Monday, September 27, 2004
LIFE IN THE BALANCE....MARCH 1980
Becky and I woke early. The first thing we said to each other was, “I hear the respirator, so Warren is still with us.” We both took a lot of courage from the fact and felt God very near. A nurse came into our room with hot coffee and told us what we knew…..that he was still here, and they watched over him through the night. We went to the window and looked at the sunrise coming up over the hills and Becky said, “Mom, this is the best birthday I’ve ever had.” The day was March 27th ….the day Becky was born, 26-years ago.
We hastily dressed and went to ICU. If I didn’t know it was my husband I would not have believed it. They upped his penicillin to 16,000,000,000 units and he was getting 1300-cc’s of fluid through his IV’s. He was awake……his eyes were all red and bloodshot, his face and neck…torso, were swollen to the point of looking like a human balloon. In a human way I knew there was no hope…….but in my spirit I knew there was. Now all we could do was wait and see what God would do.
Because of his condition, the doctor’s left orders to bring in a chair for Becky and me to stay in the isolation unit. That allowed us to be with him except for eating and sleeping. It was a strange time in the hospital. It was the 2-week Reserve duty for a unit from Illinois. We came in contact with many different medical men and women…some of the ones from Illinois and some “regular Army” stationed at Leonard Wood from every part of the country. Had the Illinois folks not been there with Dr. Hopkins (nick-named Hoppy by his peers) no one would have recognized the narcotizing fasciaetis for this was in the time before it was universally known.
Every time the shifts changed, every delivery from the pharmacy department, mail from the mail room, doctors coming and going to the folks that were in maintenance and housekeeping heard about the Rosenbaum family that was going through a life and death time. Becky and I stood over his bed at times through the day, praying for Warren and the medical staff. When we ate in the cafeteria many noticed we always asked a blessing before we ate……one day a young woman came up and gave us a letter.
In the privacy of ICU we opened it to read the contents. She was from Illinois, had been in church as a girl at home but had fallen into bad habits once she was away. The amount of visitors, phone calls, our personal times of prayer….the tubs of mail received from all over the country made her realize a Christian is never alone. She had renewed her vows to God and felt we should know. She wanted to have the faith we did to stay with our loved one when all odds told them he should be dead.
Chaplain Farr came to see us several times a day. It was near Easter and he wanted us to know of the services provided by the hospital. He kept close to us the whole time…..later telling us there had been a revival in the hospital because everyone was talking about the Rosenbaum family and they were all pulling for us. News spreads fast in the hospital community and indeed, we were getting a thumbs up every time there was a shift change.
That afternoon of March 27th, Chaplain Farr asked me to come out to the waiting area. The room was full of friends from back home who all greeted us warmly, each giving their personal support. The mail room had sent boxes of letters from the children of the elementary school back home. Then Chaplain Farr sat by me and took my hand. He told me that Warren wouldn’t last through the night. His body was in a state of death, the vital organs were shutting down and I should let the family know and be aware of insurance, etc;
Because of his difficulty in telling me those things I felt an immediate sympathy for him. I wondered how many times he had to tell families their loved one could not survive…..and how he had to bear the burden of being the messenger of bad news. Life cannot be easy for chaplains, ministers or doctors. I sat stunned, of course, and then put my hand in his…..”That was hard for you to do, wasn’t it?” and his answer was “yes”………we sat there for a moment and I said, “It’s all right. God is with us all.” We wiped our eyes along with everyone in the room and he said he would have to go visit another family…..a hand squeeze and then he was gone.
Everyone walked me to the hallway of ICU and shortly the gurney came again for Warren to take him to surgery for debreeding of his stump…….he gave all of us his thumbs up, though weakly, and disappeared into the elevator. When he came back, Becky and I were alone again and sat with him way into the night.
When we went back to the guest house to sleep I did something I didn’t plan on doing. I finally told God if he would just spare Warren I would do anything necessary to take care of him….before I always prayed, in God’s will. This one prayer jumped out of my mouth from the heart that couldn’t accept his dying. I went to sleep from exhaustion and waited for God’s answer that would come in the morning………….
