My patient was a young mom who thought she would have a lifetime to raise her three girls.398Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQKE4eBxE7O
By Nan Pinkston, Stone Mountain, Georgia398Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBMM2DzJxHs
The commotion of the hospital was a welcome distraction as I opened my new patient card and went to her room. My son Eric just brought home a disappointing 398Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ePFIE1LI2
license and my daughter Shannon, , and I fought again to get her license. For the next eight hours, I wanted to help people who I knew had a lot more to worry about than I did. Rebekah was only 32 years old and was undergoing chemotherapy after 398Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeu6717mJl9
breast cancer surgery. When I entered her room, it took me a moment to spot her among the jumping figures of three laughing little girls. I told Rebecca that I would be her sister and she introduced her husband Warren; six-year-old Ruthie; four year old Hanna; and two-year-old Molly. Warren lured the girls away from their mother by promising ice cream and assured Rebekah that they would return 398Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj43GWLRDQr
the next day. As I rubbed alcohol on her arm to prepare it for the IV line, Rebecca laughed nervously. "I have to tell you that I'm afraid of needles." 398Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuvzBj0pwnQ
"It'll be over before you know it," I said. "I'll give you three." 398Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvTpsjTPiBT
Rebekah closed her eyes tightly and muttered a prayer until it was over. Then he smiled and shook my hand. "Could you get my Bible off the table before you go?" I gave him a used book. "Do you have , favorite scriptures?" he asked. "Jesus wept." John 11:35.398Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVJLIEH9eVT
"So sad," she said. "Why?" "It makes me feel closer to Jesus, because I know that he also experienced human sorrow." Rebekah nodded thoughtfully and began flipping through her Bible as I quietly closed the door behind me. Over the next few months, I watched Rebekah fight the ravages of chemotherapy. Her hospitalizations increased and she worried about her children. Meanwhile, I continued to struggle to raise children of my own. They always showed either outside or with to their rooms. I longed for the days when they were as attached to me as Rebekah's little girls were to her. For a while, it seemed like Rebekah's chemotherapy was working. Then doctors discovered another malignant nodule, . Two months later, a chest X-ray revealed that cancer had spread to her lungs. It was the terminal. Help me 398Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJtBck6rGDx
help him through this, I prayed. One day, when I entered his room, I found him talking on a tape recorder. He took the yellow legal tag and gave it to me. "I'm making , ribbons for my daughter," he said. 398Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ91SSBXTdeQ
I read a list on his page: starting school, 398Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWLQ8qCI2o6
confirmation, turning 16, first date, graduation. While I worried about how I could help her cope with her death, she planned for her children's future.398Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJUkW4udNSq
He usually waited until the early hours of the morning to record the tapes for 398Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPdrnaUptUQ
hours so that he would be free of the interruptions. He filled them with family stories and advice - trying to pack a lifetime of love into a few precious hours. Finally, each item was marked in her notes with the number , and she entrusted the tapes to her husband. I often think about what I would say in his place. My , kids joked that I was like an FBI agent, and I kept getting , questions about where they were and who they were with. Where are my words of encouragement and love? 398Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNHH0jmCxWe
It was three o'clock one afternoon when I received an urgent call from the hospital on number . Rebeka wanted me to come immediately with a blank page. What subject did he forget? I was thinking. 398Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo4dvqVJHSA
She was blushing and breathing hard when I entered her room . I put the tape in the recorder and held the microphone to his lips. "Ruthie, Hannah, Molly - this is the most important tape of ." He held my hand and closed his eyes. "One day your father will bring home a new mother. Please make her feel special. Show him how takes care of you. Ruthie, dear, help her make the Brownie costume every Tuesday. Hannah, tell her you don't want meat sauce on your spaghetti. He doesn't know you, 398Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvEIjeShL3P
as apart. Molly, don't be mad if apple has no juice. Drink something else. It is sad to be, my dears. Jesus also wept. He knows sadness and will help you to be happy again. Remember, I will always love you.” 398Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlBolzaQWg8
I closed the recorder and Rebecca sighed deeply. 398Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMZYSG0SpU6
"Thank you, Nan," he said with a weak smile. "You give it to them, don't you?" he mumbled and fell asleep. 398Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7TAt8Q4Gej
The moment would come when the tape would be played for her children, but as soon as I ironed Rebecca's blanket, I got in the car and hurried home. 398Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfxSVolARn0
I thought about how my Shannon liked her sauce too and suddenly the quirk that had bothered me so many times seemed to make her that much more valuable. 398Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyPlRUMRje1
That night the children did not go out; they sat with me for a long time after the spaghetti sauce had dried on the plate. And we talked - no questions or complaints - until late at night.398Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡns0c0SNBZR
