supposed to pour the pee in the big brown jug, not collect little pee cups. And my poor patient who was interrupting their urine stream trying to fill cup after cup! I was shown that the upside down sailor's cap was actually a urine vestibule that fit in the back of the toilet so the patient did not have to perform the small cup ritual over and over and risk getting their hand drenched in their own urine. WHEW!!! Luckily my patient giggled too.  My patient was a lady dealing with end-stage renal disease and she needed all the laughter she could get!!!

Another lesson I learned early on was from 2 of my favorite patients.  They were not much older than myself,early 20's, but found that once in awhile their chronic health conditions led them to brief stays on our medical Surgical Unit.  Our Unit encouraged "Primary Nursing", a form of nursing practice where continuity of care and the establishment of patient goals and collaboration of care were stressed.  This meant that often I was assigned and had the opportunity to care for 2 guys named Brad and Corey.  They were from different walks of life, but in a strange way, their hospital stays often coincided with each other.  Corey had been in a tragic car accident and had suffered a spinal cord injury that had left him a paraplegic.  He would sometimes have to come to the hospital for skin grafts or kidney infections, but he was always so positive! It was the first time I had ever met someone that did not have full use of their body that acted like it was no big deal and in fact, used it as a challenge and a way to just "conquer something".  I was amazed how he could use his upper body to just swing his lower half into a chair. And then he was off! Down the hall, to the exercise room, out on business! In the early 1990's he had some kind of weird contraption. A portable computer device that helped him study his college coursework or do business. Special adaptations were available to him even back then! It was amazing to see.  Corey, in one word, was still full of hope.

Brad, on the other hand, had become a paraplegic from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.  Even though his life had been spared, the real wound was in his mind.  Filled with self-hate and loathing, he often had a hard time getting through the day and was filled with self-pity. Sometimes he would purposely knock his urinal over or drop something on the floor so a hospital employee would have to pick it up.  Several nurses could not stand to be around him and they had even offered for Corey to be in another room away from Brad.  Corey, however, was extremely patient and spent his "room-time" with Brad trying to offer friendly, upbeat advice. 

Corey's stays were often much shorter than Brads as Corey was much more involved in his treatment plan and could not wait to get back out in the world.  After a couple of years of these "impromtu" stays, Corey's attitude seemed to start to rub off on Brad.  Pretty soon he was getting out of his hospital bed more, was planning for his future, was starting to dream. Before I moved to Chicago, Brad was planning to go back to school and Corey had helped him get the latest model wheelchair!!

I am not exactly sure what has brought these two individuals to my mind today except maybe this...Easter is my FAVORITE time of year.  Even Mother Nature seems to know and sense that in everything, in every circumstance, there is always HOPE.  She lengthens her days and brings blossoms to the ends of branches. They bloom and reach heavenward, paying tribute to the sun.  More calves, lambs and even humans are born during the Spring time than during any other time of the year.  Sometimes it is easy to have our minds remain forever in the season of winter where loss, death and hopelessness reside.  Sometimes we have years where circumstances have plagued us with unfortunate series of events and we forget the blossoms and the sun and even God.

I am eternally grateful that Christ did not stay forever in the season of Winter, that He did not give in to feelings of doubt or fear. I am grateful he offered the great intercessory prayer in John 17 that is an open invitation to all to join him and the Father. And, mostly, I am grateful 

He overcame 

Sin

and 

death...