| HEALING |
INTEGRATIVE
HEALING
The Miracle of Prayer in Modern Medicine by Gloria Davis It was no different than so many other cardiac cases but for the fact that this particular 59-year-old male patient seemed too young and healthy for bypass surgery. Nevertheless, as I took over the anesthesia care, I was told that his left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) had a high degree of occlusion. The LAD, the main artery to the left ventricle, is responsible for pumping blood to the entire body. Something in me whispered, "He is going to die." My rational brain responded, "That's insane...this man is healthy, he has no damage to his heart; he will simply fly off bypass." The scrub tech had yet to prepare the chest with betadine or apply the sterile drapes, but already I found myself hyperviligant. The anesthesiologist in charge of the case came in to stand by me, but was engaged in conversation with a supervisor. Suddenly the patient's blood pressure shot up to 280 mg. systolic and his heart rate to well over 200 contractions a minute. I heard myself exclaim, "I don't like this!!!!" It was the final great effort of a heart about to die. Within moments, the patient's blood pressure was 50/30 and his electrocardiogram showed a dying heart. The anesthesiologist quickly assessed the rhythm and determined that the patient was in electrical-mechanical dissociation, whereby electricity continues to be conducted through the heart, but the ventricles do not respond with contractions. The anesthesiologist instantly ran to the patient's side and began chest compressions. I immediately directed the team to prep the chest and call the technicians to bring in the heart-lung machine. Our only hope for the patient's survival lay in our ability to quickly oxygenate and perfuse his organs. All this takes time, and time stood still for 20 minutes until the patient was safely on the heart-lung bypass machine. Heart into his hands As these preparations were made, the anesthesiologist continued to compress the chest, doing so as the sternum was split with a large electric saw. The pericardium was opened to reveal the heart. At that point, the surgeon reached into the pericardial sac and took the heart into his hands. As he began to squeeze, he forced blood into the periphery of the body, perfusing both the organs and the brain. He continued with these efforts as the surgeon worked to insert tubes into the right atrium and the ascending aorta to direct the blood into the bypass machine where it would be oxygenated and returned to the patient. There were moments when the systolic blood pressure dropped as low as 30 mg., not enough perfusion to sustain brain function. When the patient was safely perfused, the anesthesiologist slipped out of the room to speak with the family. It was his mission to explain that the blood pressure had been too low to sustain organ function. The family was told that because if the blood pressure had not been high enough to adequately oxygenate the patient, he would be brain dead and that most likely he would go into multi-system failure and die within a few days. From a surgical standpoint the bypass graft to the LAD was a success, but the patient's prognosis remained critical as the brain and organs had not been adequately profused for 30 minutes. Typically brain function is irreversibly damaged after five minutes of poor circulation. Three hours after hearing the first report, the family was again notified that because of the initial crisis there was essentially no hope for recovery. Pray for recovery As I prepared to move the patient from the operating room table to his bed for transfer to the Intensive Care Unit, I again heard an inexplicable message, "Put your hand on him and pray for his recovery." In my mind, the damage was done, irreversible...and as much as I believe that there is an unseen power that intervenes in our lives, I could not conceive that my micro-moment of faith would gather the forces required to restore this man to normalcy. It is said, however, that a miracle requires only a nanosecond of belief in union with obedience. With that thought in mind I allowed my hands to be guided to rest on the patient's neck and the back of his head. For one moment, I paused in that hectic environment and I commended the results to God. Over time, our emotions weary of the toll of accumulated sadness. We begin to lose passion as we methodically race death to the finish line. Still, that night, I felt restless, unsettled. The next day I sought out the surgeon and immediately inquired about the patient's condition. His response startled me. "The patient woke up. He is normal." Tears burst from my eyes as I confessed to having prayed for his recovery. Bowing his head, the surgeon quietly admitted that he had done the same. The next Sunday I went to visit the church where my husband had pastored. I asked if I might speak. Introducing the subject, I stated that years