"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
That was never truer for me than last night. I didn't sleep well yesterday after my night shift Saturday night, and although I tried to nap, it just wasn't happening. So half an hour before shift I felt horrible, and had no idea how I would make it through the 12 hour night shift that loomed before me. I went out onto the dock thinking some fresh air might help a bit. My roommate Erika was out there and we talked a bit. I shared how I was feeling about the upcoming shift and about my tiredness, etc. We prayed and I asked God for His strength for the night.
I certainly needed those prayers. I had two patients on tube feedings, and a couple preoperative patients. It was a fine evening although steady and busy, The night was going well, until about 2:30 am, when one of my little patients started having a really bad headache. I was a little worried about that because he'd had no pain for days, and to wake up crying with a headache is not usual. I checked his vital signs. His heart rate was quite low for a kid. I kept monitoring him just in case and it dropped even lower. He was breathing really quickly too. I called the doctor and he came and did an ECG, which was normal. The plan was to continue to monitor him and treat him if something came up. About 15 minutes after the doctor left, my little friend started to stop breathing for about 20 seconds and then take 5 or 6 short shallow breaths and stop breathing again. That’s when I knew I had to get Dr. Gary to come and see him.
This little guy had an encephalocele repair a few weeks ago. An encephalocele is a neural tube defect, where part of your brain protrudes through your forehead. It’s quite a complicated surgery to do, with a lot of risks, but without surgery the likelihood of death at a young age is quite high.
Anyway, Dr. Gary drained some CSF off his brain and he began to stabilize. It took about 3 hours from the time he first had the headache until I felt he was stable enough for me to leave his bedside with a continuous monitor on him to alert me of any problems. Please pray for this little guy. He still has a long way to go, and we only have a short time to get him stable before the ship leaves!
At 5:45 am I still had two tube feeds to do and a couple preoperative patients to get ready for surgery before 7 am. I didn’t finish until 8 am, but I finished well! My patients were all alive and well. God certainly taught me again that his power is sufficient for me! I truly couldn’t have made it through last night on my own strength. It was all God!
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