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Thursday, January 13, 2005
Update from Dan and Pris Gollan
What a ride!!! God has been a faithful Father throughout it and it was even in His plan to keep Pris here for a bit longer. Naturally, that didn't disappoint me. : )
We went into the hospital last Wednesday and Pris was wheeled into theater at about 13:30. I went in soon after and was there for the delivery of Elizabeth Rose Gollan (3760grams) born at 13:51. The operation was expected to last 30 minutes. I went with Elizabeth, (haven't figured out if I will call her Lizzy or Betty yet), out into the pre-op area to wait for Pris so we could go to the "wake-up room" and be there when she gained consciousness. We waited for a while and then chose to take the new bubby down to the special care unit for weighing and clothing and cuddling. I was called back up to surgery and waitedfor 20 odd minutes until the doc came out and told me tersely that Pris had been haemorrhaging severely and he needed to do a hysterectomy if she was to be saved. I thought we'd already discussed this eventuality and told him so and politely sent him back in to do his stuff. He immediately turned and walked back into theater. Over two hours had passed. I kept on waiting. An extra delivery of blood passed me in the arms of a courier. The nurses were most considerate. She continued to bleed. To complicate matters even more, in an effort to get the placenta out, a two inch incission was accidentaly made in her bladder. That needed discovering and then stitching. Over four hours later, they finally wheeled her out and immediately into ICU. The doctor wanted her "unconscious" overnight. She continued to lose blood and so they kept on giving her more. All in all, they said they had given her eight liters of fluid by 8:30 the next morning. (The body has about 5 liters of blood in it.) I spent some time with the baby feeding her and cuddling and then went back up to Pris. At 1:00, she was still bleeding. The nurses set me up in a room nearby with a fold out bed and advised I get some sleep, which I both felt like doing and didn't feel like doing at the same time. I was up again at 5:30ish and checked on Pris. I could immediately tell by the demeanor of her nurse that things weren't going well. She informed me that Pris hadn't stopped bleeding and "wasn't out of the woods yet" - to use her words. Prisherself looked pretty bad. I went away and prayed and called a few more people about the situation and then got a call at about 8:30 that Pris had stabilized, stopped bleeding and had just been taken off the ventilator (machine keeping her under and breathing for her.) She still had a mask on with oxygen being provided, but was conscious. I walked in to meet her blurry eyes with great relief and love. She stayed there in the intensive care unit for a couple of days and was then moved down to what they term a "high dependency area" in the intensive care unit. On the second day there, the docs disconnected her from some of the tubes and monitoring devices to which she was attached and we moved down into the normal maternity ward. Today, Tuesday the 11th, I left her able to walk around and sit up. She does 10 meters in under 10 seconds now! An achievement considering her pace yesterday!
Anyway, I am grateful for God's mercy to the kids and myself in giving us Priscilla. I have severe doubts that she would be alive today if we had stayed in Ukraine - good doctors notwithstanding. I praise Him for all He has done in this situation!
Elizabeth is a little cutie. What baby isn't! I have had the pleasure of changing nappies, bathing, feeding her a bottle, rocking her, dressing her, etc. etc., over this past week. I've enjoyed that.
I don't know if this will change our plans in any way concerning our return to Ukraine. I don't think it will but we have yet to talk to the docs about their opinion of long flights for Pris.
All in all, it has been a great ride and I have been grateful for God's presence, peace and grace!
Love much,
Daniel.
We went into the hospital last Wednesday and Pris was wheeled into theater at about 13:30. I went in soon after and was there for the delivery of Elizabeth Rose Gollan (3760grams) born at 13:51. The operation was expected to last 30 minutes. I went with Elizabeth, (haven't figured out if I will call her Lizzy or Betty yet), out into the pre-op area to wait for Pris so we could go to the "wake-up room" and be there when she gained consciousness. We waited for a while and then chose to take the new bubby down to the special care unit for weighing and clothing and cuddling. I was called back up to surgery and waitedfor 20 odd minutes until the doc came out and told me tersely that Pris had been haemorrhaging severely and he needed to do a hysterectomy if she was to be saved. I thought we'd already discussed this eventuality and told him so and politely sent him back in to do his stuff. He immediately turned and walked back into theater. Over two hours had passed. I kept on waiting. An extra delivery of blood passed me in the arms of a courier. The nurses were most considerate. She continued to bleed. To complicate matters even more, in an effort to get the placenta out, a two inch incission was accidentaly made in her bladder. That needed discovering and then stitching. Over four hours later, they finally wheeled her out and immediately into ICU. The doctor wanted her "unconscious" overnight. She continued to lose blood and so they kept on giving her more. All in all, they said they had given her eight liters of fluid by 8:30 the next morning. (The body has about 5 liters of blood in it.) I spent some time with the baby feeding her and cuddling and then went back up to Pris. At 1:00, she was still bleeding. The nurses set me up in a room nearby with a fold out bed and advised I get some sleep, which I both felt like doing and didn't feel like doing at the same time. I was up again at 5:30ish and checked on Pris. I could immediately tell by the demeanor of her nurse that things weren't going well. She informed me that Pris hadn't stopped bleeding and "wasn't out of the woods yet" - to use her words. Prisherself looked pretty bad. I went away and prayed and called a few more people about the situation and then got a call at about 8:30 that Pris had stabilized, stopped bleeding and had just been taken off the ventilator (machine keeping her under and breathing for her.) She still had a mask on with oxygen being provided, but was conscious. I walked in to meet her blurry eyes with great relief and love. She stayed there in the intensive care unit for a couple of days and was then moved down to what they term a "high dependency area" in the intensive care unit. On the second day there, the docs disconnected her from some of the tubes and monitoring devices to which she was attached and we moved down into the normal maternity ward. Today, Tuesday the 11th, I left her able to walk around and sit up. She does 10 meters in under 10 seconds now! An achievement considering her pace yesterday!
Anyway, I am grateful for God's mercy to the kids and myself in giving us Priscilla. I have severe doubts that she would be alive today if we had stayed in Ukraine - good doctors notwithstanding. I praise Him for all He has done in this situation!
Elizabeth is a little cutie. What baby isn't! I have had the pleasure of changing nappies, bathing, feeding her a bottle, rocking her, dressing her, etc. etc., over this past week. I've enjoyed that.
I don't know if this will change our plans in any way concerning our return to Ukraine. I don't think it will but we have yet to talk to the docs about their opinion of long flights for Pris.
All in all, it has been a great ride and I have been grateful for God's presence, peace and grace!
Love much,
Daniel.
