The patient is supine on the operating table and just beyond the veil of consciousness. The only exposed skin on the patients body is her head and the right side of her right foot which had been swabbed a beautiful shade of Bentadine orange, and completely surrounded by sterile drapes. The masked and gloved surgical team with all their instruments are in place and ready to proceed.
As the razor-sharp scalpel pierces the skin and begins a slow, precise path down the side of the patient's foot; as the oozing blood is mopped up by the surgical nurse; as the patient continues her slumber under the ever-alert eye of the anesthesiologist, something amazing happens. An "Invasion Alert" sounds and resounds throughout the sleeping body. An unseen battle is about to be waged.
No sooner have those first drops of life's blood left their capillaries than the capillaries begin constricting, slowing the blood flow. Then, chemical messages and answering reactions begin. Platelets, always circulating, always ready to stand in a breach, receive the message and react. This attack is what they are created for. Platelets already at the invasion site became sticky, adhering together and forming small white clots to further stop the flowing blood. Incoming platelets, becoming sticky at the scene, throw themselves onto the forming barricade.
Meanwhile, a very complex chain of actions involving thrombin (produced by the liver) fibrinogin, calcium, vitamin K, and numerous amino acids transpire. Within sixty seconds of the initial blood loss, fibrin arrives on the scene, creating a web of blood-clot forming fibers which, along with the platelets, strengthen the body's ability to stem the blood flow. Even though the complex steps in the clotting process takes place all through the body, clots form only at the site of the attack.
Then, when the bleeding stops, the clotting process stops, but guards, the white cells, begin their patrol. Their mission is to seek and destroy any and all enemies, be they bacterial or viral, that may have made it through the breach. Their work, always endless, is now on high alert. No enemy can remain.
This is just the beginning. Now for cleanup and reconstruction. Dead or destroyed cells, including platelets and white cells, must be removed. Muscle will rebuild muscle. Nerves will rebuild nerves, epithelial cells-epithelial cells. No matter how large or small the rebuilding and reconstruction job is, the cells work tirelessly until they are done. They know when one side of the wound is connected to the other side. They know.
Amazing, absolutely amazing. That is all I can say about the body God created and blessed us with. It is so unbelievably complex, yet appears so simple to the untrained eye. Even the trained eye and mind has problems understanding how it works. Yet is does work and does it without being noticed. I don't see the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide that takes place within the capillaries of my lungs. I don't witness my small intestines extracting nutrients and liquid from the meal I ate. I don't cheer as white cells attack the bacteria I ingested as I licked my fingers. And, whenever I suffer a cut or abrasion, I certainly am not aware of the unseen battle that rages inside the wound.
These are the thoughts that have been going through my head while I have been bed-bound with my right foot elevated for the past week. I had a large lipoma (fatty tumor) removed last Friday. There have been many other thoughts meandering around, too. I have thought about areas of my life regarding my husband, his crime, my emotional state, and the question I was asked recently, "Do you still see yourself as a victim?" It was then I realized this: There is another unseen battle that also rages. It is not within the microscopic workings of my body, but rather in the spiritual realm that surrounds me.
That will be tomorrow's blog.
Have a God day.
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