Miracles still happen

Every now and then something amazing happens on the ship...and each time I have the privilege of witnessing these little miracles, I am so blessed. A few weeks ago, we admitted a two-year old girl named Josephine who had inhaled a stone. Her family had been to one clinic after another and even went to the government hospital. They were told by the specialist that she needed a pediatric anesthetist in order to perform the surgery to remove the stone. But, if she didn't get the operation soon, she would die.

In desperation, her parents went to the ministry of health seeking any help they could find. At the same time that they were at the Ministry of Health, Ann Gloag, a member of Mercy Ships'  International board, was there as well. And through God's providential timing, the family connected with Ann and she was able to arrange for Josephine to come to the ship for medical attention.

Josephine before surgery
 

However, the type of surgery that Josephine needed was not the type of surgery that we usually perform on the ship. In the OR, the surgeons all came together and tested every idea they could possibly think of. But, after spending five hours in surgery with no success, they decided they had to stop before irritating her lungs too much and causing further complications.

Josephine came back to the ICU on a ventilator, needing very close attention and care. I was the charge nurse on shift, so I came down to get report with the ICU nurse from Dr. Gary Parker (our head surgeon) and the anesthesia team when Josephine got out of surgery late that night. I have to admit that there is a part of me that tends to feel a bit inadequate when it comes to being "in charge" of the ICU. I am not personally an ICU nurse, but there is only one charge nurse at night to cover all the wards, so that means I am left with the responsibility of the ICU.

Around 2am, I walked down to the ICU to see how Melissa (the ICU nurse) was doing and to check on Josephine. Right after I got there, Josephine started acting restless. She was squirming back and forth, despite the sedation meds that she was receiving through her IV. Her breathing started to become labored and she was sucking in for breath. "Something is wrong," I told the nurse. "She looks like one of our RSV babies back home." Although she was an ICU nurse, she didn't normally work with pediatrics, so we combined my pediatric knowledge with her ICU experience to try to troubleshoot the problem. Right then, Corina, a Pediatric ICU nurse came through the door in her pajamas. "I just woke up thinking about the ICU and thought I'd come check on you guys," she said. Within a few minutes of her arrival, Josephine's became more labored and then her heart rate dropped extremely low...too low to pump enough blood for her little body. The girls started compressions while I ran to the phone to page the anesthesiologists. Thankfully, they were roommates and the two of them came down immediately. They had even slept in their scrubs in case we had an emergency.

Corina had pulled out the breathing tube when Josephine had started to crash because it had become clogged (which was why Josephine was showing such labored breathing). They were manually bagging her when the anesthetists arrived. We got everything ready to put in a new tube and Michelle (one of the anesthetists) re-intubated her successfully. But, Josephine wasn't out of the woods yet. She still had a stone in her lung and would continue to go downhill until it was removed. As I was rushing around to get supplies for the anesthestists, I saw Josephine's parents in the other room, on their knees, crying out to God for their little girl. My heart was breaking for them. One of our staff had informed me that their five-year-old son just died a few months ago and Josephine was all they had left. Surely God wouldn't take her too. We had to do everything we could to save this little girl's life!

Thankfully, Josephine settled not long after her new breathing tube was placed and the rest of the night she did well. But, time was running out and no one wanted to face the reality of what would happen if we couldn't remove the stone. The surgeons were aware of her fragile condition and voiced their concern. What we really needed was a cardio-thoracic surgeon. The problem was, how would we get one before time ran out?

So, finally, Ann Gloag called a friend who works as a professor in Nairobi and explained that she needed a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon immediately. She was looking for someone who could fly in as soon as possible. The professor recommended Dr. James Munene, head of cardiac surgery at Nairobi’s Kenyatta National Hospital.

Ann called Dr. Munene to explain the situation and requested that he come to Sierra Leone. It was the middle of the night and he was a bit reluctant, as he had never even heard of Mercy Ships before the call. But, after some persistence, Dr. Munene agreed and told his wife that he would be flying to Sierra Leone in the morning.

Dr. James flew to Freetown the next morning and not long after was performing surgery with Dr. Gary to remove the stone. The surgery went well and the stone was removed without any problems. A few hours later, Josephine was sitting up in bed, eating and drinking and doing great.

I visited Josephine the day after her surgery and was pleasantly surprised to see her awake and alert, playing in her bed. She was a very different child than the fragile little girl I had seen a few nights before who had fought for her precious little life. Her parents were sitting there with her, as her uncle played guitar music for everyone to enjoy. They were all in good spirits and celebrating the life of their little girl.

Josephine with her parents in the ward



It is so apparent that God's hand has been in all of this and it has been amazing to see his perfect timing through it all. It was no coincidence that Ann was there the day Josephine's parents came looking for help and it was no coincidence that Corina woke up in the middle of the night and came to the ICU at just the right time. We were not the only ones looking after little Josephine. God was watching over her life and in the midst of some scary circumstances, He showed all of us that we can still believe Him for little miracles.

Saying goodbye to the ship