The Last Tape
The bustle of the hospital was a welcome distraction as I opened my new patients chart and headed for her room. My son, Eric, had just brought home a disappointing report card, and my daughter, Shannon, and I had argued again about her getting a drivers license. For the next eight hours I wanted to throw myself into helping people who I knew had much more to worry about than I did.
Rebekah was only 32, admitted for chemotherapy after breast-cancer surgery, When I entered her room it took me a moment to spot her amid the bouncing forms of three giggling little girls.I told Rebekah I would be her nurse and she introduced her husband, Warren; six-year-old Ruthie; four-year-old Hannah; and two-year-old Molly. Warren coaxed the girls away from their mother with a promise of ice cream and assured Rebekah they would return the next day.
As I rubbed alcohol on her arm to prepare it for the intravenous line, Rebekah laughed nervously. "I have to tell you Im terrified of needles." "Itll be over before you know it," I said. "Ill give you a count of three."
Rebekah shut her eyes tightly and murmured a prayer until it was over. Then she smiled and squeezed my hand. "Before you go, could you get my Bible from the table?" I handed her the worn book. "Do you have a favorite Bible verse?" she asked. "Jesus wept. John 11: 35." "Such a sad one," she said. "Why?It makes me feel closer to Jesus, knowing he also experienced human sorrow.Rebekahnodded thoughtfully and started flipping through her Bible as I shut the door quietly behind me.
During the following months I watched Rebekah struggle with the ravages of chemotherapy. Her hospital stays became frequent and she worried about her children. Meanwhile I continued to contend with raising my own kids. They always seemed either out or holed up in their rooms. I missed the days when they were as attached to me as Rebekahs little girls were to her.One day when I entered her room, I found her talking into a tape recorder. She picked up a yellow legal pad and held it out to me. "Im making a tape for my daughters, " she said.
According to the findings of a study done by Harvard and Yale,singing can even help you live longer.The study showed that choral singing increased the life span of the population of New Haven,Connecticut. This report concluded that this was because singing helps build a healthy heart and a better mental state.