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A Very Present Help in Time of Need
In writing about this event I find it difficult to choose what is important to include and what details to leave out. Portions of this story are fairly graphic and I apologize up front for this. I know of no other way to convey the eerie horror that my wife, Nanci and I, were in when this all happened. This is a testimony about our holy and righteous God working His merciful grace in my life. The countless moments of intimate confrontation with Him while facing this experience would take many more pages to begin to share. This story is therefore, very much condensed.
On Monday, March 9, 2009 Nanci and I were shopping for a gift at a Target store in Folsom, California . She had left the isle that I was in to look for one last item before going to the check out line. Without warning, I was doubled over with very painful cramping. It was sudden and I didn't know what to think. As soon as I could manage to stand upright I made my way to the restroom. The trip was without result, and the pain that continued was so intense that I was sick and dizzy. I was shaky and my heart was pounding. After several minutes the pain and nausea stopped. When my wife got me home I thought maybe I just needed to use the restroom and had experienced constipation earlier at the store. After trying again I looked in the toilet and was shocked to find that I was passing blood and lots of it. About fifteen minutes later the pain and nausea returned with an urgency to go. Again, I was passing blood and the onset of pain and passing blood continued in a cycle every fifteen to twenty minutes. Even when I only felt the urge to urinate, I couldn't, without passing blood through the rectum.
At the hospital ER: While being admitted a nurse made a check of my vitals which showed that my blood pressure had skyrocketed. The pain was now so intense that I was hyperventilating and going into shock. The nurse shoved a waste paper basket under my chin when suddenly I was overwhelmed with dry heaves. A doctor joined the nurse and worked at getting my vitals stable. Later, several X-rays were taken and a CT scan and a colonoscopy were performed to determine findings. The X-rays didn't reveal anything abnormal. The CT scan revealed that my heart was not the problem. The scan further revealed that a clot had formed in an artery which extends from the outgoing side of the heart down to where the artery supplies the colon with oxygenated blood to keep the colon healthy. This clot was the diagnosed cause of my condition. The colonoscopy revealed that the colon was severely ulcerated where it attaches to the stomach. A six to ten inch section of the colon was black and covered with open sores from lack of blood supply. The diagnosis was that the blood clot had formed in the artery where it feeds that area of the colon. This area of the colon was literally dying and decaying from lack of blood. The ulcerated interior surface had erupted causing the bleeding. The immediate danger was that the ulcerations could break through the outer wall of the colon and poison my entire system which in most cases would be catastrophic. For this reason, the doctor recommended surgery as soon as possible to remove the affected section of colon, eliminating the blocked section of artery. The healthy end of the colon would then be pulled up to the stomach and reattached. The risk of infection at the surgical site, or worse, contamination of the interior body from the opened colon, complications that could cause death, were now the main topics of concern that the doctors wanted us to be aware of.
I was scared! Not of dying, but for my family. I know that Jesus died for my sins. I know that He was raised to life again because His sacrifice justified me before God. My very life belongs to God. I am not afraid of death or anything that God may allow me to experience in His design for my life. What did scare me was that my family might find themselves facing the pain of losing a loved one and everything that comes with it. I knew that my family was scared! I was so weak and sick that it was all I could do to just face the pain and stay coherent. My wife was gathering all the information that the doctors were giving us and it was she who made certain that I was aware and understood everything. In my mind the facts were swirling around like a whirlwind, but in my heart, I was saying "greater is He that is in me than he that is in this world".
In Luke 12.6-7, God's word speaks of His concern for us. Our God is totally aware of us! He even knows how many hairs we have on our head. This really impacts you when you face hard places in life and the outcome is unknown. When you cry out to God, when you call on His name, no matter what comes next, He will answer you and show you how wonderfully significant you are, to Him! It was time to call on the name of a faithful God!
