the glory and the horror

In the same vein as a prior controversy, it appears that portions of the Islamic world have a very low threshold for using violence as a means to make their point. The irony is that they are angry because the pope quoted someone accusing Islam (or perhaps more specifically, Mohammed’s legacy) of using violence to spread the faith. So they violently attack churches to make their point that they don’t use violence to spread the faith.

Help me out here. I’m just not getting it.

I recently had a patient who died in the hospital while he was under the care of my team. His death was not unexpected, but the thing I wanted to just say was that I thought the family had a wonderful understanding of where he was in his life, and yet they wanted to take good care of him. His wife of over 50+ years was at his bedside constantly, even though he probably had no idea, as he was suffering from severe dementia, and could hardly coordinate swallowing, and definitely has not said a word in years. She was committed to taking good care of him, turning him so he wouldn’t get bed sores, feeding him slowly through a straw, and talking to him. It was one of those times when the dignity is preserved, the patient is not in pain, and it shows you how marriage is a committment that is not contingent on looks, money, health, or anything else. It was “til death do us part,” and the wife even said so. In my conversations with her, she even said that she was in it until he passed away, and that when God took him home, then she will have lived up to her committment. Unfortunately, I was not able to be there when he passed away, but I am thankful that I had the opportunity to take care of the two of them, and that I had the opportunity to see how she interacted with him, talked about him, and thought about him. That is good end-of-life care, dying with dignity, and true marriage.

If you read my blog with any regularity, or even if you don’t, but come across this post, please leave me a comment, just so I know who you are. And if you don’t that’s ok, too. I’m just wondering who reads this thing. I’m sure my readership has gone down since my college days.

The reason I am up this early is because we have a new family member that is a bit high maintenance at this moment. He chews on things. He bites things. He pees on the rug. He decides that he likes to whine and bark when I’m trying to get him to understand chewing in the house is NOT an option.

We just adopted him from the SPCA, and he’s a little bit of a handful as he gets used to his new home, and the fact that we will NOT be playing 24/7. Generally, though, he’s been quite good. He’s figured out that pooping occurs outside, and except for one peeing incident, so far so good. I am post post-call, so I need to go back to bed and catch up on some more sleep. He’s already been taken for his morning walk and poop, so I’m outta here for a bit.

Not quite free, but pretty darn close. Andrew Peterson’s most recent album, The Far Country, for $2 a CD. No kidding.

The only catch is you’ve got to do 5 for $10 or 10 for $20. Buy one for yourself and a bunch for your friends and family.

And just so get a taste of his lyrics, here are a few of my favorites from that album.

I can see in the strip malls and the phone calls
The flaming swords of Eden
In the fast cash and the news flash
And the horn blast of war
In the sin-fraught cities of the dying and the dead
Like steel-wrought graveyards where the wicked never rest
To the high and lonely mountain in the groaning wilderness
We ache for what is lost
As we wait for the holy God
Of Father Abraham

No, he’s not a prisoner somewhere. At www.freederekwebb.com, you can download NON-DRM mp3s of his Mockingbird album. Click on the banner in the upper right.

Do you ever just feel like there are some days when your inadequacies are just made abundantly clear to you? Today is one such day for me.