My Mother wrote this months after I came home from the hospital from suffering with septic shock. I ran across this tonight and it made me cry so hard. There are no other words to say other than God spared my life and blessed me.
Melanie's Miracle
"This thermometer can't be right. Honey, if you had a temperature of 106, you
would be flopping all over the bed and talking crazy."
One of the paramedics who had responded to our 9-1-1 call
on August 18, 2011, when my daughter's flu-like symptoms continued to worsen
sent his partner to the ambulance for another thermometer. My 41-year-old daughter Melanie lucidly
answered questions and responded to instructions as the paramedic continued his
exam. He picked up the pace when a check
of her blood pressure indicated severely low numbers. A second reading of 105.7 with another
thermometer confirmed the emergency. My
son-in-law Mike and I followed instructions and rushed to fill bags with ice as
Melanie was strapped onto a gurney and whisked into the waiting ambulance. The paramedics prepared to start two IVs
while her body was packed in ice. I
managed to ask if they had any idea of the problem. "It looks like sepsis," one said as
he shut the doors and Mike climbed into the passenger seat. The ambulance pulled out of the driveway on
the beginning of an ordeal that would prove to be one of the darkest periods of
our lives--and also one that manifested the Lord's awesome power and grace.
My thoughts were jumbled as I waited for news at their
home that afternoon. I had a vague idea
of sepsis and I knew that it was toxic.
I tried to hold myself together for the arrival of my two young granddaughters
who had spent the afternoon with a relative, thankfully spared from witnessing
their mother's health crisis. I was
forced to hide my fears when the girls arrived home that evening. I explained that Mommy had gone to the
hospital because she was sick, and they seemed satisfied that she would be
getting medicine to make her better.
Their excitement at picking out outfits to wear for the start of school
on the following day was a blessing.
I kept the telephone in my hand for regular updates from
Mike. A call around midnight confirmed
the paramedic's diagnosis. "The
doctor told me that Melanie is a lot sicker than they originally thought,"
he said. "They're transferring her
to ICU at Charleston General because they don't have any beds available here at
Memorial."
The days and nights that followed were a blur as
Melanie's condition plummeted. She was
put on a respirator because her blood oxygen levels were critically low. Three blood transfusions were performed. A feeding tube was added, along with a
central line into her neck for administering the potent antibiotics designed to
attack the blood infection. Tubes,
wires, and monitoring lines were connected to nearly every part of her body as
doctors fought to save her life.
Mike stayed with Melanie around the clock until
exhaustion forced us to call for help.
Because of the girls' school and need for some kind of normalcy, I knew
that my role was to be with them. My
blessed sister Judy was the answer to our prayers, and she arrived to spend
days with Melanie while Mike took the night shift.
News of Melanie's crisis spread quickly through family and friends, and prayers for her healing were nonstop. Facebook friends posted pleas to their
friends who, in turn, asked their friends for still more prayers. Requests were made to international
ministries (CBN, Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copeland, and others). The prayer warrior at Kenneth Copeland
Ministries zeroed in on the doctors and nurses, asking the Lord to give them
the skill and knowledge to treat Melanie and "...to let no stranger's
voice enter their minds." People
around the world were praying for someone they didn't know.
A former pastor visited Melanie in ICU one evening soon
after she was admitted. He said that he
felt a peace settle upon him as he entered her room. "I have to tell you that I don't usually
experience that kind of peace when I'm with someone so critical," he
remarked after the visit. Two other
ministers that neither Mike nor Melanie knew also appeared at her room. As she lay sedated, they asked for Melanie's
total healing and fast recovery. The
wife of Mike's boss was anointed for Melanie at church and the prayer cloth was
tucked under Melanie's body.
On August 24, an earthquake hit the East Coast of the
United States at 1:55 p.m. Melanie's Aunt Judy was with her as the first tremor
hit. Blessedly, Melanie remained heavily
sedated as second and third shocks rattled her bed and shook the ceiling tiles
in her room. Judy pled the blood of
Jesus over Melanie. She remained in her
induced coma and not one alarm sounded on the monitoring equipment that was
attached to her body.
The speed of Melanie's deterioration began to
stabilize. During her second week in
ICU, the elevated white blood cell counts began to drop, indicating that the
treatment was starting to take effect.
Her blood pressure and heart rate began to stabilize, and the pneumonia
that had formed in her lungs started to loosen.
The powerful narcotics that had been used to keep her sedated were
discontinued on August 28, and Melanie regained consciousness when the
respirator was removed that same day.
Her first whispered words to me when I visited were "Saved...going
to church."
Doctors and nurses--everyone connected with her
care--were awestruck at the speed of Melanie's total recovery. Followup MRIs and other tests showed no
damage whatsoever to her body. Muscle
weakness in her left shoulder and upper arm was attributed to the constant
blood pressure monitoring that had been required, and physical therapy to
strengthen it was the only suggested followup.
On September 2, 2011, Melanie was released from the hospital. She walked unassisted into the waiting arms
of her husband, daughters, family, and friends.
Some may not believe you can rededicate your life to God, once in grace always in grace is what they call it. I believe that you can grow distant from God. I had stopped going to church due to frustrations and a broken heart. I didn't realize it, but I had grown distant from Him even though I loved Him so. I knew when they took me away that I was dying. And I knew I had to make peace with God and the ones that had hurt me.
God healed my relationship with my Mother, and gave me hope once again.
This is for someone that needs to know, God loves you and sent His only begotten son to die for you...yes you! He loves you, let
Him be your KING.
