| Miracles Never Cease PART III, By: Donna Eaton On Friday March 22, 1996 at 1130 PM. our fears happened again. My sister called me and said Robert was having a bad seizure again. I now live on the same road with them. I went down there mama met me at the door and said the ambulance had past the road, so I went to look for them and finally got them to the house. I ran in the room and it was just like before. Robert was in a seizure shaking the bed and the room. All of a sudden he quit breathing; I was so scared the paramedics were trying to get him off the bed on the stretcher, when he quit breathing his left arm went limp. The paramedics told me to shake his chest to keep him breathing until they could get him out of the bed. They got him in the ambulance They had to breathe for him with a pump. They got him to Lexington Memorial Hospital there they got him out of the seizure. The doctor came out asking questions, we told him about the abscess Robert had before and that he was the same then as now. They did a brain scan and said they didn't see anything wrong. They were going to put him in ICU and up his seizure medicine. Mama told them she wanted him taken to the Baptist Hospital in Winston Salem because they knew all about him from before. They sent him there we told the doctors the story again and they did a spinal tap. After four hours the doctors came out and said Robert was a very sick boy. They said they would do all they could but it was up to God. I'm very happy those doctors still encourage people to pray and have faith. Robert had a fever of 105, he couldn't breath on his own, and he was on total life support. He also has spinal meningitis, his brain and spinal cord fluids are total infection. They said it didn't look good for him. Later that day they told us he had lung shock. His lungs wouldn't accept oxygen. The membranes of his lungs were deteriorating that was causing fluid to build up and he now has phenomena. His body wasn't getting any oxygen. Then they came back later and said he had suffered a heart attack sometime the night before. We were all drained we had not slept at all. The day was so long just watching for his doctors to come back. They finally let us go in and see him, we had to wear gowns and mask, because of the infection that he had. He looked very bad, he had so much fluid going into him, and he looked twice his size. He had a nurse that stayed round the clock with him, His name was June, and He was from the Philippines. He took very good care of Robert; he kept him shaved and clean. For a few days we thought that June was one of Robert’s doctors, everything we asked him, he knew the answer too. He was a very good person and very kind to us. We probably drove him crazy asking him so many questions but he didn’t seem to mind. The doctors came back the next morning and told us that blood pressure would not stay up on its own. They had used several types of medicine; it would work for a while and then stop working. They only had two more types left to try. If these failed Robert would die. The whole family stayed in the waiting room around the clock and they were a lot of us, I have two sisters that stayed too. One has three kids and I have two but we managed, Our husbands stayed until Robert was stable. Someone had to work, And they were very worried about us while they were away. They were afraid they would be gone if the worst happened, when we would need them the most. There were a lot of families there. We made beds in the floors at night. Some of them sewed quit blocks, some crocheted, some read books, and some of us just talked to pass the time. All of us had family that was critical. It was hard at first going into a room that was full of people that all knew each other and you didn’t know anybody. You felt like an intruder but it didn’t take long till you knew everyone there. Some of the families felt like you knew them all of your life. There was one family that was there with us, they were the Stanley family (I think) from Mt. Airy. Their father was in ICU too. The mother and the sisters stayed round the clock, this was a very sweet family. They were very down to earth. We loved them as our own family. Their father died while we were there. We all felt their pain. But they were a good Christian family and their father is in Heaven now. That gave them comfort the most. I wish I had gotten their address but I didn’t. The next day the doctors came in and ask us if Robert had taken any drugs (Illegal) because his heart was twice the size it should be. We told him that Robert’s only problem was eating too much, because he could not tell when he was full. They said that they had found cocaine in his urine. This floored the whole family; we knew that had to be a mistake. No one in our family had ever taken any drugs like that. We knew for a fact that Robert has not taken any drugs or drank any alcohol sense the wreck. They said that the only thing that could make his heart enlarge that fast. Then we thought that someone might have given him some, but then we knew that no one had been there to see him. Robert was getting worse by the day, they didn't expect him to live another day. For two days different doctors kept coming in asking about the drugs. I never believed he had taken any. I was getting angrier by the minute, I started crying and told the doctors, "look my brother had not ever taken cocaine, He had no friends to bring it to him, he was like a child, and he was very protected by his family. And he had been through to much to die with a reputation of being a drug addict. So you better find something else that caused the problem. If there was cocaine in his blood then Lexington Hospital must have gave it to him before they sent him to you. They the doctor said that they didn't really find it in his urine but they knew we wouldn't tell them if they hadn't said that. And this is a life and death situation. I didn't know weather to be mad that they lied or to be happy that no one had given him any. They said they had Robert paralyzed so he would not feel any pain. We were relieved that he was not suffering at all. On Monday night the doctors said they were going to take Robert off that drug and