My patient was a young mom who thought she would have a lifetime to raise her three girls.478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxBKmiUJ7tt
By Nan Pinkston, Stone Mountain, Georgia478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNk6caXa4Zt
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 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0SCSdBpCvI
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 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0gAb4ySGXS
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 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb8VcQeW89a
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." 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmS1RqqxlBE
"It'll be over before you know it," I said. "I'll give you three." 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYLkpib1UDM
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 11:35.478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIp20muE8oM
"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 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ28NkPYiRw7
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. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWHktgZWhb5
I read a list on his page: starting school, 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUQtgdjcdDa
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.478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6rKbageq2p
He usually waited until the early hours of the morning to record the tapes for 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjYGCU9xUgk
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? 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡknYOmkpQSP
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. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrRt7oNxViX
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, 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHLMnCmXAnw
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.” 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0BZINf3eEk
I closed the recorder and Rebecca sighed deeply. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRodb4KQZKw
"Thank you, Nan," he said with a weak smile. "You give it to them, don't you?" he mumbled and fell asleep. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Q4QPvNWHv
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. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRvofFIkxpV
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. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDrKVCSVEYp
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.478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHLFBNlz7Bp
