A promise to love

As I take the leap off the cliff into my family medicine residency at UNM, now adorned with letters behind my name, I think about how important it is to stay grounded in the principles of love, caring, generosity, and justice.

How will I, in those sleep-deprived moments/minutes/months be the physician I would want caring for my family, my loved ones...or for myself?

When comments are made about patients and their families, how will I steer clear of denegrating and de-humanizing their foibles?

How will I adhere to principles of health as a human right amidst a system that denies coverage and care to so many?

I thought I would start to answer these questions by a simple act of proactivism, declaring what I stand for, and not waiting for things to happen so that I can declare what I am against.
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I am a human - I will make mistakes, and I will humbly accept these mistakes, trying to learn from each and every one so that I can be a better healer in the future

I also believe in my humanity in the sense that I will not be afraid to feel, to cry, to laugh, to suffer with, to empathize, to experience life, death, sickness, healing, and health with my patients and colleagues.

I will take time to recognize the gift that each and every patient I see has given me, and will honor this gift through the highest moral and ethical standards by which I will conduct myself.

I believe in, and will use, the healing power of laughter, prayer, clown noses, farting, etc. etc.

I will maintain my PharmFree stance, taking no gifts from industry that would fracture the sacred trust held between my patients and me.

I will take time to let others around me know that their work is special, and that they are special.

I do believe that it takes everyone to create a place in which healing takes place - accordingly, I will never let the letter behind my name trick me into thinking that I am any better, higher, smarter, or more gifted than those around me; instead, I will seek to see the wonderful ways in which all of us work for the good of the patients who come to UNM.

I most certainly believe that health and health care is a human right, and will do all in my power to work for changes in the system to move us closer to that reality. On a personal level, I vow never to turn a person away because of their ability to pay.

I will love my work, my profession, my patients...I will love life, staying spiritually grounded in the gift of each new day.

I will honor my body, mind and spirit through this process - staying physically fit, keeping a connection to Creator through prayer and mindfulness, and rejuvinating the soul through hikes into the mountains, bike rides by the river, and lots of adventures.

I will honor the family that supports me, making my wife and baby first priority when I am away from the hospital. I will not let work become an excuse for not being there for them, nor will I let distance be an excuse to lose touch with my family in MD, CO, AZ, etc.

Amen.

The meaning of "miracle"

We were in the waiting room of the hospital, myself and 30 of my Navajo family. Grandma Mae, a beautiful 87 year old grandmother of ours, had just gone through open heart surgery after presenting with severe blockage of the coronary artery that supplies the left side of the heart.

In the Navajo way, family comes together in big ways at times like these, and at this moment, we had claimed this land as ours (socio-political pun intended), taking over the ICU waiting room and adjacent hallway.

We got to praying, under the direction of Grandpa Eddie and the elders, and I got to thinking about the miracles of this day...

Yes, it was a miracle that Grandma made it to the hospital, that that last bit of open space remained, allowing life-sustaining bloodflow to the heart.

Yes, it was a miracle that she survived such an intense surgery, and would be able to get back to days of herding sheep and teaching humility to all in her presence

But there was more in this day's lesson.

Each moment's breath that gives us oxygen to sustain the fragile thing called life...

Each moment's electrical impulses that allow brain and heart to function in a coordinated manner, organizing billions of cells for a purpose

Each moment's gift of the sight, with all that it takes in nerves, muscles, vessels, and tissues of the eye just to allow us to see (..and how quickly we could lose this ability if one of the multitude of parts were to fail)

And each night's journey into the Creator's Hands, as we literally and figuratively give our lives over to Hand's Higher as we fall asleep, with no promise, and certainly no human ability, to wake to see another day.

We need not be 87 or 67 or 37 years old to see that miracles are happening around us constantly.

Acknowledging these miracles is the hard part.

Seeing and appreciating the miracles of life has little to do with what happens to us, and has everything to do with where we are spiritually.

So, let us take a moment to listen to the breath, to put a hand over the heart's steady rhythm of life, to notice the gift of sight...

And to take the first moment of each new day as the MIRACLE it is, and to live that day accordingly, in gratitude, with humility, and with a passion for healing our families, our communities, and our planet.

Ahe 'eeh,
Ahe 'eeh shi Diyin God,
Ahe 'eeh,
Hastiin Ba Hozhooni

{Translation from Navajo:
Thank you,
Thank you Creator,
Thank you,
The Man Who Smiles Much}