Angels in the ER , livre ebook

Harvest House Publishers, Inc. - Lesslie Robert D.

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

125 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

Twenty-five years in the ER could become a resume for despair, but for bestselling author Dr. Robert D. Lesslie it's a foundation for inspiring stories of everyday "angels"friends, nurses, doctors, patients, even strangers who offer love, help, and support in the midst of trouble. "The ER is a difficult and challenging place to be. Yet the same pressures and stresses that make this place so challenging also provide an opportunity to experience some of life's greatest wonders and mysteries." Dr. Lesslie illuminates messages of hope while sharing fast-paced, captivating stories aboutdiscovering lessons from the ER frontlinewatching everyday miracles unfold holding onto faith during tragedy and triumphembracing the healing balm of hopeFor anyone who enjoys true stories of the wonders of the human spirit, this immensely popular book is a reminder that hope can turn emergencies into opportunities and trials into demonstrations of God's grace.

Sujets

Philosophie et théologie

Informations

Publié par	Harvest House Publishers, Inc.
Date de parution	01 août 2008
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780736931205
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0646€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

People caring for people. Compassion and lovingkindness in difficult circumstances. This is the medicine we need the most, and it is administered on every page of Angels in the ER, a chronicle of mankind at its best.
-R ICHARD T HOMAS
Film, television, and stage actor
John-Boy on The Waltons and host of It s a Miracle

Angels in the ER is hard to put down. You are right there with Dr. Lesslie in every circumstance, and each situation shows the spiritual dimension of life and death in a way most of us will never experience on our own. I can only compare the demand for moment-to-moment decision-making with my time on the basketball court. I enjoyed every story.
-B OBBY J ONES ,
Cofounder 2XSALT, four-time NBA All-Star, and
member of the 1983 World Champion Philadelphia 76ers

In an age when patients are viewed as Social Security numbers, Dr. Lesslie recovers the fading image of a caring doctor for whom the patient is center stage If I ever land in an emergency room, I hope Dr. Lesslie is there waiting for me.
-R ANDALL R UBLE ,
President, Erskine College and Seminary

We meet an amazing cast of characters who come through the doors of a South Carolina hospital emergency room But Robert Lesslie is also there, a faithful, empathetic physician with a heart for compassion and a keen eye for the presence of God in the midst of human need.
-T HOMAS L ONG ,
Bandy Professor of Preaching,
Candler School of Theology, Emory University
A ngels
in the ER
Robert D. Lesslie, MD
HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS EUGENE, OREGON
All Scripture quotations are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION . NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Cover by Left Coast Design, Portland, Oregon
Cover photo Ryan McVay / Digital Vision / Getty Images
Back-cover author photo Penny Young
This book is not intended to take the place of sound professional medical advice. Neither the author nor the publisher assumes any liability for possible adverse consequences as a result of the information contained herein.
All the incidents described in this book are true. Where individuals may be identifiable, they have granted the author and the publisher the right to use their names, stories, and/or facts of their lives in all manners, including composite or altered representations. In all other cases, names, circumstances, descriptions, and details have been changed to render individuals unidentifiable.

ANGELS IN THE ER
Copyright 2008 by Robert D. Lesslie, MD Published by Harvest House Publishers Eugene, Oregon 97402 www.harvesthousepublishers.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lesslie, Robert D, 1951-
Angels in the ER / Robert D. Lesslie.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7369-2315-6 (pbk.)
ISBN-10: 0-7369-2315-2
1. Hospitals-Emergency services-Popular works. 2. Emergency medical personnel-Popular works. I. Title.
RA975.5.E5L47 2008
362.18-dc22
2007052796
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other-except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 /VP-SK/ 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Barbara-
The angel in my life
Contents

Layout of the Rock Hill ER
Angels in Our Midst

1:
The Nature of the Beast
2:
The Least of These
3:
A Turn in the Road
4:
All God s Children
5:
The Experience of Grief
6:
The Generations Pass
7:
Demon Rum
8:
It Must Have Been a Miracle
9:
Let the Little Children Come to Me
10:
The Still, Small Voice
11:
Possessed
12:
If Tomorrow Never Comes
13:
You re on My Last Nerve
14:
On Crossing the Bar
15:
Who Is My Brother?
16:
Angels in the ER
Notes
Other Books by Harvest House Publishers
About the Author
Layout of the Rock Hill ER
+
Angels in Our Midst

