Watching the news about the devastation in New Orleans has been absolutely heartbreaking. I can't imagine what it is like to experience the loss of such magnitude -- the loss of life, of family, friends, and what you once called home. I imagine the heartache is unbearable.
A close friend of my family has a son who is an ER doc in Gulfport, Mississippi, and he had a waterfront condo in New Orleans. It's gone now. And, he's been stranded at a hospital and has been the only doc in the ER for 3 days. I'm amazed at his strength to continue to serve others knowing he has lost so much... I can only hope he gets some relief soon.
Humanity, and my new perspective on it, has been a running theme the past few weeks. During the first week of gross anatomy, it was a strange yet wonderful feeling for me when I finally cut into a cadaver and began this process of learning to heal. I got through the first few days telling myself the bodies weren't real, that they were just learning tools... until I helped a few other students turn a woman's body over onto it's belly, and noticed a Band-Aid still stuck on the back of her arm. It got to me in a very unsettling way. And then, as the days went on, I began to notice the tattoos, the scars, the pacemaker... all harsh reminders that these "tools" were in fact individuals. Someone who up until the very end was trying to live and take care of herself. It's not that I didn't know this -- it was just easier to get accustomed to sticking my hand into someone's musculature if I told myself at first it wasn't real.
It's very real now.
I no longer have a problem with acknowledging the humanity, so to speak. It's still hard to look at the body of a 39 yr old who died prematurely. But now I am in awe at the bravery that person exhibited by facing death head on and having the courage to donate their body to science so that I, and my peers, could learn from them.
I wish I could be in New Orleans doing all I can right now -- it's frustrating, and makes me chomp at the scholastic bit even harder, knowing that I need to work as hard as I can so that when my time comes, I am ready to work those 3+ days without sleep, knowing I too may have nothing to go home to.
Posted by LA at August 31, 2005 12:51 AMJust watching the devistation on TV was enough to bring me to tears, the man who lost his grip on his wife's hand and then lost her broke my heart. Any of can help by donating to the Red Cross just call 1-800-HELPNOW. Any donation no matter how small will help. Our thoughts and prayers our with all the people affected.
Posted by: Miki on August 31, 2005 07:42 AMI have been reading your blog for quite awhile, strictly for entertainment. Thank you this post. Although it sounds trite, what happened down south should make all of us take stock of what we have and what is really important in life. I would give up all I have if I knew that man who lost his wife and the mother of his children could be returned to him. . .
Posted by: Joe on August 31, 2005 04:18 PMYour concerns as to how this person continued in the face of personal lose makes me want to share with you our recent lose. My sister died on the 14th after 4 years of fighting breast cancer. She was in the school system in special needs for over 20 years and would have turned 49 last Monday. I thought, no way would I be able to deal with first off, the death of my sister, but to then have to comfort the amazing amount of people she touched, seemed overwhelming. We all have an amazing amount of inner strength that, without thinking, we tap into. All I'm saying, in a highly distressful situation, I think we go into a mode that wants to make it better some how,no matter to our situation.
Posted by: Erin on September 1, 2005 01:59 AMERIN WROTE: ...to then have to comfort the amazing amount of people she touched, seemed overwhelming...
First off, my sincere sympathy for your loss. I found when I lost my brother suddenly that my strength came from those he had touched. Those that came to pay respects to my mother and our family told us little tidbits of what my brother meant to them and how they loved this or that about him; how he helped them or how he made them laugh, etc... The saddness doesn't quite go away, but knowing he made his part of the world a better place for others is the real comfort.
Let's all respect and care for one another -- we are all we have. . .