these past 2 months, i was brought face to face with different types of medical situations that i've never had to deal with.
the first was jonah's birth. erin had no idea that jonah would come so quickly once she went into labor, so to find herself almost fully dilated under an hour after arriving at the hospital was unnerving, to say the least. at one point, the nurses and midwife felt that the baby might come before they (and erin) were ready, so the nurse actually went into the birth canal and PUSHED jonah back in!!! i was shocked and erin was in such pain!! i mean, how would YOU feel if that happened to you?!!! and they wouldn't give her ANY pain meds cuz she was fully dilated!! i think erin was angry about that, but she was in too much pain to do anything about it...
then, when it was time for erin to push jonah out, i had to hold one of her legs apart while a nurse took hold of the other leg. that position is not pretty nor comfortable and poor erin had to stay in that position every time a contraction came... good thing, it only took three large pushes to get jonah out, but the whole time, i was aching for my daughter!! she was SO brave, but if i could have given her pain meds, you better bet i would have...!!
our next medical situation occurred a week later. at the same hospital where she gave birth, erin was admitted for a kidney infection. my poor daughter had pain in her lower back, high fever accompanied by terrible chills that shook her body for what seemed like forever!! they hooked her up to an IV with antibiotic to try and bring the infection down. but, she continued to have fever and chills and her white blood cell count continued to stay way above the normal count of 5,000 to 6,000. by mid-week, the doctors decided to do an ultrasound and a sonogram and that's when they discovered the stone that was lodged in her left ureter. surgery was performed to insert a stent and after 5 days in the hospital, erin was FINALLY allowed to return home.
mind you, all this time, she was away from jonah and that was very difficult for her!! growing up, erin was that one child who never told you if she was hurting. we would only know that something had happened to her LONG AFTER the fact. if she was a different type of person, this whole experience might have broken her, but thank God, she is a strong individual -- physically, emotionally and most especially, spiritually. i admire her even more now because of what she's endured and how she's triumphed over these adversities!
long story short... she had one relapse after that hospital stay which required another trip to urgent care, but once the kidney stone was zapped and the stent removed, erin started to feel much better and today is back to normal health! Praise God!!
this was the second time that a medical emergency touched our immediate family. i had always been thankful that none of my kids, dan or i had ever had a medical emergency (except for my C-section). but, that all changed with josiah.
that first big medical situation for us was when josiah was less than a year old and we were on babysitting duty. erin had just left to get ready to go out for her birthday celebration when, all of a sudden, josiah just started convulsing in my arms!! i had NO idea what to do!! he wouldn't stop shaking. of course, i called 911 immediately! Thank God for 911!!! the 911 operator guided me through the initial step of taking off all of josiah's clothes, except for his diaper. while i was doing this, 2 fire trucks, an ambulance, the paramedic and the police rushed into the house and took over. they were at our house in under 5 minutes!!
i felt SO helpless when i saw them pick up josiah and take him into the ambulance!! i had NO idea what had just happened because nothing like that had ever happened to any of my kids...!! josiah was taken to huntington memorial in pasadena. erin and joe had to cancel the birthday celebration. the whole family kept vigil in the waiting lounge for 3 hours while they stabilized josiah. it made me sad to see him hooked up to an IV, but he needed to be hydrated and his temperature needed to be controlled... he was a very brave little boy!!
only later did i find out that this happened to joe several times when he was a baby. josiah's body temp was over 100 and his body was doing what it needed in order to counteract the high fever. that's why he was convulsing! until josiah turns 6, we have to watch him carefully and make sure that he doesn't get too hot. Praise God, josiah has not had an attack for a couple of years now...
another medical scare for us was when gina was told by her doctor that the blood test she took before she left for cebu in march showed that baby #2 has downs syndrome!! first of all, gina's only 23 (24 in july) and older women getting pregnant are more at risk of having a downs syndrome baby than someone in their early 20's. second, the doctor should not have made gina take the blood test TOO early. they insisted on it because she was leaving for cebu and would not be in the states when the test is normally administered. third, when gina re-took the test after returning from cebu, the results that time were negative. of course, we praise God for that, but we could have all been spared the added anxiety.
