Bob

The last two weeks have seemed like an eternity. It has possibly been the most emotionally stressful period in my life. On January 4th, just before 8am, as I was preparing to start clinic, one of the nurses yelled for me to come over to the hospital right away. I ran across the building, entered the men's ward and found my friend, neighbor, fellow missionary lying lifeless on the hospital bed. Bob had been in the hospital for one week with a duodenal ulcer and diverticulitis, he was going to be discharged that day. We immediately started CPR, shocked him once, other docs arrived, we gave meds, his son-in-law (the surgeon, Jeff) intubated him, his daughter (Roseanne) was helping push meds and checking for pulses. It was definitely the most traumatic code of my life, but such an amazing joy when he came into sinus rythm and he suddenly had bounding pulses. Our working diagnosis is Pulmonary Embolus. He started breathing on his own after a while and after several hours of intense work, we moved him into the post-op area which we slowly transformed into an "ICU".

Dr. Greene, our Cardiologist, is an absolute star and the two of us took turns caring for Bob around the clock. His blood pressure and fluid status were all over the board for days, he had several runs of V-tach, then A.fib, then A. flutter, then back to normal sinus rythm. He had many periods of apnea and one night from 2-4am I bagged him (breathed for him) and couldn't get him to start breathing on his own again. We don't have a ventilator. Talk about holding someone's life in your hands! I've never had the experience of breathing for someone, let alone someone I know and love, and begging them to breathe again. I was literally begging Bob to breathe, begging God to spare his life long enough for his kids (who had just arrived late that night) to spend some time with him. He finally did start breathing on his own again, but by the time the sun came up and the family arrived, I was sure he wouldn't make it through the day. That was one of my lowest points.

But he did make it through the day and his body has continued to improve to the point that Dr. Greene and I don't have to be constantly in the hospital and can actually sleep at night. However, his mental status is grim. He makes small neurological improvements day by day but still does not follow commands. Besides being stressed out, tired and worried about Bob, watching his wife and daughter grieve and cry daily has been awful as well. I could write volumes about the blessings and dissapointments, the laughter and the tears of the last two weeks. I have learned a lot, forged strong bonds with the family and other friends, been strengthened and encouraged by the Lord when I thought I couldn't go on, and been incredibly blessed by the support and care of the community here. Maybe someday I'll look back and say it was a good experience. Right now it is just hard. I do thank the Lord for placing the right people here at the right time just when they were needed. In the midst of tragedy and sorrow, God has been faithful in so many ways. Its hard to see the 'big plan' from our limited point of view, but we pray that somehow God will be glorified through this situation.