What’s It Like…To Go Through a Midsized Earthquake?

We had a 4.4 earthquake here in Los Angeles a few days ago. It woke us both up from sound early morning sleep. It reminded me of the late Roger Leir. He was once working with another surgeon whom I told that I’d once had an operation during which a 5.5 earthquake occurred. Since I had a surgical earthquake story, he told me his.

He was sewing up the incision of a patient who’d had an appendectomy. At that moment, there was an earthquake that threw this patient off the operating table. He and his nurses picked the patient up and put him back, then completed the operation without incident. But he was pretty banged up, and I’ve always wondered what he thought about his condition. Did the doctor dislike him? Had a fight broken out in the operating room? I don’t think he ever really knew.

Now, I’d like to get back to Roger. I am pretty sure that I’ve recently seen his ghost. He always loved acting, and had an actor buried in his heart. At his funeral, one of the guests stood up and said that he’d gotten his chance toward the end of his life, and had loved every minute of it. The ghost I saw at that moment didn’t look like Roger, but I believe that it was him, having a wonderful time acting. So I think I saw him at that funeral.

I wonder if the earthquake was a sign of some kind? I don’t know quite why I say that, but I just sense it somehow, that energy was being released that would speed some special people along their way.

Anyway, goodbye, Roger, you were just what Whitley called you in his eulogy: "a pioneer" and "a great man" who died before he got the recognition that he deserved.