Sometimes, the most important thing we can do for each other is to just be there for one another. Discipleship is uncomfortable. However, when the Spirit leads you and you’re willing to follow, miracles can happen.
One day, near the end of my shift as a medical assistant, a nurse asked if I’d like to watch a procedure—a chemo port removal for a young woman who had finished her cancer treatment. I remember having a feeling I should go in, but I didn’t want to be an inconvenience, so I told the nurse it was fine. She assured me there was still time to join, so I quickly put on the proper clothing and entered the procedural room.
As the physician assistant began to remove her port, the young woman started hyperventilating and saying that she was scared and in a lot of pain. The procedural nurse tried to calm her down, but tears streamed down the patient’s face as her vital signs became unstable. The patient asked if someone could hold her hand.
Because the physician assistant and nurse were needed for the procedure, I took her hand in mine, and immediately, her vital signs returned to baseline. She relaxed enough for the port removal to continue, and I stayed by her side until it was over. Once the surgical drape no longer obstructed her view, she could see me and told me she was forever thankful I had been there. I realized then that if I hadn’t been in the room, she wouldn’t have had someone to hold her hand.
At this point in my life, I’d been questioning whether I was on the right path. I wasn’t sure where I needed to be to progress in my career and to fulfill my purpose. But driving home that day, I came to see this experience not as a coincidence, but as an answer to my prayers—a reassurance that I was where God needed me. I was able to quite literally be His hands, comforting one of His children so she could find the strength to push through pain and fear.
Since then, I’ve seen how I can be a receptacle of light for my patients. Being close to the Savior and the Spirit helps me know what questions to ask or how best to soothe them. I’ve had patients and their family members express gratitude for what I do, and I think, “I don’t feel like I do that much. I’m not the provider. I’m not doing the surgery.” But one woman said, “Just your smile and the light about you helped calm us down.”
People sometimes come in who have had extremely hard lives, and now they have cancer—an added element of feeling completely worn down. Helping them feel God’s love has changed my perspective of my job and what I can do. What’s in my scope of practice isn’t a lot, but I can always share God’s light.
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