but, maybe, that was the lesson we needed to learn: to really turn our eyes and our hearts to God and ask for His intervention during the time that we thought the baby had downs syndrome. we prayed for a miracle on the baby's behalf and we also prayed that God would give us His peace in the event that this baby would have down's. we knew that we would love and care for this baby even if she had down's, despite the doctor's recommendation that the pregnancy should be terminated if the results were conclusive. we know that God would never put us in a situation that we wouldn't be able to handle with His help... i know He was pleased with our reaction to this possible situation.
of course, everyone around us are having their own medical scare. just last week, i received word that the wife of one of our seminary graduates had been admitted to a nearby hospital for an aneurysm. i know those can be fatal, so i was very concerned and texted him to tell him we were praying for his wife. a few days after hearing this news, her husband called and provided me with information that scared me even more. apparently, his wife, who was in manila at the time, had "Transient global amnesia." according to one medical site, this is "A temporary loss of all memory, but it particularly affects the ability to form new memories (severe anterograde amnesia), with milder loss of past memories (retrograde amnesia) going back a few hours. It is rare and is most common among older persons with vascular disease." Wikipedia says: "The cause of this syndrome is not clear, hypotheses include transient reduced blood flow, possible seizure or an atypical type of migraine." her transient global amnesia lasted for several days when no one knew where she was until she made an ATM withdrawal...!
another long story short, because of her amnesia, tests were done upon her return to cebu during which they discovered the aneurysm. a procedure called coiling was performed and it was during this procedure that the doctor also discovered that the aneurysm was starting to leak. WOW!! if not for the amnesia, they would have never found the leaking aneurysm... this was truly all GOD!!
so, what's my takeaway from all this? first of all, it's the fact that a medical situation could happen to anyone at anytime. second, if we're taking medication for any medical condition, we should take those meds religiously. more often than not, they will save our lives. third, if God puts us in a medical situation, read up on it and know the whys, whats, the new medical procedures being done, etc. i don't believe i can ever be under-informed about anything, type A personality that i am... fourth, always trust in God's divine plan and will for our lives. that's a comfort that i will always bank on, no matter what the situation!!
the first was jonah's birth. erin had no idea that jonah would come so quickly once she went into labor, so to find herself almost fully dilated under an hour after arriving at the hospital was unnerving, to say the least. at one point, the nurses and midwife felt that the baby might come before they (and erin) were ready, so the nurse actually went into the birth canal and PUSHED jonah back in!!! i was shocked and erin was in such pain!! i mean, how would YOU feel if that happened to you?!!! and they wouldn't give her ANY pain meds cuz she was fully dilated!! i think erin was angry about that, but she was in too much pain to do anything about it...
then, when it was time for erin to push jonah out, i had to hold one of her legs apart while a nurse took hold of the other leg. that position is not pretty nor comfortable and poor erin had to stay in that position every time a contraction came... good thing, it only took three large pushes to get jonah out, but the whole time, i was aching for my daughter!! she was SO brave, but if i could have given her pain meds, you better bet i would have...!!
our next medical situation occurred a week later. at the same hospital where she gave birth, erin was admitted for a kidney infection. my poor daughter had pain in her lower back, high fever accompanied by terrible chills that shook her body for what seemed like forever!! they hooked her up to an IV with antibiotic to try and bring the infection down. but, she continued to have fever and chills and her white blood cell count continued to stay way above the normal count of 5,000 to 6,000. by mid-week, the doctors decided to do an ultrasound and a sonogram and that's when they discovered the stone that was lodged in her left ureter. surgery was performed to insert a stent and after 5 days in the hospital, erin was FINALLY allowed to return home.
mind you, all this time, she was away from jonah and that was very difficult for her!! growing up, erin was that one child who never told you if she was hurting. we would only know that something had happened to her LONG AFTER the fact. if she was a different type of person, this whole experience might have broken her, but thank God, she is a strong individual -- physically, emotionally and most especially, spiritually. i admire her even more now because of what she's endured and how she's triumphed over these adversities!
long story short... she had one relapse after that hospital stay which required another trip to urgent care, but once the kidney stone was zapped and the stent removed, erin started to feel much better and today is back to normal health! Praise God!!
