Units, Stories, and Running

[I think I'm going to try and split my blogs into two sections: CPE and Homelife.  Don't know if I'll like the format yet, or if it's necessary, but I'm trying it this time.]

CPE

It's week 2, and things are still going well.  The rest of that first on-call shift was pretty slow...I had a page at 2am, and so responded, but there ended up not being much to do, so I hung around for a while, and then went back to bed (we sleep in the Pastoral Care office, adjacent to the hospital, when on-call).  

Getting to meet with patients more continues to be valuable.  Each time I become more comfortable, and yet it is still challenging.  I never know what will happen when I knock on the door to check in while making rounds, or while following up on a request.  (People are asked when they arrive to the hospital if they would like a chaplain to visit them.  If they say yes, it gets put in the computer system and somehow we get the fax request and follow up with them.)

I haven't told you what units I am assigned to yet - for the summer during the week I'll be doing rounds on the Pediatrics, Pediatric-ICU (Intensive Care Unit) or PIC-U, and the MIC-U (Medical Intensive Care Unit) Stepdown (meaning the patients are getting better, and probably going home soon - they don't need as much care as in the ICU).  I've been doing rounds on these floors since Friday (i.e. for three days, since on weekends we don't make rounds).  When I say I'm doing rounds, it means I'm just walking around the floor, checking in with patients to see how they are, and if I can be helpful to them at all.  If they happen to engage in conversation somehow, I can pray with them, listen to them, read scripture, or whatever they need.  I have been doing a bit of everything.  Mostly praying - people are very thankful to be prayed for, it seems, but not all want to get into much conversation.  Some do, and I enjoy that.  I am realizing what a unique role chaplains have because we usually see people for such a short period of time (I heard the average hospital stay nowadays is 7-9 days).  Because of that it can be easier to ask the tough questions more up front and give people the opportunity to talk about their experiences and their suffering.  We don't have to worry about building a great relationship, because once they leave it's over.  Hospital chaplains have a very unique ministry field.

Our whole group (7 of us + the supervisor) meets every morning for Morning Prayer.  We each take turns leading it.  Then we usually have something to do together in the mornings.  We break for lunch, come back to finish whatever we were doing, and then head out to the Units for rounds.  In group over the last two days we all got to tell our Story. Our life story, our call story, whatever we felt was important in shaping us to be who we are.  It was helpful for me to think about this question when preparing: how does your story affect your ministry?  We were to find the theological themes in our lives - how are things related, what themes have been recurring, etc.  I have done the story-telling thing so many times that I don't really prepare much anymore, but I find myself remembering different things each time.  This time I tried to wonder about how I function in ministry - what drives me - and where that came from.  I decided that there is a theme of compassion in who I am.  Ever since I was young I have felt compassion for people, feeling their pain (and wanting it to go away maybe?).  I have a sensitivity for sensing when other people hurt or feeling left out, etc., and I find my heart breaking and wanting to reach out to them.  I have to root for the underdog.  I want to let those who aren't heard be heard, and defend those who need to be defended.  Obviously, I don't always do this, as it is challenging to do every time, but the sense of compassion is always there, trying to call me out of my fear.

Homelife

As for life outside of CPE, I am still staying really busy.  Sunday after getting off I joined a close college friend, HS (initials - a practice I appreciate from KS's blog), for worship at SLLC in Logan Square, then lunch at the Farmers' Market there.  When I got back I got a call from TH, a CPE colleague, who wanted to head to the lake, so we spent the afternoon by the waters of Lake Michigan with the thousands of other people at Lincoln Park.  We grabbed dinner and saw The Hangover that night (hilarious movie, but completely inappropriate and I wouldn't recommend it to some of you who read this blog... :)).  

Last night I went for what ended up being a rejuvenating run to prep for the two-mile Fun Run I'll be running on Saturday in Reedsburg (hometown).  Tonight it's raining so no run, but maybe some pool with my neighbor again.  I got Friday off so I will head home on Thursday night after work and be there all weekend for the Butter Fest and a high school friend's wedding.  I might even get to work a table at the Butter Fest with my mom.  Good times.  I love being from a small town.