Some Doctor eh?

Dave was in his car driving home. Work had been gruelingly longer today than most days. His wife was expecting him home soon for dinner but he knew he would be late. Up ahead on the road there was a car that was pulled off to the side of the road. A gentleman was standing at the driver rear tire looking quite confused. Dave could tell he was dressed in nice work slacks and office attire shoes. 

“I should stop and help,” Dave thought. “I’m already late tho…. he can just call triple A or a friend to come get him or something.”  It was late November and in the mountains of Virginia it was dark and cold. Dave already felt the guilt of not stopping to help in the pit of his stomach. “It’s cold…cell phone service is spotty in these areas…what if he decided to walk…he can’t defend himself if an animal comes out of the woods…not in those shoes at least.” Dave snickered to himself.

Led by guilt, Dave pulled in front of the broken down car and shut off his engine. He got out of his vehicle hearing the squeak of the old truck door being ajar. He slammed the door with a loud thud noise confirming the closure. Dave walked to the broken down car with headlights beaming brightly in his eyes.

“Need some help?” Dave yelled out. Now walking past the headlights he found a medium height older man, somewhere in his 60’s if Dave had to guess. “I could use a hand. I have a flat tire. I’m a little ashamed to say I don’t know how to put on my spare tire.” Dave nodded. He put his hands in his jacket. “No worries. I own the car repair shop in town.” Dave took his right hand out of his jacket and pointed to the road that they had both just traveled. “I’ll have you fixed up in no time.”

Dave walked to the trunk of the car and took out the spare tire and tools. He took off the flat tire and placed the new one on in record time. “Thank you so much. I would have helped but like I said I don’t know what I am doing. I would have just been in the way.” Dave laughed at the older man. “Could I give you some cash?” asked the old man. “No, no. I can’t take any cash. It was my pleasure to help. Now just promise me you will go straight home and then in the morning right to a car repair shop.” The old man laughed, “okay, fair deal. I promise, I’ll go straight home.” They shook hands and Dave turned around and started walking back towards his truck.

“This cold air…” he thought to himself. Dave felt his chest tightening. He felt short of breath. He needed to sit down. He kept walking. “Almost to the truck.” He thought. He put his hand on his chest. He had to stop. The pain coming from his chest was so intense. So tight feeling. His arm felt numb. He felt dizzy. Dave gasped for a breath. Then all went black.

Dave woke to the sound of machines beeping. His head felt heavy and groggy. He opened his eyes. He was in bed but this wasn’t his bed. He looked around the room, quickly realizing he was in the hospital. There was a young lady in his room. “Hey, you’re awake!” She had on royal blue scrubs and her hair in a cute messy bun style. She came to his bedside and looked at Dave. She touched his shoulder. “I’m going to go call the doctor so he can come assess you. You had a heart attack. You’re fine now. Stay here, I’ll be right back.”

“A heart attack?” Dave replayed his last memories. He was driving home, there was a car. He remembered pulling over and going to help the guy. “Did I help him….ahh his tire! That’s right, I did get that fixed, but then what happened?”

Just then his thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. He looked up to see the old man that had the flat tire. The old man pulled up a chair alongside Dave’s bed and sat down. “Hi, Dave, Remember me?” Dave nodded, “Yes, I do. What’s going on? Why are you here?” The old man let out a sigh, “Well after you fixed my car you were walking back to your truck when you suddenly collapsed.” “Really?” Dave was in shock. “Then what happened?” The old man continued on, “I rushed over to you. Turned you over onto your back. I checked for a pulse. No pulse. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed 911 and put it on speaker. I started CPR on you. I did that till the ambulance got there.” Dave’s thoughts were racing. “That must have been a while till they were able to get to us.” Dave said. The old man continued, “It was. I guess I forgot to mention when we first met that I’m a cardiac surgeon. And to be honest and fair, I wasn’t planning on going straight home like you wanted me to, I was on my way to work. I was on my way here.” Dave smiled a crooked grin. “Well to be honest and truthful, I almost thought about not stopping to help you, but I just couldn’t do that to you. What would have happened if I didn’t stop?” Dave felt guilty at the thought of not stopping again. The old man looked Dave in the eye and put his hand on Dave’s shoulder and shook it slightly, “Well, I don’t think we would have been having this conversation. You would have had the heart attack, wrecked, and maybe someone might have found you and it’s possible to have the same outcome, but to come across a doctor who performed CPR right away, well that is divine intervention my friend.”

Dave nodded at the severity of what could have been. He could have died. He could have wrecked his truck and hurt someone else. But instead, he was alive. He stopped to help someone else in their time of need and it ended up being his time of need. Dave looked up at the old man, with tears in his eyes, he murmured out the words, “Thank you. How can I ever repay you?” The old man stood up from his seat, “well, I can’t take any money, but promise me you’ll go straight home from here. Rest yourself, then see me in my office in a week for a follow up?” “You have one heck of a deal Sir.” The two guys both looked at each other and laughed. The old man walked towards the door, “I have to check in on a few other patients, but I’ll circle back to you and see how you are.” Dave nodded and waved. 

Dave’s nurse walked into his room. “I have some medication for you. “Some doctor eh? Last night was his first night here. The hospital just hired him. It’s funny really, did he tell you he came with you in the ambulance? Said he had car troubles, and you stopped to help him. He did CPR on you for a very long time, then put a stent in your heart.” Dave was amazed at what the nurse was telling him. “He did all that for me?” The nurse looked shocked. “Of course! He would do it for anyone, it's the doctor's oath, but he did say that five other cars passed him before you stopped to help. To me, it seemed personal to him that you survived.” Dave had a wave of emotions come over him, “and to think, I thought about not stopping…but I did.” Dave’s eyes let down a waterfall of tears. The nurse came over to him and smiled as she put her hand on his shoulder, “Fate is resourceful like that.”