Grossly normal!

Hmm...Grossly normal! I'm thinking "wart!" Yep, that looks normal...for a wart. But gross just the same!

A few years back I had the worst time with a wart on my left heel. The thing was deep and nasty, and my doctor was afraid that if she froze it off, she might do some damage to my foot. So we left it alone. I tried everything, including duct tape! I know that sounds odd, but I read that if you stick a piece of duct tape over a wart, its oxygen supply will be cut off, and it will go away. I'm not sure that really did too much to help, but eventually my body got tired of that virus, and it gradually melted away to nothing. Now my foot is grossly normal!

Gross. As a medical transcriptionist, I type that little word every day, because to doctors it means something entirely different.
"The patient's physical exam is grossly normal."
"The legs are without edema and grossly normal."
"On gross examination, the patient is a middle-aged female who appears in no acute respiratory distress."

To doctors, "gross" means something that is visible to the naked eye. A "gross lesion" would be a lesion that is plainly visible without a microscope. (My wart was definitely a "gross lesion" in more ways than one!!) Or "gross hematuria" would be blood that is plainly visible in the urine just by looking at its color. Or "on gross examination" (what he can see by looking at her), the patient is a middle-aged woman who seems to have no difficulty breathing.

There is no such thing as "grossly normal" to God. He is not limited by my outward appearance and does not care a bit whether I look normal or abnormal. He isn't fooled by any of my attempts to fit in and does not value me more if I look good. He has the whole picture, straight down to my heart. And He loves me.

"Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." --I Samuel 16:7

What on earth did the doctor say??

Today I feel like writing about my work, and it's probably because it has been taking so much of my time the last few weeks. This is not about housework or family care or anything like that. It's about medical transcription.

Life takes twists and turns, many that we would never expect, and that's exactly the case for me. I didn't foresee that after 25 years as a secretary in an office setting, I would need to work at home to cover Coral's care, but that is what happened, so with much trepidation I began to study things like medical terminology, body systems, drug names, and diseases. I have to admit that I didn't have a good picture of what this would be like, even though I had done lots and lots of office dictation. I soon realized that this is not common everyday language, and that doctors don't dictate slowly and clearly like my boss always had! But at the same time, I was thrilled at how the challenge and the constant learning energized me!

I began work over the internet for a small company that did not give me enough to do to even call it "work," but I plugged away at it hoping it would count as "experience" some day.

Then I heard of a local doctor who needed a new transcriptionist. My stomach was all nerves, but I put together my resume, wrote my best cover letter, and faxed them off to him with some samples of my "experience!" ("Lord, if this is what you want me to do, please make it work out, because you know I'm just not very confident!") In a couple of days, he called me, and I went in for an interview.

I'll never forget that first microcassette I brought home. I rushed out and bought a transcriber, popped the tape in, and got ready to type. My "experience" was almost useless! He talked so fast and swallowed so many of his words that even my very best try was full of blanks! But as time went on, I began to understand his way of talking, and what had taken me a whole day of painful relistening became half a day with time to spare. After that, I applied for a job with a transcription company in another state and began working for them, too, receiving digital voice files and sending back my work over the internet.

A few months ago, my local doctor client and I decided it was time to switch over to getting our work back and forth over the internet, too. We wanted to shorten the time it was taking to get his records back to him, plus I hate driving in the snow! Thus began the research (we had to find the best digital recorder for the least money!) and all the technical questions. This was all complicated somewhat by the fact that we must encrypt everything to send it over the internet because of the need to ensure the privacy of medical records. I do believe that my computer knowledge has been stretched, and I KNOW the doctor's has been!

This past week we began actually forgetting about the microcassettes and doing it the new way. Both of us messed up to begin with. I sent him blank documents somehow, and he tried to open encrypted documents with the wrong program, but by mid-week we were beginning to feel confident, and on Friday we didn't even have to call on the phone to be sure everything had gone right. Now I call that success!

People sometimes say, "It can't be that hard. You just type what you hear, right?" But what on earth did he say? What word did she just drown out with the flap and thwop of the x-ray film? What medication did he dictate just as the phone rang? Was that "lisinopril" or "fosinopril" that he said with a big yawn?? Hmm...she said 500 mg, but I know that drug is usually 10 mg. Is the drug name wrong, or is the dosage wrong? We have to do much more than type whatever we think it is we hear, because your life might depend on it.

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might." --Ecclesiates 9:10

Lazy Louses!

It's late Sunday night. I should probably be in bed, because the morning is coming whether I'm ready or not. Today we woke up to howling wind and blowing snow. All plans for the day were canceled, so back to bed we went and lay there like lazy louses until nearly noon! Now I'm wide awake and raring to go, but the seemingly impossible has happened, and every bit of my medical transcription work is done. I feel so at loose ends without any work hanging over my head!

It seems so hard to just stay home, relax, and not get anything accomplished. Why is that? I should at least be cleaning something, or cooking something, or washing something, don't you think? As Barry and I relaxed over coffee, we talked about how hard it is just to stay home and do nothing. I loved it, but it was hard for me!

I want to learn to be still and know that God is God, be quiet long enough to actually hear some of His thoughts. I want to acknowledge Him as the leader and then learn how to follow. I want to understand His plan when he derails my train and puts a barrier across my comfortable little rut. No! I want to have confidence in His promise that everything will work out for our good, even when I don't understand His plan at all!

But there is so much that just must get done! There are the ever-present work deadlines, Coral needs constant care, others are depending on me for so much, my house needs cleaning, I just HAVE to fit in some exercise... I can't possibly get it all done if I am not busy every minute. I just don't know if I am up to it anymore.

Part of a verse memorized years ago is whispering: "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." --Isaiah 30:15