A Doctor’s Life

Well, tama bang mag-blog eh sa dinami-daming kelangan gawin heto nag post ng blog….

linis ng apartment, mag-aral, mag-hanap ng trabaho, gumawa ng CV……

hayy, whatever..

anyways, here goes…..

For the month of January, Im night float (no, i dont float at night po). I mean i work at nights starting 6pm to 8am excepts Mondays (I start at 1pm in the office seeing patients then at 5pm i rush to the hospital) and Fridays (at 8:30am i have clinics din).

So a week ago, i admitted a patient with intracerebral bleed with SAH. Shes a transfer from another hospital which doesnt have a neurosurgeon. She was rushed to MRI/MRA facility and was found to have an anuerysm.I did the admission on a Thurs night so Friday I was in the clinic in the AM and i was off after noon.Therefore, i didnt know what happened til after Monday when i came back.

Over the weekend, the neurosurgeon did clipping of the aneurysm, but i was told that before he was able to clip the aneurysm, it burst. So, instead of one bleed, she now has two. An emergent head CT scan showed irreversible brain damage (according to the neurosurg who saw the CT).

The sons of the woman whom i met earlier were heartbroken.They decided on No code. The patient was disconnected from all life support and was only on Morphine and Lorazepam for comfort measures.

She was transferred to the floors from the ICU on Monday Night when I started my shift. Amazingly, she was still breathing the next day.

Day after day, we were expecting she would expire. But she went on for 4days. She was unresponsive but breathing.GCS 3 ikanga.

Our attending discussed with the family that she is a candidate for hospice since we wouldnt really know when she’d actually expire.Case manager got involved and found out the patient doesnt have insurance (ouch!)

Wednesday night I was so restless. It was a relatively quiet night.So far, only outside calls and one admission, no deliveries.No toxic patient that needs constant monitoring. That time was a perfect opportunity to study but i cant concentrate.

It seemed that God was telling me to pray for this particular patient.

I felt so sorry for her sons.They were very nice when i met them.Initially, they gave my junior a hard time when he tried to get the history but when i came over and explained to them that time was of essence,they became cooperative after that.

I honestly didnt know HOW to pray for this woman; much less know WHAT to say. All I know is that she needed a miracle because we’ve done all that we can do.

Needless to say, I ignored the prompting and chose to rest that night.I thought to myself, maybe she’ll stop breathing in the morning.

But when I came back Thursday night, she’s still there.

I argued with God. What am I suppose to say? He replied, what does My Word say?

OK, I got out my Bible (which I always carry in my backpack) and turned to the book of Luke - the story of Lazarus; the bleeding woman; the Roman Soldier; the father with a dead daughter; all these stories i re-read in no particular order.

But God said in my spirit, does she know Me as her personal Lord and Savior?

I truly dont know and how on earth can i possibly find that out now?

Armed with my Bible, i went to her room, pulled out a chair and sat beside her bed. I read the stories in the Bible, told her some verses in the Bible and laid hands on her. Finally, I told her about Jesus and that He is the only way, the truth and the Life and no one can come to the Father except through Him.

I prayed the prayer of acceptance and told her i know she heard me. She maybe brain dead but she has a soul and a spirit so she can see and hear me.

Of course, in those moments I spent with her, i couldnt help feeling foolish. Fear, doubt poured in but I was determined to do what God told me to do no matter what I felt.

I left her side that night assured that my efforts were not in vain.

The next day, at past 6am; 45 minutes before my shift ended, a nurse paged me. I was told that the patient expired at this certain time and she was just letting me know.

I was tired and sleep deprived after that night. What is it about Thursday nights that its always so busy??? Yet I found time to go and pray for this woman.

After hanging up the phone with the nurse, it seemed to me that God waited for me to do exactly what He wanted me to do before letting her die.

Or is it just pure coincidence?

Whatever it was, i felt a surge of relief that day. Relieved that I obeyed God no matter how absurd it sounded. I delayed but didnt deny His prompting.