You can’t outwit fate by trying to stand on the sidelines and place little side bets about the outcome. Either you wade in and risk everything to play the game, or you don’t play at all. And if you don’t play, you can’t win. -Judith McNaught
Football season is in full swing around the Midwest. I have spent many weekends recently on the sidelines watching the team my husband volunteers to coach. Because I did not grow up watching football, and my high school did not have its own team, this has all been a learning experience. I am slowly growing to appreciate the game. Notably, I am now critically evaluating how I believe the game could be better played and what penalties I would like to see enforced. (I am frequently annoyed by the time outs at the end of the game! Illegal time out, anyone?) The play I now love to see incorporated in a game is better known as the “Hail Mary.” Football is not really my thing, so I never gathered the true meaning of the term until a physician used it to describe the treatment plan for Mrs. C.*
I had just received a call about her minutes before – “need you in the ER for a code.” When I walked into the room, the physician said, “she’s only 45, so I’m not going to call it, yet. What else can we do?” I quickly went through my arsenal of ideas, slowly eliminating each one from my mental checklist of options, except for one. “We could try this treatment,” I said. “I’m thinking it will have a low probability of a good outcome, but based on what you are telling me, it makes sense to use it in this case.” The physician said, “it sounds like a Hail Mary, but we have to try.”
The physician was correct. It was a Hail Mary play in the truest sense. A desperate measure to resolve a serious problem at the very last minute. It was unlikely to be successful. Truly, divine intervention would be needed for the treatment to succeed. Therefore, I prepared the drug and hoped that against all odds it would work. We had no other choice. The treatment did not seem so risky when all other options were exhausted.
When the nurse gave the medication, I prayed. With every pulse check and every blip on the cardiac monitor, I prayed harder. I kept my hand diligently on the femoral artery, anticipating that at any moment I would feel something other than my own pounding heartbeat. I prayed harder.
As we left the room that day, the physician said, “Well, we did everything we could.” He was right; we did it all, and then some. It is at that exact moment when I realized that many times in our lives we are all faced with a decision of whether or not to take a risk. Not all of these risks are matters of life and death. Sometimes it is taking a new job, moving positions within the same organization, starting a new business, or just doing something outside your comfort zone. Greatness requires risk. Whether or not you are successful, the risk will stretch you and give you confidence in yourself and the faith to try again the next time.
I now understand why the “Hail Mary” pass is so important. Whether or not the risk was worth it in the end does not matter. What matters is leaving it all on the field. You cannot expect to win if you give up. Never leave the room thinking you could have given more.
How will you identify the daily “Hail Mary” opportunities in your life?
© 2019 Inspired Pharmacist
*Name and some details changed to protect the privacy of others.
Inspired Pharmacist 