June’s Heart Stopped Beating..
11 June 2008, Around 2.00pm, June’s heart stopped beating…..
At about 2.45pm, I was called by the hospital and told to go there immediately.
My wife, June, underwent a surgery that morning to implant a metal rod to support her right pelvis and femur bone which had been weakened by her cancer. She already had finished surgery two and a half weeks earlier on her left femur bone. Everything was fine then.
When that phone call came, my heart sank. The worst I could assume was that she would be wheelchair bound all her life.
But these are extracts of the words of Dr Ling of University Hospital who attended to her surgery, when I reached the hospital.
“……as we were performing the cementing, (the final process in the surgery), her blood pressure dropped. In normal circumstance, it should rise back almost immediately, but, in her case, the blood pressure continued to drop. We then lost her pulse. We then performed resuscitation on her. Only after quite a long while, we managed to get her pulse back”.
That “long while” turned out to be some 36 minutes. The doctors tried, using the electrodes repeatedly on her as they continued desperately to revive her. The many electrode burnt marks which are still left on her body today bear evidence of the numerous attempts to resuscitate her. And, some 36 minutes later, they managed to detect a pulse. God breathed life back into June!
As the resuscitation took over 30 minutes, we were extremely worried about the condition of her brain and any possible partial or complete loss of memory. We then asked the doctors and they couldn’t give any promises.
Her blood pressure then was around 90 to 100 (systolic) and 55 to 60 (diastolic). Blood pressure considered as normal is 120/80. She was still fighting for her life.
At about 6pm, after placing her under close monitoring for over 2 hours at the Surgery ward, she was finally moved to the ICU. When I last checked on her at 12 midnight, her blood pressure was stabilizing at around 100/67.
The following morning at around 10.30 am, she was fully awake. She was sitting slightly reclined upright. She was totally off the respiratory machines and all the tubes had been removed. We chatted with her. She was very ALIVE (!) and chatty.
I then mentioned some names and past events to assess her memory. The first of which was of course, our daughter’s name. She recognized the name and asked how Elena was! And, she too remembered all our family members. She recalled past events mentioned to her although she did not remember recent events probably due to the heavy sedation.
By about 5.00pm on Friday, just barely over 48 hours after the incident, June was discharged from ICU.
About 6 days after her discharge from the ICU, the physiotherapist tried to get her to walk again. Due to being bed-ridden for a prolonged period, both her legs are feeble and weak. She could hardly stand up. By the fourth day of attempting, even using a walking frame, she could barely walk 1 to 2 small steps before her legs failed her. The following day, when my sister and I got in the hospital and assisted her to walk, with the support of the walking frame, June walked steadily from her bedside to the reception counter of the ward, some 25 feet distance!
On 29 June, June was discharged from the hospital.
36 minutes of her heart stopping and no blood flowing to her brain and my wife, June, not only came out full of life but with her memory fully intact! It seems that not a single brain cell had been affected! Truly, these can only be Miracles of our GOD, answered through prayers.
June is currently recuperating at home. Her legs get stronger each day. With a walking frame, she now walks around in the house a couple of times in a day for exercise. She has completed 1 week of radiotherapy on both pelvis and is undergoing oral chemotherapy to treat her cancer. The initial chemotherapy is expected to be 6 sessions, spanning over a 5 months’ period. Please continue to pray for healing of the cancer.
My wife, June, would not have made it through all these without prayers. Her fast recovery was also expedited through the wonderful support and encouragement provided by our church friends, family members and other friends. Similarly, I drew my entire strength during this period from GOD’s ever faithfulness. By his Grace, Kindness and Love, GOD has given my family back to me.
I shall always be reminded,…….
Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heaven,
Your faithfulness to the skies.(Psalm 36, Verse 5)
Joey Neoh
FGT Sri Damansara
