The Rev. William G. Kalaidjian on the light of knowledge from another's experience

The Patient Was Under the Sheet

In the afternoon, I visit patients who are facing surgery the next day. One time, I entered a patient’s room and found the patient completely under his bed sheet. I thought back on my time as a police officer, when a body covered over by a sheet was usually a D.O.A. (Dead On Arrival). I observed the motionless patient and said, “Mr. Jones, I am Chaplain Kalaidjian and I am visiting patients who have surgery scheduled for tomorrow. It says here you are to have your left leg amputated. How do you feel about that?”

No response.

I asked again, “Mr. Jones, how do you feel about having your leg amputated? Are you a diabetic?”

Eight fingers appeared at the top edge of the sheet. The sheet was gradually lowered so that I could see first the top of the patient’s head, then his eyes. He said, “I have gone to church all my life and now I am going to lose my leg.”

“Going to church,” I responded, “does not mean you will not lose your hair, your teeth, maybe your eyesight, or your leg. You go to church so you do not lose your soul. Are you a diabetic?”

“Yes, I am,” he replied.

“You have a family?” I asked.

“I have a son who is a lawyer and a daughter who is a nurse,” he replied.

“You know,” I said, “having your leg amputated will extend your longevity. You will be able to enjoy your son and daughter. You will live longer. By the way, in the next room is a patient I have been visiting for several weeks. He traveled down the same path you are going to travel. He had his leg amputated. He got around in a wheelchair for a time. He got his artificial, plastic limb. I watched him walk with his walker. He now walks with a cane and is planning on going home in a day or two. Would you like him to come visit you and tell you how it was for him when he faced his amputation like you are doing?”

“Yes,” he replied, “I would love to speak with him.”

“Let me see if he is in the next room,” I said, and went next door. The patient was there, sitting in a chair. I explained what I had just experienced with the first patient and asked if he would come speak to him and share his experience.

This patient said, “I’d love to meet him. Maybe I can help him. I wish I had someone to help me when I faced my surgery.”

Together we went next door and I introduced the two patients. They shook hands and my patient thanked the other for coming and speaking. The other patient tapped his plastic leg with his cane and said, “Tomorrow, I am going home, and in due time I think I won’t need to use this cane either.”

My patient sat up and listened to the other patient. After a while, he turned to me and said, “You know, Chaplain, with the help of God, I’m all ready for the surgery tomorrow. I was thinking about what I was losing, not what I was keeping!”

Both patients smiled. They shook hands, and I offered a prayer for the medical profession, the doctors who treat the patients and do the surgery, and the therapists who get the patients back on their feet, or who train patients to handle a wheelchair.

Patients can help patients to understand, and in that understanding, the patients are grateful for the chaplain who brought them together. They feel the light of knowledge from one another’s experience, and they feel the love of God offered through God’s servant, the chaplain. The visiting chaplain, the praying chaplain, the chaplain who can help the light of the world overcome the darkness of lying under a sheet.

Yes, “With the help of God, I’m all ready for surgery tomorrow.”

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