Behind those smiles

Chapter 3 A Succession of Miracles After that critical first week, I moved on, on a day -to -day basis. Some days passed as good while others were not so good —full of emergencies and electrolytes imbalances to correct. Through it all, I continued to hold on to my faith in God, believing that my prayers had been answered. I would always sing one song or another to acknowledge how big my God is, despite the depth of my calamities and damaged organs. My pastor’s weekly visits were very encouraging, and I looked forward to those visits. He would listen attentively as I testified of God’s goodness to me throughout the week (every week had its own miracle). Then we would sing (“On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand”) and pray. My days at the ICU were filled with miracles to the amazement of my caregivers (from housekeepers to physicians). Many caregivers were converted because of the miraculous progress I was making even when they had earlier concluded that there was no hope for me and wrote me off. For example, one nursing assistant came in one morning and pointed at me as she was discussing with her colleague. She said, “If this lady is still alive, I need to know her God.” Coincidentally, she was assigned to take care of me that day. When she came to care for me, she said, “Your God is really doing some unusual miracles on you, the more the doctors say that you are dying, the more life everyone sees in you.” We talked about my faith, and she promised to visit any Seventh Day Adventist Church close to her. She actually did and is now converted. Songs kept me going throughout this period I was in the ICU, especially the hymn “On Christ the solid rock, I stand, all other ground is sinking sand” ( my theme song for this period, suggested by Pastor Erondu). I always had one song or another in my mind, and they gave me hope. My sister Ugochi and I were like Paul and Silas. We prayed and sang any time I was conscious (as I drifted in and out of anesthesia and sleep), and like it happened to Paul and Silas, the Holy Ghost came down. Though I was suffering and in excruciating pain, I was always calm and cheerful ( smiling though suffering ), to the amazement of my visitors . My prayer always was for God to continue to make a name for Himself. God showed Himself in a big way on the day that the doctors performed laminectomy and noted that the spinal cord injury was incomplete . That was significant! An incomplete spinal cord injury means that the ability of the spinal cord to convey messages to or from the brain is not completely lost . Additionally, some faint sensation and gesticulation are attainable below the site of injury. Simply stated, within the world of spinal cord injury, incomplete tells us tons and very little at the same time. It tells us that an individual does not have total paralysis or loss of sensation, that the person’s spinal cord was not completely destroyed. I was convinced at this point that God wants to use me to prove that He is not overwhelmed by the weight of our problems and will always make a way where there seems to be no way. One thing that stood out here, which should be of special note to health professionals and non professionals alike, is that no matter how severe a patient’s situation , the ear is ever ready to pick up any sound or comment. The comments caregivers and visitors to a patient make in the presence of the patient can affect the recovery or otherwise of the patient. You need to be careful what you say in the presence of a patient, even when you think he or she is unconscious . The treatment team rated me as critical or dying , and so the staff, on resumption of duty, will always appear amazed and say to each other “That lady is still alive?” or some other similarly discouraging comments. Such comments can kill the fighting spirit of patients. Well, not that of this lady! Discouraging as those comments were, I refused to be discouraged. As soon as I heard comments like that, though I could not talk, I would always utter a prayer in my mind: “Please, God, don’t let me die. I want to live to testify of your goodness.” So I am here to tell you that God answers any faithful prayer. Why don’t you draw from this faith that was small like the mustard seed and surrender all your cares to God. Try Him and be convinced like me. I was also intubated, and I did not do very well on it. Some lost hope, but my God showed up, woke me up, and revived me! God did an unusual miracle in November 2015 after the laminectomy. I came back from surgery in a really bad state. Hooked up on several machines including a ventilator, I was all swollen up with my eyes bulging out. The doctors decided not to extubate me for the fear that I might die since I could not breathe on my own. So my breathing was aided by the ventilator for six days. My sister described this period as the most delicate period of them all. She told me that when the doctors tried to wean me off the ventilator, I started to gasp for air. They all thought that I would not breathe on my own, but my God, the Great Physician, brought my breathing back; and little by little, it became stable. My husband was horrified but still anchored his faith on that solid rock, which is Jesus. I saw pain in my brother’s eyes because he was not ready to part with his immediate elder sister. Do you know that as soon as they brought me back from the back surgery (laminectomy), my husband, sister, and brother were told that it might be the day to say goodbye.