“Hi Rcubes! I called you because I want you to know that the man you sent to the hospital last night is dying now,” she broke the news with a faint smile, weary from the hours of answering phones from those who were higher in Custody and from the treating staff at the county’s hospital.
“What?” I exclaimed in disbelief.
“I mean…I knew he was very sick but for him to go down so fast like that….Bleeding from where?” I quickly asked.
“Wow! You remember!” she uttered.
“I want you to know (as I remained in long silence) that I had read the chart and I could see, you had done the best you could and did the right intervention. There’s just so much we can do,” she reassured. Perhaps, sensing the loneliness that crept over me, mirrored in my still-tired face from a busy shift the night before. What was sad was that the supervisor told me that they didn’t have any info on any family member, so they could let someone know.
During the course of another chaotic shift, we got a dreaded phone call. The hospital staff just called a Code Blue on him.
He was an obese man. Still young in his mid-40’s. The body ruined by an early vice of abusing alcohol. He had developed liver and renal failure. He was just complaining of vomiting when he came to the Clinic when I first saw him. Wheeling himself in, with the wheelchair provided when he got booked in, he also told me how both of his legs had osteomyelitis so it was difficult for him to walk. I didn’t see any vomitus. But I went ahead and called the on-call doctor. He stated how he felt better after I medicated him for nausea and vomiting. I told him he would see the jail doctor still the following day. A couple of hours later, his wheelchair came into view. Requesting to be seen again, he looked pale then. He told me when he used the restroom, he saw a lot of blood. To prove his claim, he showed me some toilet paper housed inside the paper tube.He denied having problems from his unit. Except he kept repeating about his medical condition as he was already being treated for those by the jail doctors.
“You can throw that away! I believe you. But this time, you need to go to the hospital.” We started the IV right away and gave him lots of IV fluid to compensate for the fluids he lost. His blood pressure was on the low side. I put the oxygen prongs in each of his nare and reassured him. He looked uneasy. When he got to the hospital, they found out he was bleeding internally but they couldn’t find the source.
I didn’t know this man. Except I knew he was a man also loved by the Son of Man. I kept hearing he might not make it before they did the surgery. But I didn’t believe that. I knew the love and compassion the Son of Man has for everyone who would call on Him. And I pled quietly for that dying man.
For the Son of Man Who understood what he was going through. What his spirit needed. Because He came here to die so we could live. As I was off on Monday, I ended up calling the same supervisor who dealt with the news first thing. She gave me an update. That the officers who arrested him found a sister. And that…The man made it... For some reason, she said, he was holding on…
I thanked her. Not at all surprised with the news of extended hours, days or years for that sick man. Because I knew…Jesus was always quick to reach out. And save…He took our sins and put them all on Him on the cross. Because He loved humanity. He loved us. It was not the nails that held Him on the cross. It was His love for us. Yes…This Man…The Son of Man…Loves us!
This Man - Jeremy Camp
In only a moment truth
Was seen revealed this mystery
The crown that showed no dignity he wore
And the king was placed for all the world
To show disgrace but only beauty flowed from this place
Would you take the place of this man
Would you take the nails from his hands
Would you take the place of this man
Would you take the nails from his hands
He held the weight of impurity
The father would not see
The reasons had finally come to be to
Show the depth of his grace flowed with
Every sin erased he knew that this was
Why he came
Would you take the place of this man
Would you take the nails from his hands
Would you take the place of this man
Would you take the nails from his hands
And we just don't know the blood and
Water flowed and in it all
He showes just how much he cares
And the veil was torn so we could have
This open door and all these things have
Finally been complete
Would you take the place of this man
Would you take the nails from his hands
Would you take the place of this man
Would you take the nails from his hands
From his hands...
