Day Three
Pain is a universal experience. No matter who you are or where you came from, you will have pain. It is a physical experience, an emotional experience, a mental experience that every person will endure within their lifetime. 25 surgeries were completed today. Hips, knees, arms, legs, feet. As the first surgeries were finished, patients rolled into the PAC-U just coming off their anesthetics, and all of these people were undoubtedly in so much pain. I had the opportunity to comfort an old woman who was scared and could not calm herself down, despite being given all of the pain medication she could be given. Nurse Leslie Bennion did breathing exercises with her, my mother and I sang to her, and I read a Spanish Bible to her for several minutes. A twelve year old girl who did not speak Spanish came out of surgery still foggy, confused, and incredibly scared. I can only imagine the kind of fear that this little girl was feeling, alone in an unfamiliar place where words meant nothing and pain meant everything. She cried and cried as our kind nurses comforted her until her translator arrived and anesthesiologists were able to quell her pain. I was moved to tears by the agony of such an innocent child.
I also had the opportunity to speak with a woman who related to me more than just physical pain, but an emotional, spiritual pain that this injury had caused. After a surgery to replace her knee at the national hospital had been canceled for unknown causes, she had been discouraged and depressed. When she had endured tragedy after tragedy, she had begun to become even more saddened, and came to us ten years after her original surgery had been canceled. She told me that she would have been content with anything at this point, whether or not they had been able to fix her pain. She had learned to accept God’s will, and she was ready for disappointment. The pain was more than just in her knees, however. One hopes for love and compassion from family when enduring hardships, but in a tender moment, she told us of how this had not been her case. She described the incredible hurt she had felt, feeling as if there was no one who loved her, and was moved to tears as Jeff Early, a translator and photographer, told her she was loved, by us, and by God.
For some, like this old woman and little girl, the pain was apparent and heartbreaking, and rightfully so. By others I was incredibly impressed by the immediate gratitude they showed despite the pain they must have been in. Several patients rolled into the PAC-U still under the influence of anesthesia who smiled and said ‘gracias,’ and I walked by the ward of a man whose surgery I had been present for who waved at me and told me likewise. He said he had a little pain, but it was a fleeting thought in his expression of gratitude. One woman whispered to me in a barely audible voice that we were sent by God.
After being in an operating room for the first time in my life, I could begin to understand why these people were in so much pain, whether or not they let it show on their face, and it reminded me of Christ’s experience in Gethsemane. He experienced every pain that would ever be felt. He felt the infections that these people hobbled in on, the broken bones, the post operation soreness. He also felt the rejection, the grief, the stress of not being able to work and provide for a family. Jesus Christ felt all of it so that he knows exactly how we feel and exactly how to fix it.
“And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
The incredible thing about these surgeries is that tomorrow, some of these patients will be able to walk again. Not perfectly, and some will recover more quickly than others, but their function and mobility will be improved. After being cut open and drilled into, after having bones taken out and flesh being torn and blood being suctioned away by, they will get better, and be more mobile than they were before.
The skin must be cut open and a surgeon must correct what is broken so that their bodies may heal. Christ had to feel our pain in Gethsemane so that he can be with us every step of the way and understand it. He died to pay the price for our sins, and he lives again so that everything, all of it, will get better. But he needed to suffer and die before he could live again. So that we can have joy, and smile despite our pain. So that we can have gratitude amid inner turmoil, so that heartbreaking, innocent tears can be wiped away and our hips, legs, arms, and feet, and most importantly our hearts, can heal.
Maya Holmes
Team Blogger
