In the past 3 and a half years of medical school, I have only witnessed/ cared for a handful of patients who have died. In the past two days, the number of deaths has surpassed that. The little newborn that I resuscitated yesterday had more respiratory distress this evening and the midwives were unable to resuscitate him. I was deeply saddened by the news.
In the midst of all the death and dying I have witnessed, I want to focus on the positive. With the limited resources available here, many lives are being saved everyday.
Difficult days like these do make me think about all the things I could have/ should have done. They give me resolve to study more diligently and to become the best doctor that I am capable of becoming.
One of my good friends sent me these verses the other day as an encouragement. My hope and prayer is that my patients and their families will understand that eternal hope.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. – 2 Cor: 4: 16-18