Around the clock vigil....day 2.

I was in and out of consciousness.  I remember flashes of my husbands face and nurses who quietly came in and out on a mission.  I would open my eyes and see my mother in law biting her nails one moment and checking my vitals the next.  I felt relieved knowing that someone who spent 30 years on the ICU as head nurse was watching me that night.  I was in excruciating pain.  It felt like someone had a serrated knife digging into my shoulders, neck and back.  I couldn't move.  I was hooked up to a morphine pump.  I could only push it every six minutes.  I would push it a few times and finally fall asleep only to miss a dose and wake up in full back spasms.  My husband set up a timer on his phone, every six minutes he would lean down to wake me up and say, Shelli you can push the button now.  That is how the first day in ICU went, six grueling minutes at a time, for all of us.  

By evening I was shaking and shivering all over.  My breaths were shallow and each one brought a sting of pain to my nose, throat, chest and ribs.  I was about as miserable as you could get when they came to change my gown and bedding.  I didn't want to move.  My eyes bugged out at the nurse who announced she was going to change my bedding.   How in the world are you going to do that, I quizzed her?  I still am not really sure how she did do that!  All I know is she should be in Vegas pulling sheets off tables and being paid big bucks!  

The next moment was very humbling to me.  The nurses slowly and methodically washed every inch of my body.  At first I was uncomfortable on a personal level, but as they wiped away dirt, adhesive, oils, sweat and toxins from my body I felt like a human again.  I kept seeing the hands of Jesus washing the disciples feet in my mind. The sound of the water in the tub in front of me transported me to a night back in time when our Savior gave us the example to serve one another this way.  I absolutely felt swaddled in Jesus' hands as these women did their 'job'.  I will never look at a nurse, aid or tech the same way again.  They are on the front lines everyday with the sick and hurting.  They are Jesus' hands.

^{John 13:12} After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? ¹³ You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. ¹⁴ And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. ¹⁵ I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. ¹⁶ I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.