It’s Sunday night, and while most people are watching football, reading a good book, or bathing their children, there’s a scientist in a lab somewhere trying to cure a disease that you or someone you love a) had, b) has, or c) may have in the future. The scientist gets calls in the middle of the night and drives bleary-eyed to the university to work with a team of medical professionals to transplant organs. Organs! The scientist’s vocation is life-saving, but not without cost.
The scientist checks voicemails during date night, misses his wife’s holiday party more often than not, and tends to subsist on caffeine and ramen-type substances while stuck at the lab. And he’s certainly not alone. There are countless other doctors, nurses, and researchers just like him—people who push their bodies and brains to the limit in pursuit of medical breakthroughs. The drugs, devices, and procedures that will answer the prayers of perfect strangers.
My scientist—the tall, good-looking father of my children—worked too much this week. His weekend was virtually non-existent, but as usual, he didn’t complain. And while his nightmare of a schedule frustrates me at times, what can I say? He’s doing something that matters, something for which I’m sure we’re all grateful. So thank you to my favorite scientist and the people like him around the world. It’s sometimes a thankless job, but your personal sacrifices will not be in vain.
*****
I Want to Know
Are there any medical professionals (or other “on-call” types) in your life?
What medical breakthrough do you most hope to see in your lifetime?
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Amen to that. When M is on call on weekends, it is frustrating (for him too!) because of the constant barrage of calls from patients, and hospitals and nursing homes, but then, just like you did here, I realize what he is doing is so much more important, in the grand scheme of things. Cheers to your scientist (that’s so cool btw) and my nurse practitioner
My mom used to be on call all of the time. Who knows when she’d get a call and have to go deliver a baby. But it paid off when she delivered both of my kids!
Medical breakthrough? I suppose you can guess mine.
To be fair, Emma has also been “on call” for poorly sleeping babies for about the last two and a half years. It’s a lack of sleep contest!
My mom was a surgical LPN and my dad the supervisor of the lab at our local hospital. They both took call shifts, my mom far more than my dad. We lived within a mile of the hospital and a block off the path that the ambulances took to get there. When we’d hear the sirens blare by us, we could clock the minutes until the phone rang for my mom. I still wake in the night for sirens and say a prayer for the poor soul being cared for, and wonder, considering the karma of lifetime associations, how many lives my mom affected for every call she responded to. Thank you Mom for answering the noble call to nursing!
Thank you, Lisa’s mom!
It’s an eerie image to picture you waking to the sounds of sirens. I find them really unsettling and don’t miss my days living in a more urban setting for that reason.