this was the second time that a medical emergency touched our immediate family. i had always been thankful that none of my kids, dan or i had ever had a medical emergency (except for my C-section). but, that all changed with josiah.
that first big medical situation for us was when josiah was less than a year old and we were on babysitting duty. erin had just left to get ready to go out for her birthday celebration when, all of a sudden, josiah just started convulsing in my arms!! i had NO idea what to do!! he wouldn't stop shaking. of course, i called 911 immediately! Thank God for 911!!! the 911 operator guided me through the initial step of taking off all of josiah's clothes, except for his diaper. while i was doing this, 2 fire trucks, an ambulance, the paramedic and the police rushed into the house and took over. they were at our house in under 5 minutes!!
i felt SO helpless when i saw them pick up josiah and take him into the ambulance!! i had NO idea what had just happened because nothing like that had ever happened to any of my kids...!! josiah was taken to huntington memorial in pasadena. erin and joe had to cancel the birthday celebration. the whole family kept vigil in the waiting lounge for 3 hours while they stabilized josiah. it made me sad to see him hooked up to an IV, but he needed to be hydrated and his temperature needed to be controlled... he was a very brave little boy!!
only later did i find out that this happened to joe several times when he was a baby. josiah's body temp was over 100 and his body was doing what it needed in order to counteract the high fever. that's why he was convulsing! until josiah turns 6, we have to watch him carefully and make sure that he doesn't get too hot. Praise God, josiah has not had an attack for a couple of years now...
another medical scare for us was when gina was told by her doctor that the blood test she took before she left for cebu in march showed that baby #2 has downs syndrome!! first of all, gina's only 23 (24 in july) and older women getting pregnant are more at risk of having a downs syndrome baby than someone in their early 20's. second, the doctor should not have made gina take the blood test TOO early. they insisted on it because she was leaving for cebu and would not be in the states when the test is normally administered. third, when gina re-took the test after returning from cebu, the results that time were negative. of course, we praise God for that, but we could have all been spared the added anxiety.
but, maybe, that was the lesson we needed to learn: to really turn our eyes and our hearts to God and ask for His intervention during the time that we thought the baby had downs syndrome. we prayed for a miracle on the baby's behalf and we also prayed that God would give us His peace in the event that this baby would have down's. we knew that we would love and care for this baby even if she had down's, despite the doctor's recommendation that the pregnancy should be terminated if the results were conclusive. we know that God would never put us in a situation that we wouldn't be able to handle with His help... i know He was pleased with our reaction to this possible situation.
of course, everyone around us are having their own medical scare. just last week, i received word that the wife of one of our seminary graduates had been admitted to a nearby hospital for an aneurysm. i know those can be fatal, so i was very concerned and texted him to tell him we were praying for his wife. a few days after hearing this news, her husband called and provided me with information that scared me even more. apparently, his wife, who was in manila at the time, had "Transient global amnesia." according to one medical site, this is "A temporary loss of all memory, but it particularly affects the ability to form new memories (severe anterograde amnesia), with milder loss of past memories (retrograde amnesia) going back a few hours. It is rare and is most common among older persons with vascular disease." Wikipedia says: "The cause of this syndrome is not clear, hypotheses include transient reduced blood flow, possible seizure or an atypical type of migraine." her transient global amnesia lasted for several days when no one knew where she was until she made an ATM withdrawal...!
another long story short, because of her amnesia, tests were done upon her return to cebu during which they discovered the aneurysm. a procedure called coiling was performed and it was during this procedure that the doctor also discovered that the aneurysm was starting to leak. WOW!! if not for the amnesia, they would have never found the leaking aneurysm... this was truly all GOD!!
so, what's my takeaway from all this? first of all, it's the fact that a medical situation could happen to anyone at anytime. second, if we're taking medication for any medical condition, we should take those meds religiously. more often than not, they will save our lives. third, if God puts us in a medical situation, read up on it and know the whys, whats, the new medical procedures being done, etc. i don't believe i can ever be under-informed about anything, type A personality that i am... fourth, always trust in God's divine plan and will for our lives. that's a comfort that i will always bank on, no matter what the situation!!
