Thursday, January 10, 2013

*BEST OF DTB #252* The Catholic Defender: My Walking Miracle

Today, my wife was completing a physical for a new job she has been hired. She will serve as a nurse with a position in Arizona. Travel Nursing is a great opportunity especially for our financial situations. My Wife ran into a friend who has known us for sometime. He remembered how my wife was a walking miracle.

It was early February, 2010, that my wife was diagnosed with having a high stenosis of the lower cavity affecting her circulation in her intestines. This is a condition that most of the time is found through an autopsy. It took her doctors over 6 months to find this diagnosis. My wife had previously lost over 44 pounds and was like a walking skeleton. I remember the terrible pain she endured, I think that the doctors in the beginning must of thought she was faking her condition. They were to find out in time that she was not.

A person can die a terrible death in a 24 hour period for not having blood flow through the intestines. My Wife discovered through the MRI, they found that she had two major vessels, the Superior Mesenteric Artery (SMA) and the Celiac Artery more than 90% closed off. Despite being 6 months undiagnosed, there was no necrosis of the intestines. This is a real miracle. I had dedicated the daily rosary for a number of years and so I definitely attribute my wife's miraculous to the rosary and prayer dedication.

Something else about my wife that I am so thankful, when ever I have encountered great difficulty she has always been there for me. We have supported each other through all the tough times. She is also this years Christmas miracle for me as I had to work twelve hours at Seton Hospital. I was off for Christmas from my regular job and so I was able to pull this shift for my part time job at the hospital.

On Christmas Eve, I was actually awarded a "reward and recognition" certificate and coin for an event that took place at Seton Hospital. According to the form that was written on my behalf it reads:

Respect: Don is always very respectful of and to patients, visitors and employees.

Communication: He has awesome communication skills.

Professionalism: Don's past military service shapes the way he handles professionally his work as a Security Guard.

Service: When ever I need Don in Labor and Delivery he is here in a minutes notice.

Safety: The Safety of everyone in this hospital is always his upper most concern.

Commitment to Co-Worker: Don is one of the finest Christian men I have ever met.

What a wonderful write up this was that someone would write this up on my behalf. I was humbled by what was said. The following was the write up supporting the above award:

On the evening of November 22nd, late into my shift, I had a patient come in by ambulance by way of the Emergency Room. The husband soon followed. Since the patient had gone straight back, I had the young man come into my office to begin the registrant's process.

The young man was very distraught over a lot of different issues. He asked to speak to someone who could give him some spiritual guidance. At this point, I asked Don to come down and speak to the young man because he was becoming more and more unwound. He was talking very loudly and using four letter words.

The nurses were afraid of him and did not want him back there with his wife and we had a lot of new mom's and babies on the ward.

The young man and his brother had gotten into a fight and the brother had a broken hand. At this point, the mother of the 2 young men is also here. It was up to me to keep this person from going past the locked doors and to reassure the wife that her husband would soon join her.

At this point, Don came down immediately and began speaking to the young man. For over an hour, Don spoke to the young man and diffused the situation. Once the young man has calmed down, he was able to join his wife. With the presence of Don as a Security Guard, the young man did not cause any more problems and the nurses and I felt safe in allowing him back there with his wife.

While I privately have thanked Don, I would like to recognize him for the actions he took to insure the safety of everyone involved.

I am in the office alone from 3 to 11:30 P.M. and it is extremely important to know that I can rely on these fine men to protect not only me, the Labor and Delivery staff, but most importantly our patients, newborns, moms and dads.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have always prized more for this kind of letter than the awards I was given. In the Army I received more that 21 medals (awards). I was put in for the Legion of Merit, was awarded a number of Bronze Stars, Meritorious Medals, as well as many others, but I really get a lot of satisfaction when recognized for things like the above.

Throughout my career, my Wife has supported me through all the tough situation we have had to navigate around.  The previous award was given to me on Christmas Eve.  The following week, I found out that there was a nurse or nurses who were offended at my celebration of Christmas.

I worked at Seton Hospital on Christmas Day for 12 hours.  As I made my patrols around the hospital, I would try to spread Christmas Cheer.  Now remember, Seton Hospital is suppose to be a "Catholic" hospital.

While at Labor and Delivery, I was singing the "12 Days of Christmas" and talking about the song when a nurse challenged me asking, "Do you really believe that Jesus was born on December 25th?" 

I responded yes, I could prove it through Scripture, Tradition, history, and science.  I did not elaborate this as the nurse then told me that she would talk about it later.

I did not know what she had meant until  yesterday when I was called indicating that I was no longer welcome working at Seton Hospital.  Apparently, I offended this nurse with spreading Christmas cheer.  Can you imagine such a picture? A Security Guard was relieved of duty for spreading Christmas Cheer on Christmas Day? At a "Catholic" hospital? I was told that I attacked their religion by the "12 Days of Christmas".

There is something more sinister here that just this.  The person in charge of the Hospital Human Resource Department I had first met at a local job fair not far from Fort Hood.  Being a Combat Medic for 26 years, I was interested in investigating this job opportunity.  It turned out that at the time there was no place for me so I went looking else where.

I was hired on to a local Security Company through one of my RCIA Candidates and was hired on with them.  Guess where I would end up working? Seton Hospital.   When the Lady saw me she went to the hospital leadership about me.  She literally thought I was stalking her sexually? I was floored by this when my leadership told me of the situation.

Fortunately, the Hospital leadership knew me from Fort Campbell when I worked under General Petreaus.  I was able to work there despite the objection of this Lady.  Well, apparently, Human Resources through the leading Lady, would take this complaint of an Anti-Catholic to pursue her opposition to me.
My wife, through all of this, has been a great blessing.  I never suffered from tension until this latest episode, I began having neck spasms that would nearly floor me. 

It is times like this that I really value my Wife, family, and friends.

I encourage everyone to check out our next radio show as we will cover this event.  People, when they hear about this is really shocked.

My Wife will be giving Seton Hospital  one of the first letters that will be mailed to Seton Hospital.


Home page
DTB facebook Page
You Tube
Blog Talk Radio Show

No comments:

Post a Comment