The Blood Patient

In our blog, March Madness, we mentioned a patient who had fainted while coming to our medical mission and we drove her to the hospital. Believe it or not, that adventure didn't stop there.

When we arrived at the hospital with our patient, Norvena, the nurses performed a blood test on her. Her  hemoglobin dropped to 40 mmol,which was very low (normal range 120-160 mmol.). 

Immediately the doctor ordered  2  units of blood to be transfused. But there was no compatible blood for her, so the doctor talked to her husband for her to be transferred to Puerto Princesa hospital. Her husband didn’t want to go, because they don’t have money. But the hospital provided a free ambulance conduction (Praise God!!) and endorsed the rest of the responsibilities to our PAMAS team. We sent Jam along as the advocate for her.

In Puerto, the situation was not treated as the emergency it should've been. It took Jam 4 days to get her, her first transfusion of blood. Everyday we were praying that God would keep her alive and stable and to spare the life of her child. God definitely blessed because she remained in stable condition until she got her first unit of blood (she needed 4 units all together). 
"After the first unit, she was already looking and feeling SOOO much better. She would say, 'I'm ready to go home now'." Jam told us. Its amazing what blood can do for a person.

When she was in stable condition and waiting for her next 3 units of blood, the Doctor  did an ultrasound to make sure the baby was still alive and healthy. What he found out was a surprise to us all!

Norvena was pregnant with twins! Both were still alive and healthy. But the babies were a little distressed so the Doctor ordered an emergency C-section. "I was there and she still had a pregnant belly. I went to get some lunch and when I came back, she no longer had a pregnant belly and there were 2 beautiful twin girls in the NICU" said Jam.

 They put IV’s on the babies and gave them antibiotics because they had Sepsis (infection in the blood). After a week, Norvena was able to received her next 3 units of blood. Then Roy headed down to Puerto to help Jam with the discharging process. Roy, Jam, and Norvena's husband were a little nervous with how much the bill would be. 

Their fear was answered by God with the help of PCSO (Philippine Charity Sweepstakes office) who took care of most of the costs! Praise God! Then they returned to the hospital to get all 3 patients discharged. Before they could discharge the twins, the nurses said that they had to be named. As is Filipino custom, Norvena asked Roy and Jam to name them. Roy looked at the twin, baby girls and said, "Let's name them Samantha and Allison." (Two VERY dignified names, if we do say so ourselves ;)  ) So after 2 weeks of being far away from home, Norvena, her husband, baby Samantha and baby Allison were discharged from the hospital.

When they returned to Brooke's, Sam met the newborn twins, Samantha and Allison, for the first time. (Allison was at HCBN at this time.) They were so tiny and adorable. Roy and Sam made sure to go to the twins house everyday for the first couple of days to check on the babies, change the mom's C-section bandage, and make sure everything was ok. Sam enjoyed bathing and feeding little Allison and Samantha. As she would hold them she would use little nicknames that she had heard her entire life (For example: Sammy, Sam, Ally, Al) and the family was like, "Those are cute nicknames for them!

"Oh, thanks. I've only had 22 years experience with the names" Sam replied ;)

When Allison returned from HCBN, we went to see the babies. There's something extra special about holding a baby that is named after you :D We were so happy that we were able to help take care of this woman and to help save her life and begin 2 more. It was truly and miraculous experience.

~Me and Her