one stitch

We're bringing in a 50 year old man who was in your ER earlier for bleeding from his leg. His leg started to bleed again, we have the bleeding controlled with pressure. Vitals are as follows: BP 168/96 Pulse100 Respiration 22. Our ETA is 3 minutes. Any questions or further orders?
No questions or orders we'll be awaiting your arrival.

Mr."Young" arrived in stable condition, was placed on a cart and a new set of vitals was taken. The varicose vein that was causing the bleeding from his left leg had indeed already stopped bleeding with the pressure the paramedics had applied. However, Mr. Young was very frustrated. He had in the previous 36 hours been in the ER twice for the same problem only to have the bleeding resume once he started moving normally. I suggested that since chemical cautery had not resolved the problem, that I simply put a stitch in to maintain pressure on the vein until the body had a chance to repair the vein's defect. Mr. Young agreed and I simply cleansed the affected area of his leg and put in one stitch. I told him I hoped this solved the problem, but I made him no promises and instructed him to have the suture removed in 7-10 days. I wrote his chart and sent him on his way. Our whole interaction probably lasted 5 minutes, From my point of view this was hardly an exceptional or memorable encounter. I wasn't involved in stabilizing any critical problem that helped to save his life nor  had I resolved any horrible suffering on his part. I just put one stitch in a bothersome varicose vein in his leg, hardly brain surgery so to speak. 

I would not have remembered the event at all had Mr. Young not returned to the ER a few years later when I was on duty for treatment of a nosebleed. I didn't particularly recognize him but he knew me right off. I explained that I needed to put a nasal packing in to control his bleeding and that the process would be uncomfortable. He replied with utter confidence: I trust you completely doc, after all you were the only one who knew what to do for me last time! (Apparently the stitch had worked.) He let me know that since I had "so brilliantly" fixed his leg the last time he had experienced no further problems. I packed his nose, got his blood pressure under control, and again sent him on his way.

I know that what I did for Mr. Young initially was hardly worth remembering from my point of view anyway. He had a nuisance problem and I offered a simple solution with the most minimal of intervention. Yet genuinely Mr. Young treated me like I had saved his life. When I asked the nurses I worked with about Mr. Young's response to the minimal I believed I had done for him, they told me: Yes, it wasn't a big deal, but you fixed the problem and for him that's all that mattered. His responses led me to a deeper vision of our interactions with each other. Perhaps there are many times and ways in which the "one stitches" offered in our lives are truly lifesaving for others.

We usually don't really notice these "one stitches" of our lives because they seem so trivial. However to the one receiving the stitch the gift may be truly salvific. We are all part of each other's tapestries. We do not go home alone no matter how alone our lives may at times seem.  Every day we touch each other's lives with similar one stitch stories and never notice the blessing we have for been for each other. The love of God is like this. We seldom notice the rain much unless there is drought or flooding or we have plans that call for sunshine. Still the wetness of the rain does not vary. What varies is the ground of our lives upon which the "rain" falls. So at times a sincere "Good morning!"(see next one touch story)  can save a life and one well placed suture can seem like a miracle.

Think about your own life. I'm sure you may come up with some "one stitches" of your own for which to be amazed both as giver and receiver

God bless.