We told the doctor that we would like time to pray about this. The doctor said that a surgical team would be put together and would be ready for a morning surgery. I would be monitored through the night and a doctor would give me a pre-op exam at 6:00 A.M. followed by a visit from the surgical team at 7:00 A.M. Then, if we agreed, we would proceed into surgery.
Nanci, called Pastor Mike Colianno, our pastor at Amador Christian Center and requested prayer for me. Our church has a prayer chain where every member who gets the call to pray for someone, prays for the need personally and also calls someone else in the prayer chain so they too can pray and pass the word to the next member and so soon the entire prayer chain becomes aware and prays.
I know that our entire family, friends, and church family were praying for me. I too was praying but was so weak that soon I fell asleep. I awoke at 2:00 A.M. to use the restroom. This time when I looked in the toilet, there was only a small spot of blood.
I went back to bed and woke again at 5:45 A.M. I was wide awake, rested and feeling really good though I could tell I was still weak. The doctor came in at 6:00 to do the pre-op exam and was visibly surprised to see me sitting up and in good spirits. After checking me out, he asked, "when did you start feeling better"? "After my church and family began praying last night", I said. "Would you mind answering some questions from the surgical team when they come in at 7:00" he asked. "Sure, I'm up to that", I said. At 7:00 I could here the buzz of voices outside my room. Two of the doctors poked their heads in the room for a look and I smiled and said "good morning!" They smiled back and disappeared. I listened to the buzz outside for about ten more minutes and then they all filed in. Eight doctors stood around my bed with instruments and notepads. "Mind if we examine you?" they asked. "Sure, go ahead" I said. They began considerable poking around my abdomen, checking my blood pressure, my eyes, my throat, the calves of my legs, my heart beat. They would periodically look at each other and smile. Then, they had me taking deep breaths so they could listen to my lungs. They began poking my abdomen again, Does this hurt? No. Does this hurt? No. How about over here? No. They kept looking at each other, more smiles. When they were finished they filed out into the hall and I could here the buzz of their conversation for several more minutes. Finally, three of the doctors returned and said that because of the overnight improvement of my appearance and the conclusions of their exam, they believed that the clot had become dislodged and washed out into the colon. The artery had flushed the clot and was obviously healing since the bleeding had stopped. This implied that the colon might heal as well since the blood supply should now be restored.
So the doctors monitored me from Wednesday the 11th of March until Friday the 13th of March. The entire time I was not allowed to eat so that the colon was at rest. On Friday evening I was allowed to have apple juice and chicken broth. On Saturday the 14th for lunch, I was given a chicken thigh and drumstick along with mashed potatoes and gravy. The nurse said "if you don't have a disagreeable reaction to lunch, you are going home".
I said, "start my discharge papers, I'm going home"!
A 3 month follow up colonoscopy examination as scheduled to take place on June 29th 2009 to see how the healing was proceeding. The doctors wanted to make sure that the ulcers were healed, that there were no signs of cancer, no scar tissue was blocking the colon, etc.
On June 29th, 2009, the follow up colonoscopy was performed. The exam was performed by the same doctor that performed the colonoscopy on March 10th. After the procedure and I was fully awake, the doctor and his nurse talked with my wife and me in his office. "This is amazing" he said. "This is nothing less than a miracle!" He showed us the pictures taken of the inside of my colon where the damage had been. "Everything is perfect, everything is nice and pink and healthy! I have the pictures of the first exam which shows the ulcerations and discolored tissue. Something like this does not just go away and leave no trace of being there. If I had not performed the first exam and did not have the pictures to compare, I would say that the event in March never took place!" At this point the doctor's nurse spoke up and asked "did you know that you were talking in your sleep?" "No" I answered. "Yes, you did" she said. "When the doctor showed me the area where the ulcers had been, he got excited and said this is a miracle! That's when you spoke up and said to him "that's because I was being prayed for!"
I share this true account with you to give praise to our faithful loving God who calls each one of us significant. I give honor to His son Jesus through whom and in whose name this miracle took place.
Dennis
Mashburn
March 2009
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