Yea,
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil;
For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4
NKJV
June’s Awakening, Day 21
I have not shared many personal
anecdotes with you, but the Holy Spirit has prompted me to do so on this
occasion as it is quite appropriate to our current discussion. I hope to do
this more frequently in the upcoming Book 3—Revive My Soul, O God, as
well as sharing the personal anecdotes of other individuals.
We were staring intently at the
monitors of the intensive care unit of the hospital, desperately hoping that
one of the intravenous medicines would work. Four different medicines had
already been administered over the last couple hours to no avail. The ammonia
levels were still elevated and toxic. At these levels, for any extended period
of time, brain damage was likely to ensue. Our five-and-one-half-year-old son’s
liver was shutting down fast and all but nonfunctional. He was lying there
heavily sedated as he was incoherent and poorly functional. There were tubes
inserted everywhere. Dialysis tubes were inserted into each inner thigh to try
to relieve the strain on his kidneys, which were unable to handle the toxic overload;
catheter, breathing tube, nose tube for feeding, intravenous shunts in each
hand, peripheral arterial line in the upper arm for medicine administration,
plus a plethora of electrodes on his chest and head.
Two of his many doctors called his
mother and me into a consultation room. “Your son is exceedingly sick and his
condition is quickly worsening and becoming desperate. He needs a liver
transplant as soon as a donor is available,” one doctor said. Galen’s mother
asked, “How long before it’s too late?” After a pause, the doctor said, “We
don’t know if he can last more than six to twelve hours like this.”
In
tearful despair, and at a new level of shock that we had not known over the
past two weeks of this ordeal, we returned to our son’s room, wondering how
this miracle could ever come about. While we had been speaking to the doctors
in the consultation room, Galen’s attending physicians were able to finally
find a medicine that was effectively neutralizing the toxic ammonia in Galen’s
system. If he could just receive a liver transplant in time, he may live and be
fully functional.
I remember standing by his bed
praying silently to God, “He’s your son, Lord. I’m just his caretaker. How much
of him do you want? Can you not take me? Am I to be like Abraham and give up my
only son? Yet I pray for a miracle too. He is in your hands.” I sat down next
to Galen’s mother on the couch and we could do nothing but put our faces in our
hands, sobbing quietly, wondering how we could possibly be here in this place
when three weeks ago our son was healthy and completely normal.
We needed a miracle and we barely
held on to a thread of hope. It was then, as we were sitting there, that one of
the intensive care unit nurses came over and knelt down in front of us, lightly
touching each one of our shoulders and said, “It will be okay. The Lord is in
this place.”
That was what I needed to hold on to
my thread of hope for God’s miracle to happen. And it did. Very early that next
morning we were awakened and they were taking Galen down for surgery. At an
exceptionally high price of two young lives, and a year later a third, a donor
liver, and life, was on its way.
“The Lord is in this place.” Don’t
miss Him. I do not know who that wonderful nurse was, but those few words I am
eternally grateful for and will never forget. So, when the Holy Spirit prompts
you to say or do something, follow His guidance and be obedient. A few words or
a gentle, compassionate touch can bring the powerful presence of the Lord.
Liver Transplant 07/10/2008
No comments:
Post a Comment