Reviewing his chart prior to responding to the unit’s call over the radio, I read he had a history of asthma. He was already given an inhaler for his own use. Anticipating it was a severe kind of asthma attack, I grabbed the nebulizer and the gadgets that belonged to him that could be attached. I ran to our pharmacy stock and got a dose of liquid Albuterol encased in a plastic sort of vial. The nebulizer will turn the liquid medication into a fine mist that the inmate can inhale. It would quickly relax the tightness of the airways of the lungs, thus, would help him to breathe.
“Don’t talk,” as I calmly tried to reassure him.
“Just get the most of this medication and try to relax,” as the nebulizer got turned on and a fine smoke at the other end of the blue tube started coming out. The other end, which the inmate put into his mouth as he started breathing the fine mist that formed.
The other nurse started taking his vital signs while I continued to monitor and talked to him gently.
“We have a problem now, Sir,” I added as his eyes just grew bigger, trying to determine what the problem was. I heard my co-worker stopped and listened intently on what I was about to say next.
Keeping his silence as he continued to inhale the smoke coming from the nebulizer, I continued, “You see Sir, we have a policy here of no smoking. The problem is: I’m encouraging you to do it now. So I think I violated that.”
His big eyes wrinkled as he managed to laugh a little, until he was laughing harder. I could tell his breathing was starting to ease a bit now and he seemed to be more relaxed. My co-worker started laughing, too.
The inmate opened his mouth, “Ma’am, thank you for making me laugh. I really appreciate you guys coming here so fast and giving me my nebulizer treatment here. I feel more relaxed now and my breathing is a lot better.”
“I could tell and that’s what we want to accomplish. So, what happened?”
“My fault, Ma’am. I am sensitive to milk. It seems to make me have an asthma attack. This morning, prior to breakfast, I had eaten a chocolate bar. It must be the milk or the chocolate, I’m not sure if that triggered my asthma. I’m so sorry.”
“That’s okay, Sir. You didn’t know. But now you do, so I hope you won’t hurt yourself with another chocolate bar. I figured your inhaler must not be working by then so I thought of bringing the nebulizer here.”
“Thank you so much Ma’am. Oh, what a relief that I can breathe now. Thank you! Thank you!” he exclaimed to me and my co-worker.
“You’re welcome, Sir. We’re just doing our job and I’m glad to see you breathing a lot better. Take care of yourself now,” I motioned for him to go back to his cell as I started cleaning up the nebulizer.
Happily, he walked back toward the metal door that would lead him back to his cell. His gait was steady, he was smiling and he was not struggling for breaths anymore.
A Christian is anyone who has the Spirit of God living in him or her. If you have sincerely placed your trust in Jesus for your salvation and acknowledged Him as Lord, then the Holy Spirit lives within you.
You can be assured that you have the Holy Spirit because Jesus promised that He would send Him. He grants us eternal life through Him [“And the ones who win this battle against this world are the ones who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.”-1 John 5:5].
He finds help in our daily problems and in our praying [“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don’t even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groaning that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.” –Romans 8:26, 27].
We are empowered to serve God and do His will [“God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well”-Romans 12:6].
And we become part of God’s plan to build up His church [“Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ; until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ.” – Ephesians 4:12,13].
Are you choking from all this life’s troubles? Grasping for air that nothing in this world can satisfy your feeling of emptiness? Are you tired trying to stay afloat in this ocean of woes?
We all need the “Air” to breathe, to live, not just exist. Go to Jesus and open your heart and believe.
