A Divine Work Day

After the initial rough start of last week's first day, I really did love the whole giving injection thing and didn't really mind the paperwork. My next shift wasn't scheduled until the 24th. But I check several times a day for more shifts.

Last night, a shift opened up in a city about thirty miles away. Before the possibility of it being taken, I've learned to grab it, and then look at the details. Um, yeah, so the date of the clinic...TODAY!! I tried to cancel the shift online, but because it was less than three days from the clinic date, I would have had to have called in and had a really good excuse. And the fact that I didn't look at the date wasn't going to sound really good. LOL. So I rearranged the dinner menu to accommodate me getting home after 4:00 and laid out after school snacks, etc. And I worked today!

I dropped the girls off at school and then hit the freeway and started my thirty mile commute. I made it there in about 35 minutes, not bad for "rush hour". Had no problems clocking in, but my supplies were no where to be found. After a few phone calls, I found where they'd been delivered and got set up. A lot less stressful than last week. There are usually two nurses scheduled. One that works 9-3, and the other that works 10-6:30 and closes the clinic. The second nurse didn't come and she didn't come. I didn't mind, I'd only had four injections, and it was slow. I figured by mid afternoon, if the other nurse didn't show, I'd call the company and see if they wanted me to just pack it up or stay until 6:30. I was fine either way, especially if it meant an extra 3 1/2 hours!! But shortly before noon, the other nurse arrived.

The other nurse introduced herself to me, and before she even sat down, I recognized something familiar about her face. I was 99.9% sure she had been born with a cleft lip. I couldn't help but stare at her. I had to ask, but how do you ask? So we chatted, she asked if I was a new nurse, I explained I was a nurse coming out of Stay at Home retirement for the season. LOL. She told me she was a new grad, having worked a few months in home health before she quit and had to have surgery because she'd been born with a cleft lip and palate. And there it was...the door was WIDE open for conversation. I told her I had a hunch, simply because my daughter had been born with a cleft.

I was overcome with emotion. I tried to hold it together, but there was no accident in me getting this shift today. The Lord knew I'd be paired up with this nurse. He knew I needed to meet her and see her and how far she's come. To ask her questions. HE KNEW!! And I'm so grateful for how the Lord pays attention to every single little detail, details we may not even know about. But I KNOW it was Him who orchestrated this shift today. And I'm so thankful.

I asked her if she cared if I asked her questions in regards to her cleft and all her surgeries, and she said "No, she'd love to answer any questions".

She was twenty five years old and has had at least nine surgeries regarding her cleft. She said she'd had so many she really couldn't remember how many, but she was pretty sure it was nine.

She had the surgery that Rachel will have in two months when she was twelve. She's never received any speech therapy, and there were some things she said that I could tell she'd had no speech. It promoted me to write an email to our speech therapist once again thanking her for all her work with Rachel.

When my shift ended, I sincerely thanked her for answering my questions. And as I got on the freeway for my journey home, I prayed and thanked the Lord for opening the door to today's shift and for my nurse co-worker.