An interesting question. My mother and I were walking this morning. So probably the answer to that inquiry would be my footwear. I have already gone back and forth between my sandals and my walking or working shoes this morning. These sandals have been used as house slippers for several years now. Slippers out in the country with rock, dust and mud don’t work well for me and these sandals have worked very well. My walking and working shoes I have only had for about a year. Yet if they could tell stories…
They were bought for the singular reason to wear to work on the dialysis floor. They were comfortable for standing and easy to wash. One of those stories would be how much blood actually fell on my shoes. I was OCD about making sure what blood I saw I washed off as soon as I could. I learned very quickly at Davita to clean up messes even if I was not the initiator of the mess, especially when that was really the only thing I could do during my early training.
Those sneakers may not be the oldest things I am wearing today, but they have the most stories. There are men and women whom I have met through Dialysis in Illinois and Indiana that are some of the bravest people I have ever met. Never in my life did I think I could ever make a difference in life and death as I watched and actually cleaned human blood in order for them to enjoy sweet time. Taking vitals and caring for those patients took a lot of compassion, but mostly a good prayer life. I prayed as I worked from each setup to the next as I was working. Then I would Thank God for better blood pressure when it went back to the right spot.
I am very grateful for God allowing me to see the inside of the inner workings of Dialysis. My awareness about kidney disease, human nature and how God allowed intellectuals and doctors to discover a way to clean blood when the body could not is breathtaking to me even now. Something old still has life in it as long as the person is willing to fight back a bit. The person can still enjoy life and their family just as I still have my shoes that remind me of how good I have life compared to others.
Jewells of Thought 
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