Dr. Clement Yeung
It was a cold snowy night. I was called to see an urgent case at a community hospital. The emergency room doctor had seen the patient but was uncertain what to do.
“I’m worry that she may have the flesh-eating disease,” he whispered on the phone, trying not to scare the other patients.
Within twenty minutes I was in the hospital examining the patient. The situation was not as serious as initially thought. After making some suggestions for antimicrobial treatment, I reassured both the patient and the emergency room doctor that flesh-eating disease was not a likely diagnosis. They both give a sigh of relief.
As I was getting ready to leave, the doctor casually asked if I would mind seeing one more patient for him, someone not as sick but might benefit from a specialist’s assessment. Since I was already in the hospital, I agreed.
Down the hallway in the corner room, I found an elderly lady waiting with her shoe removed. Her second toe was quite inflamed with a red streak going up her leg. Sitting beside her was her daughter.
While I was not particularly worried about the first case, I did not like what I saw in the second patient. The red streak signified fast spread and might lead to blood poisoning. I gently greeted them and quickly got to work. Before long, the elderly lady had an intravenous line put in with powerful antibiotics going into her blood system.
Once the treatment had started, I then took time to explain to the patient the gravity of the situation. I thought they would get distress and worried. Instead, they looked at me with relief. I did not understand their reaction. Then the daughter began to explain to me what had been going on.
“My mother did not want to come tonight. She thought there was too much snow outside. I insisted that she should come. We had been waiting for three hours for the doctor but he was busy with other patients.”
“Am I going to be alright?” The mother asked.
“I think you will be fine but you need to stay in the hospital for a couple of days.” I padded her on the shoulder. “I may not be able to see you tomorrow. They would likely to arrange for you to receive intravenous treatment at home once the red streak begins to subside.” I continued. “I want you to come down to my office in a week for reassessment.”
The following week they came to my office for follow-up. The mother had improved significantly. The daughter kept staring at my Spanish poster. It was a souvenir from Guatemala with Psalm 23 printed on it. Then she told me a most incredible story.
“That night before I took mom to the hospital, I was praying in my heart that God would send the right doctor to heal her. I had a deep sense of peace in my heart after praying. Then mom did not want to come along and we had to wait for hours to be seen and my faith began to waver. When you stepped into the room, I knew instantly you were the one God had sent and mom would be fine.”
“I am a new Christian. I have a ‘big sister’ at our church who teaches me the Bible and how to pray. Now I can echo with her that God truly answers prayers.” She was beaming with joy.
“But I just happened to be there. She was not the reason that I was called for.” I mumbled. “I saw another patient before her that turned out to be a false alarm and your mother was just a ‘by-the-way’ bonus..”
“I don’t mind being a ‘by-the-way’ person as long as I get God’s bonuses,” she smiled. “I am going to tell the whole story to my ‘big sister’. Better still, I am going to tell the whole church about God’s faithfulness.”
“I think that is a very good idea as long as you don’t mention my name,” I replied.
She was still nodding her head as they lefty my office.