As we slept, church members from our home town were going to church through the night every hour to pray for us. They did that each day and night without fail…..
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
We hastily dressed and went to ICU. If I didn’t know it was my husband I would not have believed it. They upped his penicillin to 16,000,000,000 units and he was getting 1300-cc’s of fluid through his IV’s. He was awake……his eyes were all red and bloodshot, his face and neck…torso, were swollen to the point of looking like a human balloon. In a human way I knew there was no hope…….but in my spirit I knew there was. Now all we could do was wait and see what God would do.
Because of his condition, the doctor’s left orders to bring in a chair for Becky and me to stay in the isolation unit. That allowed us to be with him except for eating and sleeping. It was a strange time in the hospital. It was the 2-week Reserve duty for a unit from Illinois. We came in contact with many different medical men and women…some of the ones from Illinois and some “regular Army” stationed at Leonard Wood from every part of the country. Had the Illinois folks not been there with Dr. Hopkins (nick-named Hoppy by his peers) no one would have recognized the narcotizing fasciaetis for this was in the time before it was universally known.
Every time the shifts changed, every delivery from the pharmacy department, mail from the mail room, doctors coming and going to the folks that were in maintenance and housekeeping heard about the Rosenbaum family that was going through a life and death time. Becky and I stood over his bed at times through the day, praying for Warren and the medical staff. When we ate in the cafeteria many noticed we always asked a blessing before we ate……one day a young woman came up and gave us a letter.
In the privacy of ICU we opened it to read the contents. She was from Illinois, had been in church as a girl at home but had fallen into bad habits once she was away. The amount of visitors, phone calls, our personal times of prayer….the tubs of mail received from all over the country made her realize a Christian is never alone. She had renewed her vows to God and felt we should know. She wanted to have the faith we did to stay with our loved one when all odds told them he should be dead.
Chaplain Farr came to see us several times a day. It was near Easter and he wanted us to know of the services provided by the hospital. He kept close to us the whole time…..later telling us there had been a revival in the hospital because everyone was talking about the Rosenbaum family and they were all pulling for us. News spreads fast in the hospital community and indeed, we were getting a thumbs up every time there was a shift change.
That afternoon of March 27th, Chaplain Farr asked me to come out to the waiting area. The room was full of friends from back home who all greeted us warmly, each giving their personal support. The mail room had sent boxes of letters from the children of the elementary school back home. Then Chaplain Farr sat by me and took my hand. He told me that Warren wouldn’t last through the night. His body was in a state of death, the vital organs were shutting down and I should let the family know and be aware of insurance, etc;
Because of his difficulty in telling me those things I felt an immediate sympathy for him. I wondered how many times he had to tell families their loved one could not survive…..and how he had to bear the burden of being the messenger of bad news. Life cannot be easy for chaplains, ministers or doctors. I sat stunned, of course, and then put my hand in his…..”That was hard for you to do, wasn’t it?” and his answer was “yes”………we sat there for a moment and I said, “It’s all right. God is with us all.” We wiped our eyes along with everyone in the room and he said he would have to go visit another family…..a hand squeeze and then he was gone.
Everyone walked me to the hallway of ICU and shortly the gurney came again for Warren to take him to surgery for debreeding of his stump…….he gave all of us his thumbs up, though weakly, and disappeared into the elevator. When he came back, Becky and I were alone again and sat with him way into the night.
When we went back to the guest house to sleep I did something I didn’t plan on doing. I finally told God if he would just spare Warren I would do anything necessary to take care of him….before I always prayed, in God’s will. This one prayer jumped out of my mouth from the heart that couldn’t accept his dying. I went to sleep from exhaustion and waited for God’s answer that would come in the morning………….
As we slept, church members from our home town were going to church through the night every hour to pray for us. They did that each day and night without fail…..
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
