A Belated Thankgiving

Originally written on August 09, 2007 12:43 PM

July 2007 is a special month for me.  I encountered the closest a-brush-with-death experience yet...

On the evening of 8th of July, after I finished my work, around 8:30pm, my stomach didn't felt very good.  I didn't give it a much thought, thinking it's just some stomachache caused by indigestion.  After dinner the stomachache still didn't went away.  Hubby wanted to take me to clinic.  However, I insisted I'll be ok, there is nothing to worry about.  Since the pain was in lower left abdominal area, we ruled out the pain was caused by appendicitis.  During the night, I had been waken up by the pain several times.

The next day the stomachache still hadn't lessen.  I took an MC leave and let hubby drove me to clinic for check-up.  Well, the doctor didn't came out with any contradictory diagnosis.  She also suspected the stomachache might caused by indigestion.  After obtained the prescribed medicine, I went back home and hubby went to work.  I slept for the whole day until hubby came back home from work at around 6pm.  During that time, the pain became more severed.  I began to had a severe, sharp and sudden pain at the middle of the lower abdominal area.  At the beginning, I also had a mild cramping sensation at the right side of my abdominal.  Towards the evening, the cramping became more severe until I can't even lay down without cramping.  I also fainted during the day.  For how long, I have no idea.  My guess is, shouldn't be more than a few minutes.  When hubby came back and saw my condition, he insisted to drive me to clinic again.  This time I didn't protested.  While leaving home, once again I fainted.  After a few minutes, I regained my conscious and went to the clinic.

At the clinic, after accessed my conditions, the doctor advised us to go to the hospital immediately.  Then she proceeded to write a recommendation letter stating that this is an emergency case.  She recommended us to go to Gleneagles.  However, since Tawakal is closer, hubby planned to take me to Tawakal instead.  While getting into the car, a church mate was passed by, therefore, hubby immediately requested for her help to accompany us to hospital.  On the way to the hospital, hubby remembered we got a friend working at GH.  After gave her a call and asked her advice, she advised us to go to GH and furthermore, her shift would be over soon and she can help out.  Thus, we changed our direction to GH.

At the hospital, although we had letter from the doctor, I still had to wait around half an hour for my turn to see the doctor.  During that time, I could saw that hubby was very nervous about the whole ordeal.  All I did at that time, was tried to relax and braced myself for the next wave of cramping.  Finally, it was my turn.  After a brief check up, I was wheeled into a lab to had my blood and urine taken for further check up.  Luckily, my friend who works at GH was there to help up.  I think because of her, my check up had been speeded up considerably.

After the check up, I was diagnosed with ectopic pregnancy.  I also had internal bleeding as the area of the ectopic pregnancy ruptured.  To stop blood loss, a surgery was required immediately.  According to hubby, I was in the operation room for about 4 hours.  He waited outside the operation room until around 3am.  During the surgery, I was given anesthesia which put me into a deep sleep.  I had no recollections about anything happening in the operation room.

The next morning, I had been told by the doctor that final diagnosis of my condition is rupture of left fallopian tube caused by ectopic pregnancy.  I also had loss a total of 1.2L of blood.  My nurse friend also told us that the operation that I gone through is a major surgery.  To spare us the worry, she didn't told us before the surgery.

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An afterthought...

Through this ordeal, once again I experienced the grace and love of our Heavenly Father.  Moreover, there are a lot of things that I am thankful for His grace and mercy.

I'm thankful that this ordeal didn't occurred any time sooner:  Should it happened during my trip to Sipadan, which was a week before, I can't imagine the situation.

I'm thankful that He sent a lot of angels to help us:  For the friend who just happened to pass by our car.  For friend who works at GH.  For doctors and nurses who diagnosed and operated me.  For my mother-in-law who endured 4 hours of bus ride, at the moment of notice, just to make sure that I'm ok.  For my own parents and relatives, although they can't physically be there, they showed their loves and supports thru constant phone calls.  For all the brothers and sisters, Catholics and Protestants alike, who prayed for me or visited me at the hospital or at home.  Most of all, for my caring and loving husband, who takes care of all my meals while I recuperate.

I'm thankful that He helped hubby to make a right decision to send me to GH:  Should I admitted to any private hospital, its blood bank may not has enough supplies of blood to fulfill my need.  Furthermore, we might not be able to afford the medical cost as ectopic pregnancy is not a disease, thus it's not covered by insurance.

I'm thankful that with the help of the Father, I'm able to go through this without fear:  Actually, I'm quite amazed at myself.  Even in pain, while I still didn't knew what happened to me or in the operation room waiting to be operate, I felt peaceful at all time.  I might not knew the outcome, but one thing I knew with certainty, is that I going to be ok.  I still remember the only prayer I made was, "Lord, could it be less painful".

I'm thankful that He help me to heal both physically and spiritually:  I can't help feeling sad whenever I think of our would-be child, (Catholic believed life begins at the moment of conception).  However, I feel better, knowing that our little Joseph is in the hand of our loving Father...