Glad to be your lung

Yesterday was incredible. It was as scary as it was amazing.

One of my new patients is a five month old baby, completely ventilator dependant and at home. When I came on shift, I already didn't like the way his health was looking. 3 hours later we were on our way to the hospital for an eval.

Oh if that were only the end of the story. But no, in transit his ventilator stopped working and I ended up having to bag him from the back seat, while his mom drove. While driving her brakes gave out, so we had to pull over and call 911 for an ambulance to come get us. Once the ambulance was there I ended up riding with the patient to the hospital and bagging him the entire 45 minute drive.



As I looked down at my tiny patient, watching his chest slowly rise and fall from the breaths I was giving him, I asked the EMT if he ever felt like God. "yeah, sometimes".

I was totally awed by the fact that my hand was acting as a lung for this small baby. As I looked down at him, watching him stay nice and pink, asleep while I breathed for him, oblivious to the danger, it made me think about God and how he cares for all of us.

He is pumping life in and out of us, lovingly measuring our responses to his love, assessing what our needs are and then filling them. Sometimes our needs are painful, like leaving your husband for safety, but it must be done. And even though it may not look like it, it is still part of the life giving process.