Hanging in the balances

It wasn’t until later, actually much later, that I came to realize I had been admitted to the hospital in serious condition. Being in such a weakened condition caused me to be compliant with any and every recommendation by the medical staff; except one, which I’ll explain later.

Surrounded by the events of the day, the Emergency Room staff was convinced I was suffering from what they termed, “acute seasickness.”  So prior to being admitted to the hospital, they performed a nasogastric intubation on me, hoping to stop the vomiting and nausea. If you have ever had to endure this process you know what I mean when I say, “I hope I never have to go through that again.”  

From the gurney in the Emergency Room, I was lifted onto a gurney which would transport me to my hospital room.  It was Sunday morning by now and the halls of the hospital were uncanningly quiet. The sound of the wheels on the gurney against the cold marble floors seemed determined and calculated. In minutes, I was in my room followed by a team of nurses. No one spoke English, so in solitude, they attended to my immediate needs.

Balancing rocks along the  Malecón ~ Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

And then came a parade of doctors followed by the poking and prodding of needles...blood tests...an IV line and so on.  First in line was an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist, accompanied by two student doctors.  Gratefully, all of them were proficient in English.  One by one, they began carrying out a battery of tests. The longer they lingered in my room; the more hopeful I became.  While they were conversing back and forth in Spanish after every test or exam, Nelson and I would look at each other hoping they were going to say, “It won’t be long now...the sickness will end and you can go and enjoy the rest of your vacation.”   Unfortunately, that was not the way the conversation ended.  Instead, they seemed confused as to why nothing was working and felt the best diagnoses was an extreme case of vertigo.  

By now, it was late into the day and we were well over 24 hours since the incident on the boat. With no sign of progress after hours of medication, a multitude of exams and tests, and the intubation tube removed, an internist was called in. After consulting with the ENT, the internist felt the next step would be to rule out anything neurological.  So, their big challenge was to schedule the one and only neurologist in Puerto Vallarta. In the meantime, we waited.

The next thing I remember...I was awakened at 3:00 am by the internist. He came into the room, stood by my bed and told me the neurologist had ordered a CT to be done immediately; and that the two of them would be in later in the morning to share the results with us.

At 10:35 am on Monday, March 21, 2016, I heard the words that no one ever hopes to hear.  “We’re sorry to have to tell you this, but your brain is bleeding. The brain hemorrhage has caused a significant amount of blood on the brain.  We need to do a MRI to see how much damage has been done over the past couple of days and what our next steps need to be.”

To say the least, we were stunned as we listened to the results of the CT. Resolved to do the only thing we knew - TRUST IN GOD - we began to pray and to rally others to join us.  Here’s a Facebook post that Nelson sent out early Monday afternoon.

"Monday, March 21, 2016 - While in Puerto Vallarta, Pam got seasick on a boat trip Saturday afternoon. She has been in the hospital since then. After working through a number of symptoms, dizziness, nausea, double vision, weakness and slurred speech; they've discovered the issue is not stomach related, but brain related. The neurologist showed us this morning the CT results which revealed a hemorrhage between the cerebellum and brain. They believe the hemorrhage is the outcome of the motion sickness and all the vomiting. There was also a tumor found in the CT; which is a non issue and could have been there a long time. An MRI is necessary to know the extent of the bleeding. They advise that she cannot travel til they know all that the bleeding may be doing. Pray for Pam, she's claustrophobic and the MRI will be a little over an hour. They will use a lite anesthesia to keep her calm. The neurologist will then come to see us. We will definitely not be leaving tomorrow as planned. PRAY, that the bleeding stops."

For those of you that have been on this journey with us since that prayer request know that God did hear all of our prayers; and between the CT and the time of the MRI,  the bleeding miraculously stopped. And as you remember at the beginning of this article, I said there was one time I would not be able to comply with the doctor’s recommendation.  Well, that recommendation came as a result of the MRI.  Not only had the MRI revealed the bleeding had stopped, the MRI had also revealed an AVM (arteriovenous malformation) which required surgery to stop the bleeding permanently.  So, the doctors recommended surgery at a hospital in Mexico which was a six hour trip from where we were; however, after prayer and a lot of consideration, we decided to wait to see a neurosurgeon in the States.

With the decision not to have the surgery performed in Mexico, I was left hanging in the balances of uncertainty for what each new day might bring. And so, the journey of healing both physically and emotionally from the trauma would begin.