The Golden Perspective by Nathan

If you know me well you know my siblings and I are very close.

I am the oldest of the five of us, but by far the shortest. I look up to them (more than just physically) for so many different reasons. We all live in different states right now, including my youngest brother David who has only two months left of his mission in Honduras.

I can't wait until we are all together again.

When I was growing up my dad would always remind us that our friends would come and go, but our family would always be there. At the time I remember thinking he didn't know or couldn't possibly understand how tight my friends and I were. But as time most often teaches, he was right. I talk to my best friend from high school on our birthdays twice a year and keep up on Facebook or email with many other friends. Now don't get me wrong, I love the dear friends who have and continue to bless my life. 

My siblings include those who have and continue to bless me.

Here is one of my favorite pictures of us together, in Laguna Beach, July 2006.

My brother, Nathan (in the middle) just graduated from Med school in May
and is now doing his residency in Emergency Medicine in Michigan (way too far away).

 Here is a photograph I took of him in May.  Not only is he handsome, he is a rock.  Meaning he is solid in his convictions, his attitude, and his perspective.  He is one of my best friends and such an amazing example to me.  He wrote this experience a few months ago, but I wanted to share it here too.  Enjoy...

Last month I was on a Trauma Orthopedic Service and had an experience I will never forget. It was the first case of the morning and we were waiting impatiently for the patient to be brought back to the operating room. While we were waiting the doctor leaned over and asked me if I had heard about this patient. I responded by saying no as I had not yet read his history and physical. So being the good medical student I am or lack thereof, I went to the chart only to be horrified.

Just about done with the chart, I looked over and realized the patient was being pushed into the operating room on his bed. At that moment it was as if someone had sucked the air out of the O.R. When the patient came through the door. A reverence came across the room as if the person on the bed was a V.I.P. Well as for me, he was because of what he has had to endure. The patient was about thirty years old on paper, but if you looked at him you would have never known. Last July he was in a car accident, but not a fender bender! In his case the car exploded into flames and he was trapped inside. He was burned from head to toe and the evidence of scars and charred skin, even ten months later, were evidence of what had happened. He was in the O.R. to have the skin released or separated from around his joints, when someone is burned to that extent the subcutaneous tissue (the tissue under the skin) literally melts and when it heals it is like plaster around the joints leaving the patient frozen and unable to move! His elbows were immovable and his hands were in a fly swatter position. His upper extremities were solid without motion except from the shoulder joint. Our job that day was to separate the tissue from the bone and try to improve range of motion to those joints. As a student, I helped prep the patient for surgery. As I went to help slide him over onto the O.R. bed from his normal bed I realized both legs had been amputated. Everywhere I tried to touch him he still had open, oozing sores that had not yet healed. We finally and painfully got him to the other bed and then sat waiting for more paperwork to be filled out and signed. At this point I saw the most interesting thing happen as the patient laid on the table quiet looking at the ceiling- everyone else seemed to distance themselves from the table. People were whispering as if they had a sense of respect for what he had gone through, but were also keeping their distance as if what had happened to him was contagious. What made us do that I don't know. I think it was a sign our insecurities! What do we say to someone that has been through so much and not wanting to be the hundredth person to say so what happened? I tried to find something we might have in common. So I walked over to him and tried to strike up a conversation by asking how he was. His answer I will never forget as he answered with an energy and confidence by saying, "Great, how are you?" I was surprised because I thought he would say okay or fine with a sense of depression! If anyone had a good reason and argument to die it was him. His positive perspective I will never forget! We talked about March Madness and who he expected to win the national championship and where he was staying and how he had been transferred from hospital to hospital. He was pleasant with no sense of hatred or "poor me" attitude. His tone wasn't from that of pain or feel sorry for me, but a sense of confidence and gentleness!

I scrubbed for the surgery to help hold his arm as we separated the healed, burnt tissue away from his joints. The patient had just been put under, when the doctor leaned over and said, "we have nothing to complain about!" I quietly nodded in agreement. The doctor would clear a little tissue then ask me to bend the elbow a little more! I did as I was asked only to realize that as I did his skin was oozing fluid and blood as his skin was still scabbed and burnt and was trying to keep everything in. From a surgery perspective it was a success! We took the patient to post op! When the anesthesia started to wear off I will never forget how I felt when I could hear the man weeping from pain that I can never imagine. I believe he wasn't crying with tears because they had all but dried up. Pain was not foreign but literally forgotten for a small moment as he had been asleep in the O.R.

That day I realized what perspective is really about and what it means to have a quiet confidence. I realized that attitude determines more than we realize and that my many complaints are juvenile and shallow! His perspective made me think of the Plan of Salvation and that God is forever near. Jesus Christ not only died for our sins, but paid the price for all of our pains whether physical, spiritual, mental, or emotional. He never said it would be easy he only said it would be worth it. I only pray that this man in his quiet moments of agony will feel the Savior's love and know that this too shall be for his good. So when you think life is difficult, not fair, and even lonely remember the burn patient with the golden perspective!