Save a life and you create a world

This past Wednesday I had perhaps the most incredible event ever happen to me in my dental office. For those who have been reading my blogs for the last few years or have been patients of mine you are aware that I am into prevention. I think it is way more prudent, time and cost effective, to take care of you self instead of letting medicine have to fix you up.
To understand Wednesday we have to back up to several weeks ago when a physician from my building came into my office and asked to speak to me. He has a patient who has a very high fear of needles and giving blood. They have not had current blood work on this patient for over 3 years and he was wondering if I could help with his patient. Would nitrous oxide possible help this patient get through it. I told the doctor I would be happy to give it a try, but if he is that phobic I am not sure it would work.
We set the appointment up for this past Wednesday before I started seeing my patients. I met the phobic and we escorted him into one of the treatment rooms and just talked. He was about as negative about the potential as possible. But he was willing to give it a try and so was I. At first it didn’t seem like it was going to work, but after about 15 minutes of nitrous oxide, and turning on music that he liked, the nurse was able to draw the blood.
There were tears n the patients eyes when it was all over. He actually did it, he allowed the tech to draw his blood. He could now be treated more effectively. And when he got ready to leave he just gave me a hug. I never did ask what the patient’s medical problem was, but the doctor was a blood cancer specialist so I am guessing it was something significant.
I was actually on a high that I have never experienced before. I know, deep in my heart of hearts, that when I get a patient to understand the importance of home care and the relationship of gum disease to overall health that I actually have affected their health in a positive way. But I never look at it as if I have saved that person’s life. But on this Wednesday I felt like I had done so much more….I felt like there was a real chance that I helped to save this young man’s life.
I was taught as a child that if you save someone’s life you create a world somewhere else. Maybe, just maybe, there might be another world out there today.
But my day does not end there. You see, later that night I went to the annual kickoff fundraiser for the local YMCA that I am now a board member of. I got there a little late so I missed the speeches. I didn’t even know that I sat down next to the young lady who spoke about what the Y has done to change her life.
The Hollywood Y has a housing program that takes young women and gives them a chance to learn the skills to deal with the world. When talking to this young lady, I told her about what I learned in sociology when I was in college, that basically you are a product of your environment. Of course, there are exceptions to the rules but for the vast majority of people, I have found this to be a relatively true fact.
How lucky was I that I sat down next to the exception of the rule. This young lady’s big brother has 46 years left on a 50 year jail term for murder. Her younger brother has been in and out of jail his entire teenage life. She herself never felt comfortable at the gang parties her friends tried to get her to go to.
Today, she lives at the Y, has already interned at one law firm and is looking to try and intern at another law firm. Her goal is to become an immigration attorney. All I could tell her is how she broke the rule, she got out of the gang life and is trying to help herself. And did I tell you that she has lost over 100 pounds while she has been part of this program at the Y.
So, maybe I started the day with creating a world, who knows? But, I ended the day knowing that the YMCA has created universes of worlds. And I was proud to be a new board member; I was in the right place for me.