THE GIFT-(A true story).
This true story is dedicated to
Mrs M., her family, and all the staff and volunteers that made this dream
a reality.
(The name "Mrs M." is not the patient's
real title, for the sake of confidentiality).
Sixty-six
year old, Mrs. M. was breathless, and desperately
ill. She was taken to Stratford General Hospital and admitted to the Intensive
Care Unit with severe heart failure.Five days later her condition was still unstable; so her family doctor, arranged for Mrs. M. to be transferred to the care of a cardiac specialist in London, Ontario.
Bad news arrived when Mrs. M. was told that her coronary artery disease was inoperable. Her heart was working at only twenty-six percent of normal. She was returned to Stratford to die.
Surprisingly, she did manage
to get home for a day, but had to be readmitted with heart failure.
The situation worsened as she developed a
life-threatening infection, and then kidney failure. She was not expected
to survive.
Her son, Ali, arranged for local members of her large family to pay their
last respects. Mrs. M. was born in Bangladesh
and, due to the long distance from Canada, the majority of her family were
not able to visit her.
Once again, Mrs. M. rallied, and decisions had to be made; was she fit to go home in Stratford? Her house was too small, and she would need ancillary home care. She could possibly go to a nursing home for her few remaining weeks of life.
Ali expressed his feelings openly: "It would be a gift of God if we could get her back to Bangladesh".
Mrs. M. required frequent injections of morphine, monitoring of her diabetes, bladder catheter changes, and oxygen through a tube into her nose. Ali's suggestion seemed untenable, but his thoughts were shared among the staff members of the palliative care team.
A seed had been sown!
The team decided to explore
the remote possibility of helping Mrs. M. to return
home to Bangladesh. Christine Cameron, a palliative care nurse,
volunteered to go with Mrs. M.
The team contacted British Airways and a pile of paperwork had to be completed absolving the airline of responsibility.
Oxygen was a big problem, and a local oxygen therapist spent many hours working on the specifics of her oxygen needs (on the flight, on the stopover in England, in the various ambulances, and in her native home).
Ali decided to foot the bill for everything, if it could be pulled off.
Special
supplies included catheters, needles and syringes, drugs, and oxygen.
Extra arrangements included double aeroplane seating, ambulance transfers,
stretchers and wheelchairs.
It all came together! Arrangements were finalized
for the first leg - the flight from Canada to London, England.
On the day of departure Mrs. M.
received a large dose of a diuretic, to reduce the possibility of worsening
heart failure on the flight; she also had a preliminary shot of morphine
to prevent heart failure, and to help her cope with the added stresses
of the first leg. She was also given an injection to lessen travel sickness.
Christine, her nurse, had concerns about the adequacy of flight bathroom
facilities, should Mrs. M. start to vomit. This turned out to be a non-issue
as Mrs. M. slept all seven hours on the way to England.
They stayed in a London
airport hotel for eight hours before the connecting
flight to Delhi.
The flight to Delhi took another nine
hours, and a stopover of two hours
was needed in Dacca. They arrived in Dacca at 4 p.m.
The ambulance to Sylhet, in northeastern Bangladesh, was a swerving, chilling,
potholed drive of another eight hours.
The ensuing days were spent
educating Mrs. M's family on her special needs
at her family home. It was no mean feat teaching the local residents to
administer morphine and insulin injections, and changing Mrs. M's
catheter.
As a gesture of gratitude, Christine was guided around the local hospital at Sylhet. It was an eye-opener to visit the operating room to find that nothing was wasted; items that would be considered disposable in North America were reused many times. Christine became re-educated herself on the needs of the people of Bangladesh, and the comparative wastfulness of our western civilisation.
The people were extraordinarily gracious to Christine, and she even
gave a talk to the local chapter of the Kiwanis Club!
As for Mrs. M, at the time of writing, she is still enjoying
the loving care of her own family in her ancestral birth place. Nobody
can predict how long she will survive, but we do know that it will be amongst
her dearest relatives, in a caring environment, and in spiritual
peace.
ADDENDUM: The one-way trip took about 36 hrs, and covered approximately 8,000 miles.
 |  |  |
|
|
|
|
Copyright © 1996, David Williams - 10/10/96