let him wake up, so they could see if he could breathe on his own, and see if he had any more brain damage. He should wake up in the night and they would let us know if he did. On Tuesday he had not woken up yet. His doctor told us that he never expected Robert to wake up. He said they usually do not leave people on life support this long without legal papers signed; But Robert was so young that they were not going to give up on him yet. He told us that if Robert did wake up they expected server brain damage because of the lack of oxygen going to his brain. Later that night the doctor came in and took us to a room. We knew it was bad. He said that Robert was brain dead, this tore me apart. I had been praying a lot, and I have a lot of faith but something inside told me that Robert was not going to pull through it this time. My Mother and sisters said the same thing. I felt like Robert had been through so much that the Lord wanted to bring him home. We all had faith and we prayed everyday. A lot of people told me that we had no faith and that we had given up this really hurt me. I told them that I knew if God wanted Robert to get up out of that bed he would right now. Our Preacher came to the hospital everyday to check on us and Robert. We would sit and talk to him about our feelings and our faith. He really didn't think Robert would make it either, and he said that we should be thankful that God let us have him for this long. The doctors told us that on Thursday they would have to take Robert off life support. Well on Thursday morning they did, and then they moved him to the fourth floor ICU. My sister came out from seeing him and told me that every time she would talk to him, she would see him move around. My hopes had been up and down so much that I could not take any false hopes from her. I just thought that she was seeing what she wanted to see. I went in to see him and I said Robert its Donna and he shook his head, I nearly fainted. Mama and my stepfather came in and he knew them to. He couldn't speak to us for his tubes in his throat, but he was awake, and he knew everybody. His eyes were taped shut; they were swelled so badly from the fever and fluids that the clear skin on his eyes was hanging out below the sockets. He looked very bad but he was not brain dead like they said. He was breathing on his own, his blood pressure was holding, and his infection was clearing up good the nurse said. Everyone was so shocked, the room was full of doctors, nurses, family he had fifteen specialists of his own they were all very surprised. No one could believe it. I ran up to the fifth floor waiting room to tell everyone. The whole waiting room was cheering and crying. It was another miracle again. THANK GOD! Then later on that day I was told not to get my hopes up, this might be the calm before the storm. My hopes were so high that nothing anyone could say would bring them down. Every day he just kept improving better and better each day. He got out of ICU in a week. He was put in a regular room. They found that the bone that was put in his head in 1981 was deteriorating and was infected, that caused the brain to become infected too. He was going to have to go through surgery again on his head. They did the surgery and found that a sinus cavity was not repaired the other times he had surgery and that it was between the bone and the brain also causing the infection. They said that half of his brain was black and dead they took that part out too. They put in a new material that they could mold to his skull and replace the part of the skull that was missing. They said there was a chance that he may never have seizures again. Time would tell. Robert was in the hospital a total of twenty five days. He lost over a hundred pounds while he was there. My mother never left the hospital, not one time in the twenty-five days, she never does. Her children were always her life and she always put us first before anybody. We were finally going home. We met a lot of people while we were there. We were all just like family we supported each other through all, and we were going to miss them too! WE also had a lot of family to come to the hospital to see us they would bring us food and anything we needed. It really cost a lot for meals in the hospital and the price of parking in the decks would break you alone. We have a friend of the family that is a preacher; he has always come to our needs too! His name is Harold Cox. I remember one time before when Robert was in the hospital, he was in a coma and a little boy was in the bed beside him was brain dead. Harold went in the room and prayed for them for over forty minutes. Believe it or not the next morning both of them woke up and knew everybody too! I know God hears his prayers. He is a good man and a good Christian. Our preacher was also there for us everyday too, he also is a good Christian and a good preacher too; hi s name is Myers Tilley. We could never thank them enough for all they've done. We thank God for them and pray God will bless them. While we were there, a friend of mine from works wife was there, they were there the whole time Robert was. Their names are Jesse and Shirley Lanning. They were a lot of support for us. Shirley had a lot of surgeries that year on her leg, and Jesse had a couple of heart attacks. He also had a hurt back and went through a lot of surgeries too. But they said they was ashamed to even grown about their pain. It was nothing compared to what my brother had been through. But they had faith in God and knew he was with them and Robert. Our preacher was so happy about Robert that he told the church, for weeks, about all the miracles God has done for him. Robert is home now and he is doing great. I hope this true story will show the unbelievers that there is a merciful God, and miracles are happening everyday. All you have to do is believe. I thank God everyday for all he has done for my family. Robert is doing well and things are getting back to normal now a little too normal sometime. I feel so sad for him sometimes. He has plenty of love but not much of a life. I wrote a poem about him too! It is on the end of this story. |
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