Day one

Thanks to all the well-wishes. It was a good day...actually a great day. And that is all in the perspective I imagine.

First thing this morning, I listened to a wife tell of her husband's life. It is such an honor to hear and be in such intimate places with someone. The wife wanted to be strong and made excuses for the kids that were not there because they had already said their goodbyes. My guess is that the wife would have liked the kids there for her but chaplains, nurses, social workers can all step in and stand with the loved ones left behind. And so we did.

I met with a spanish speaking family, some that had very limited and broken English. I immediately thought, I need to learn a little spanish. So one of the goals will be to find a way to learn a bit of conversational spanish. I don't need to be fluent but I do hope that I learn enough to not say something really silly that has no relevance.

I met a Greek Orthodox priest who came to give communion to a dying Greek woman. Communion liturgy was done in Greek, so I couldn't understand the language but you could see the comfort in the eyes of the patient. The words of God's love seems to be universal.

I was invited to come into a patient's room to see some acupuncture being done. A new experience. I found out from the doctor that the ear is like the foot in reflexology. The whole body can be associated with spots on your foot or your hand. And today's lesson...it is true of the ear as well. The patient had pain in his back and the doctor placed 10 acupuncture needles in the gentleman's ear. The patient didn't feel a thing! And it helped relieve the pain in his back. Amazing.

And so for those that were wondering how I survived the day, I did. And it was all good.