The subject line is a quote from Dad Sunday morning.
I had no idea I would be authorizing a craniotomy on my mission. Sister Boyack's brain continued to swell after the bleeding and it was obvious to us that she needed surgery immediately. The Church finally approved it on Wednesday, and Thursday morning they opened her skull and removed the aneurism and arteriovenous malformation and sealed her up with a tube to drain the blood. Stewart's been great to keep the parents informed all along, and arranged for her mom to come. I stayed with her at the hospital and signed all the permissions with a peculiar calmness, once the decision was made. She's had a rough time since, but is recovering well and has minimal effects from the surgery. Saturday I turned her over to her mom, who arrived Friday morning to what she termed "a nightmare." But already she is seeing improvement in her daughter and she moved yesterday to a regular room after nine days in ICU. There were a lot of miracles associated with this week:
--On the way to the ER last Saturday night I called Mark and he called his neurosurgeon friend from Rochester days, and he surprisingly recommended a neurosurgeon he had a connection with in Manila. What are the chances??
--It happened the one week in months that I didn't have meetings or responsibilities --I was just planning on doing taxes and catching up on huge stack of paperwork for the mission, so I was able to be there to reassure her, make observations and decisions and report to her family. And the nursing notes...
--It was difficult to get the Church to agree to let the surgery be performed here. I finally asked the new AMA to come to the hospital and see the situation. Then I prayed that we would get a good reference on Dr Mariano. We walked into the neuro ICU and talked to a neurologist on duty. She told the AMA that Dr Mariano is the chief of neurosurgery at both of the best hospitals in Manila and if they ever had complicated cases, they turned them over to him. She volunteered that he'd done many AVMs in the past and was the best person in the country to do it. When we walked out of ICU five minutes later, we had permission.
--The neurologist lives in our neighborhood so felt a connection with us.
--The surgery was performed the next day. The surgeon said 3-5 hours and possible blood transfusion and cited all the dangers. The surgery took less than four hours and no blood transfusions were needed. We were assigned the best anesthesiologist and pain doctor in the hospital.
--The seventh night I stayed with her in ICU because she was so easily anxious and irritated. I didn't know how I would make it through 11 hours in a freezing cold room sitting in a crooked office chair. But the hours flowed along, I got a nurse to charge my phone, and the night went amazingly fast. I felt my burdens lifted.
--Lori flew with Sister Boyack's mom, whose passport expired too soon for her to travel, to the San Francisco passport office but their flight was delayed and they arrived after closing hours. Lori talked passport control into interviewing her even though the office was closed so she could make the flight later that day. Lori had wisely requested documentation from the doctor earlier that day, and she had exactly what was needed for them to extend her passport on the spot.
Sister Boyack's brain drain came out Sunday and yesterday she was moved into another room with a couch for her mom and a bathroom and shower. They expect the recovery to be long, but she is making great progress and the doctors predict no longterm effects from the stroke.
In other news, last Monday night the Ogdens stayed with her so I could host the dinner for the missionaries I'd postponed from Sunday night after her stroke. Due to late visit from the doctor I didn't get away until late and it took forever to get a Grab from the hospital but Sister Cole and her family (who arrived that day) helped complete the dinner preparations and Stewart took the mission nurse home (who'd traveled with me to hospital) and it all worked out.
Stewart came to the hospital during the surgery but has been in the mission taking care of things while I was at hospital (which is in another mission). He's faced his own challenges with an extremely difficult situation in the mission that is coming to a head today. I prefer long nights in a chair to what he has to deal with.
I have felt, over and over this week, the Lord's sustaining influence in my life and seen it in Sister Boyack's life. I witness of His quiet but real involvement, especially in this work.
Love,
Mom
Elder Wakolo of the Area Presidency visited Sister Boyack and encouraged her, expressed the love of the presidency, and gave her a wonderful blessing.
Her mom arrives!
Photo from day 3 of ordeal when I slipped home for a few hours for dinner to introduce Sister Rigby (sent home for ankle surgery then returned 5 mo later) to Joanna (member who tutored her every day in Tagalog while she was in USA) to each other. Plus some random missionaries and Sister Cole's family, who arrived earlier that day.
Photo from angiogram. The little ink blot-looking mark on the right is where she bled. The technology is astonishing.
Zone leaders who assisted Stewart in giving blessing right before the surgery, and Sisters who visited later who are in her batch. She had the biggest smile of the week when she saw them.
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