To the staff of Saint Anthony's ICU – especially to those administering care to Kathy Franz Standifer in room 17.........
Thank
you for being professional in your earnest efforts on Kathy's behalf
during the weeks she was in your care.
We
her family and friends were earnest players too—praying fervently
for healing.
But
gradually it became clear that that God had other plans for our dear
Kathy.
Once
I was visiting Kathy and had to leave because a sterile procedure was
about to begin. The person preparing to perform it sensed my anxiety
and, leaning over Kathy, said reassuringly to both Kathy and me (assuming she
could hear through her unconsciousness) that “we are all family
here.”
What
I learned during Kathy's time in ICU is that exacting procedures,
concern for the facts, medical knowledge, science, and the latest
technological equipment are expressions of love as surely as are
earnest prayers and tears.
Thank
you for loving in these objective forms while sharing with us in our
hopes, anxiety, fears, and finally grief. Being professional clearly
does not require the abandonment of human sympathies but is instead
an essential embodiment of them. Thank you for answering the call to
service and doing faithfully an endless list of excruciating things
necessary to
fulfill
it.
With
appreciation and love,
Wayne
Standifer and all Kathy's family and friends.
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