Surviving ICU

I have had to contend with asthma and lung disease most of my life.  But nothing prepared me, or my family, for the episode of acute respiratory failure that put me in Intensive Care for a month and a half. Overall, I would spend the next 100 days in the hospital. I had 5 surgeries and was put on a ventilator 3 separate times to try to keep me alive. The doctors told my husband not to expect a positive outcome. None of the doctors thought that I would live.

After the month and a half in ICU, I was transferred to a hospital in San Rafael that specializes in caring for people with severe disabilities.  They would help to wean me from the tubes and hoses that seemed to be permanently attached. I was unable to even sit up on my own. I could not speak because of tubes in my throat and it was here that I first realized the seriousness of my condition, and my limitations.

I cried at night because I couldn’t see how any good could come from all of this. I began to pray like never before. I told God that I couldn’t see what lay ahead, but I knew that He could. I held my hand in the air and asked Jesus to lead me out of this. I said, if this was a lesson for me, I needed to see it in large black and white letters, because I didn’t understand any of it. But, if all of this was a lesson for someone else, then please, let them be blessed.

One nurse told our daughter that she had never seen a church come together for anyone like ours had. Another nurse said she didn’t go to church and didn’t pray much, but she was amazed to witness the power of prayer at work. The Lord uses us in mysterious ways to the glory of His name.

Finally, after much work, it was time for me to go home!  God had answered the prayers of family and friends in other countries and across the US in a mighty way. I sat and cried for half an hour when I came into my house for the first time. To see God’s hand in my life in such a personal way was very overwhelming.

I want to thank my husband and all who sat with him day and night through the darkest days. We have been humbled beyond words by the outpouring of love and prayers from our church family.   May God richly bless you all for your love and prayers. Glory to God for His healing mercies and His promise to never leave us or forsake us. — Dee