Ms. Buj Devi had come to us with severe pain in the right side of her abdomen. She hailed from a village far away and had walked six hours to the road to be able to get to us. She had been a regular smoker, not uncommon among women who live in the villages of the lower Himalayas.
She was diagnosed with gallstones and inflammation of the gall bladder, a common condition in these regions. Attempts to treat her with medication did not work as her pain, discomfort and fever increased. She was extremely high risk because of her poor lung function. Nevertheless, her family insisted on being treated with us and did not want to go elsewhere. So, obtaining a high-risk consent and with prayer, our team took her into surgery. On the table, the surgeon’s eyes contracted with concern as he noticed that she was oxygen dependent and turning blue without oxygen. Nevertheless, he took up the risk and finished the removal of her gall bladder under spinal anaesthesia, avoiding the risk of general anaesthesia due to her compromised lung function. She stood the surgery well and was shifted back to the ward.
Post operatively she did not do as well as we hoped. She remained oxygen dependant and removing the oxygen even for brief periods caused her to become unstable. She continued to deteriorate and needed to be shifted to the intensive care unit where she was ventilated for the next few days. In this period she manifested signs of extreme alkalosis and lowered potassium and required careful monitoring and medications to restore equilibrium in her body. The disequilibrium had cause her to convulse and be combative.
Over the next few days, equilibrium was gradually restored, and we were able to take her off the ventilator. We were worried that the period of low oxygen might have caused irreversible damage to her brain, but this was not so. We testify to God’s amazing hand of healing, which restored her to normality without any deficit. Her husband was in faithful attendance right through. She was discharged and returned smiling and grateful to our OPD, bringing us a bottle of honey as a token of her gratitude. That was the best honey I have ever tasted.