T wenty-five years in the ER have taught me a lot of things. I know without a doubt that life is fragile. I have come to understand that humility may be the greatest virtue. And I am convinced we need to take the time to say the things we deeply feel to the people we deeply care about.
I have also come to believe that there are angels in our midst. They may take the form of a friend, a nurse, or a complete stranger. And on occasion, they remain unseen, a subtle yet real presence that instructs, comforts, and protects us.
The ER is a difficult and challenging place to be, both for patients and for those of us who care for them. Yet the same pressures and stresses that make this place so challenging also provide an opportunity to experience some of life s greatest wonders and mysteries. It is with a sincere appreciation of these mysteries and a profound sense of privilege that I offer some of my thoughts and experiences in these pages.
-R OBERT L ESSLIE , MD
M ARCH 200 8
1
The Nature of the Beast
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

-P SALM 23:4

E veryone in the department turned to the ambulance entrance. We had all heard the screaming and shouting, especially the piercing wail of a young woman. Suddenly the automatic doors burst open, and a crowd of fifteen or twenty people, all teenagers or maybe a little older, spilled into the ER. In their midst they carried a young man. His arms and legs dangled wildly, and his head rolled from side to side. His T-shirt was soaked with blood.
Somebody, help! The cry came from someone near the front of the pack. Jimmie s been shot!
We all moved in the direction of the door. Jeff Ryan, the charge nurse this night, was the first to reach the wounded man. Follow me, he instructed the people carrying Jimmie. And don t drop him.
He led the group toward the trauma room, and called over his shoulder to the unit secretary, Get Security!
At the doorway, Jeff turned and took the bleeding boy into his arms and then carried him to the middle of the room. As he was carefully placing the young man on the stretcher, a few members of the crowd tentatively stepped into the trauma room.
Nope. One word from Jeff stopped them in their tracks. You guys will need to wait outside.
Few people questioned Jeff Ryan s authority. He was in his early thirties, stood six feet tall, and weighed about two-twenty-five. He had been in the ER when I first came to Rock Hill, and I soon came to appreciate the fact he was one of the finest nurses I would ever work with. He looked like a big teddy bear, but something in his eyes let you know that beneath that gentle exterior lurked a rugged strength and potentially explosive temper. I ve seen it explode a few times and woe to the person in its path. We referred to Jeff as our enforcer.
Within a few minutes, Jimmie was completely undressed, lying on his back. He had an IV line in each arm, each rapidly infusing normal saline. A catheter had been inserted into his bladder and oxygen was being administered through nasal prongs held in place by an elastic strap encircling his head.
I examined his abdomen for the second time. One bullet hole, just above his belly button. This was an obvious entrance wound, and there was no exit. He had been awake and talking since we placed him on the stretcher. His vital signs had been fair at the outset, with only a mildly depressed blood pressure. This had quickly improved with the IV fluids, and now things appeared to be stabilized. The lab techs had come down and they were now cross-matching blood for transfusion. We would give it as soon as it was available. The on-call surgeon, Sam Wright, had been notified. Fortunately he was still in the hospital-in the operating room finishing up a case.
A few minutes later he was on the phone.
Sam, this is Robert, I spoke into the receiver. I ve got a nineteen-year-old male here in the ER with a single gunshot wound to the abdomen. He s alert and his vital signs are stable, but there s no exit wound. The X-ray looks like the bullet s lodged somewhere near his right kidney. And it looks like something small, maybe a .22. I was making a guess about the caliber but in reality, it didn t make much of a difference.
Get him ready for the OR, Sam replied through the speakerphone. Looks like we ll have to open him up and see what s going on. I m closing up the appendectomy you gave me earlier, so I ll just meet him here in the operating room.
Okay, we ll do that. He should have gotten about a unit of blood before you see him.
Fine. Then he was gone.
Jeff was making some notes on our patient s clipboard.
Dr. Wright ready to see him in the OR? he asked me.
Yeah, as soon as everything s in order, I answered.
He picked up the board, stepped over to the side of the stretcher, and checked to be sure both IV lines were flowing. Then he headed for the door.
I ll get some help and we ll get him going, he told me as the door was closing.
I looked down at Jimmie and asked, Are you sure there s nobody we need to call? Family? Relatives?
He had already been asked this several times and each time had told us that no one needed to be bothered. The friends who had brought him to the ER were of no help either. Once Jimmie had been deposited in our trauma room they had disappeared. Maybe they had heard Jeff request Security, or maybe they knew that a police squad would soon be on its way. Whatever the reason, they were gone.
We were alone in the room, and I was waiting for the transport team to come.
Doc, I m not gonna make it, he stated matter-of-factly.
This blunt pronouncement surprised me. I glanced down at him, checking his color, and then over at the cardiac monitor to be sure I wasn t missing something. He seemed stable enough.