My Brush With Death--I Believe in Miracles!

This week has been quite sobering for me! Ten years ago, I almost died. One day I was fine; the next day I was on death’s door. Life is a gift! Treasure it! This event was a turning point in my life!

January 9, 2009, Jim and I were serving at the Church Museum on our Mission in downtown SLC when I became ill with a severe stomach ache. I went home and went to bed…for 24 hours, and I barely moved. Jim finally insisted that we go to the hospital. He would call for an ambulance, or I could walk to the car. I opted to walk. I was too sick to be aware of how ill I really was. I thank God for Jim following his strong spiritual promptings to take action and get me some medical help! It took 25 min. for him to drive to Intermountain Hospital in Murray, Utah. He had been in communication with Lisa, and she met us at the ER. I was unconscious by the time we arrived. It was 11:30 PM. I don’t remember anything else until five days later.

From what I am told, things moved quickly when we got to Emergency. I guess my heart stopped because they put the probes on me twice. They thought I was having a heart attack. I was not conscious so they put me in an induced coma and took me to the ICU unit to run all kinds of tests.

The doctors updated our family daily as they sat in a circle in a room next to my room. They told the family to call our kids in Boise to come quickly; it looked serious enough that they didn’t think I was going to live! Susan, David, and Natalie came immediately from Boise by car. My doctor, Dr. Goddard, was the best in the country, and he was only put on the most serious of cases. I had Sepsis (Septic Shock) and Strep A in my blood. They determined that I had some kidney stones stuck in the tubes leading to the bladder as I wasn’t passing any urine.  They petitioned Dr. Scott Putman, Urologist. It was Sunday night, and he was on-call. He removed the two stones, one of which was infected with Strep A and put stints in the kidneys. It was very serious surgery. Dr. Putman saved my life. (When I went to Dr. Putman’s office six weeks later, he didn’t recognize me. I told him that he had saved my life on January 12^th. He looked at me, then cautiously said, “Wow! I never expected to see you alive again!” My chances of surviving were only 15%! That is, 15% that I would live! I found out later that IHC is #1 in the country for treating sepsis patients and help them survive.)

Hundreds of people prayed for me from the Boise First Ward to Daybreak 2^nd to Crescent View 28^th to Boise First Ward to friends at the Museum. And, with the help of Kaleb, my name was put on the Prayer Rolls of 20 temples around the world. Finally, the doctor told my husband and kids that it was now up to me to pull through this. They had done everything they could. My children told the medical staff at the hospital that their mom was a survivor! I was heavily drugged. I had a ventilator down my throat to breathe. I was constrained to the bed and had tubes everywhere imaginable in me. A pick line ran to my heart. By Wednesday, I finally started to be a tiny bit conscious, but I couldn’t figure out where I was. At first, I thought I was dead or dying. I was so out of it! No one talked directly to me, only to each other and the medical staff. Drugs are dreadful. I hallucinated so many horrible things. At night, I imagined that people were sneaking around my bed and were going to stab me with a knife! (They were only taking vital signs.)

Susan told me how she and 16-year-old Jordan stood by my bed one night and massaged my feet and hands. She told me that Julie Hughes’ mother had had Sepsis and lost her fingers and toes because of the lack of circulation. Susan noticed my hands and feet were gray. That meant that the blood was going to my vital organs to keep me alive. She immediately asked permission from the nurses for her and Jordan (he wanted to help) to gently massage my feet and hands during the night to bring needed warmth and circulation to them.  Often when I look at my hands, I think of their great gift to me! Thank you!

One morning, I suddenly heard medical people talking at the head of my bed, “Should we pull the plug now?” I thought I was hooked up to a life-support machine, and when they pulled the plug, I would die! After they pulled out the respirator tube, I was so drugged that I thought my own family was my enemy. It was crazy. My kids tried to reason with me and finally told me what had happened. It was absolutely nuts and unbelievable to me. I have always considered myself to be a very strong person, and here I was helpless and felt like I was going crazy besides! I even turned against my Jim. It’s such a bad memory, and I have asked him to forgive me for those rejections time and time again. They had given me powerful drugs to keep me alive, and then I had trouble withdrawing from them! I was told many times that I nearly died!

Jill and Lisa were so wonderful to stay with me and buoy me up. I know they were frustrated because I said weird things!  They took time from their families and jobs to be with me. Brian worked from the hospital. They told me he set up a blog and updated it everyday so people could know what was happening with me. David could only stay for a day or so and had to get back to work. I wasn’t alert when he was there, so didn’t see him. Some of my sweet little grandkids came to the hospital, and I was told they were very frightened when they saw me! Natalie stayed as well. Thank you all. I was in the hospital for ten days before I was released to come home. I don’t know how Jim got through it. Stress is very hard on Diabetics! Natalie told me later that when Dr. Goddard told him and Brian how serious my condition was, that he broke down and cried. He doesn’t show his emotions much (only when he is watching BYU football, & they’re losing!)😊

I was told to take my blood pressure every day after I returned home. If it went below 90, Jim was to take me immediately to ER as the Strep A had likely returned! People in our ward were kind, especially our Bishop Gustofsen who we had not known very well before this happened. One morning about 11, I took my blood pressure and it was 85. We rushed to the hospital in the car. Half way there, Jim’s cell phone rang. It was in the middle of a workday, and it was Bishop Gustofsen! “What’s going on?” he asked Jim. I was in his prayers and thoughts. If I had had a call from the Lord, himself, I knew at that moment that my Savior knew me through this kind servant/Bishop and was with me and blessing me. I will never forget that call.

In all, during 2009-2010, I had four different surgeries on my right kidney during which Dr. Putman removed 19 kidney stones. Unbelievable! Because two unreachable stones were embedded in my kidney, I had numerous UTIs (urinary tract infections). I have been on low-grade antibiotics since then to control that!

I will probably never get my complete strength back. This took such a real hit on my system, but I am alive!! I survived. I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, my great family and all my blessings. I believe in miracles! God hears and answers prayers! I am so grateful to the Lord for preserving my life for a little while longer on this earth. I am grateful for my wonderful husband. He literally saved my life! Unbelievably, this experience happened ten years ago. It was truly a defining moment in my life!      Memories of Carol Ann Shepherd 1-9-19