i figured I'd blog today...

Right now I'm sitting at work, in a patient's room. I floated to a different unit, because my regular one is nearly empty. I'm a sitter today, for a man who is a deaf, mute. He's 71 years old and was hit by a train while walking along the tracks. It's amazing he lived.
I figured I'd blog today about this experience. This is my second time having a deaf patient, but my first time spending the entire 12 hour shift with a deaf patient. Quite frankly, it's amazing. This man cannot hear or speak, and I cannot sign. He also cannot read very well. For about an hour in the morning a sign language interpreter came by and taught me about 10 signs. An hour after she left I could only remember four: Pain, Bathroom, drink and thank you.
So back to the 'amazing' aspect of this.
The amazing part isn't that we can still communicate despite not being able to hear and not being able to sign.
The amazing part isn't that as soon as he begins to get aggitated I know he's going to pee and I can get him the urinal before a drop spills on his sheets.
The amazing part isn't that I can figure out by watching ESPN with him that he likes football better than any other sport.

The amazing part is the silence

Something about this experience makes me wonder if God made a mistake by giving us mouths, he had to of known what we'd do with them. Not to say that some people don't do a lot of good with theirs'. But there is something beautiful about the silence. Not silence when we're alone, thats to be expected: silence with others. Even though it can be frustrating, and it has been at times today, it is satisfying when you finally break through and figure out what the other is trying to say.