little bit

LITTLE BIT
thats what i call her
since when she stands up she barely
reaches my armpits

but
stuffed inside that bundle is a lot of desire
perseverance
and
drive
that would be good for us and society if we all
had some of it

heres her story
now i didnt ask her permission to write about her
so i will not give her name or where she is from

i have known her since she was in middle school
as a patient and as a family member of some one
we know

she did well in high school
one of those big schools like are all over this area
actually in my opinion way too big
in fact in a 30 mile radius from the country n
there are at least 20 of these too big of a school

she graduated with good grades
off to college she went
with the hopes of getting her degree in nursing
a long time desire of hers

then while with a group of friends while diving off
a building i think a boat dock into the water
she landed in shallow water on rocks
jamming her right leg onto the rocks
shattering her lower leg
cracking open the skin
down into the mucky bottom of the lake

in the er she was totally covered with mud
like what you see in a mud run
however
so was her open fracture of her lower leg

what followed was a painful long debilitating course
that almost did her in
both physically and emotionally

imagine your college daughter undergoing many
many surgeries just to save her leg
walking around campus in crutches
wear this big halo thing on her leg
which she had to painfully crank this devise regularly to slowly
stretch out her leg bone so she would not have
one leg shorter than the other
plus a infected portion had to be just simply removed

then doing weeks and weeks of iv antibiotics in her
apartment by herself

no she never dropped out of school
despite the pain
and were talking about excruciating pain
she still finished her classes
and made good grades in all of them

at one point
probably the lowest point
there was talk of amputating her lower leg
since the thinking was when this all healed
if it ever did
that what was left would be a long time
excruciatingly painful leg
that might be better not being there

she talked with folks who were athletes who
opted to have the amputation
i even had a patient who had a similar injury from
a car wreck who opted to keep his leg
talk with her

there were moments when she wanted the amputation
just to get rid of the pain and to get it over with

after a long period of agonizing over what to do
can you imagine your pretty blonde headed spunky active
daughter strong willed as hell she was
having to make this decision
and
she made it herself
and
i think never looked back

she suffered through the next months and months of
more surgery and more iv antibiotics and more
halo hardware hanging on her lower leg
then
when it was all over with
having to learn how to walk
on that leg again

all while continuing to pursue her dream of being
a nurse

i got the honor of writing a letter of recommendation
for her for nursing school
that was the easiest one ive ever written

she was turned down her first try
probably good it was
she wasnt ready
probably physically or emotionally
however
she reapplied and was accepted
heading closer to her dream

then last month my wife she and i got our
announcement of her graduation with her
bachelors in nursing

as i opened it up
i sat and thought of all she went through to get to
where she wanted to go
all she had to endure
i teared up is what i did

what a great story for others to hear and read
to not give up on your goals
that is what she did

plus
what a great nurse she will be im sure
since she like me has been on both sides now
a patient and now a provider
this will make a better nurse
lucky patients

we wish you the best

the organicgreen doctor