ago a speaker at our church had mentioned that we need to establish monuments to events in our lives in which the divine inexplicably intervenes. I briefly told the story of this patient's remarkable recovery. I was not prepared for what happened next. A lady stood to comment. "Glo has just told you the story of my husband's best friend. Do you remember last Sunday when I asked you to pray for a friend who was going in for cardiac bypass surgery? This is the man for whom you all prayed." A collective gasp went up from the congregation. At our hospital there are over 53 operating rooms and 25 procedure rooms that are covered by anesthesia. I could have been assigned to any one those rooms. How remarkable that I had been placed at that moment in that particular OR. It was with no surprise that I was told a few months later that this patient had fully resumed a normal lifestyle with no residual effects. I bear witness As a nurse anesthetist at a world-renowned medical center, I bear witness to the many miracles that occur within my cubicle behind the drapes. It is here that I have often observed and been moved by immediate results of prayer in a crisis situation. Miracles come wrapped in inexplicable reversals of supposedly natural outcomes. The case above is not unique in its testament to the power of the universe at work in our everyday lives. Months later, I relieved on a cardiac case. The aortic valve replacement had been finished for three hours, but the surgical team was unable to close the incision because of profound bleeding. Our hospital is one the best in the world; consequently we have at our immediate disposal every product conceivable that will assist the clotting mechanism. Nothing was working. To replace the aortic valve, this 80-year-old patient had been placed on the bypass machine so the heart would remain quiet for suturing. Now, for the third time, he was placed back on the heart-lung machine so the surgeon might once again attempt to suture small bleeding points. We did not expect his heart to recover from another assault. During bypass, the heart is given large doses of electrolytes and ice-cold water, which stuns the heart muscle and stops the conduction of electrical current. Repeated bypass procedures endanger the conduction and contraction capacity of the heart muscle or myocardium to recover. For the third time, this older gentleman was taken off bypass. Remarkably, he had no significant drop in his perfusion pressure. While that encouraged us, we were left with the dilemma of continued bleeding. There were no more discrete bleeding points to suture or to cauterize: there was simply a generalized ooze. Praying for a miracle Finally we received a call from the floor nurse stating that the family requested an update. I knew the surgeon had given up when he responded in complete candor. "Tell the family that the surgery was completed hours ago, that we simply cannot stop the bleeding." It was beyond our best efforts. From out of nowhere I saw an image of the family kneeling in prayer. Moments later the surgeon exclaimed, "What happened? There is no bleeding?!? What did we do? We have done nothing differently." I responded, "The family has knelt with the chaplain and is right now praying for a miracle." I have never seen the end of a cardiac case in which the chest cavity did not ooze to some degree. Always the bone edges, where the sternum has been cut, will ooze. Because of the destruction of blood clotting factors in the bypass machine, there is also generalized oozing that is typically stopped by approximating the bone and skin edges and by applying pressure. This chest was different. It was as if a faucet running full blast had been suddenly and completely shut off. Because blood invariably pools by gravity in the posterior chest cavity, the surgeon lifted the heart to look under it for blood. Unbelievably, it was completely dry. The patient arrived in the Intensive Care Unit with vital signs completely stable. A nurse approached the surgeon, a confused look on her face. "The family was here a bit ago, but they have disappeared. I don't know where to find them." The surgeon looked at me with a grin and then turned to the nurse, "Trust me on this one, they are in the chapel." With great delight Such stories occur regularly, but our observation and appreciation of them becomes dulled. It is with great delight that I hear reports from others who have become alert to the inexplicable. A co-worker told me this story from neurosurgery: Donna, a fellow anesthetist, went to visit a patient prior to her operation for a brain tumor. Donna visited with the patient, a highly intelligent professional, then silently prayed for her safety during the procedure. During the case, the patient's bleeding increased until the surgeon could no longer control it through ligation or cauterization. Fortunately, these incidents are rare but when the bleeding is within the brain the results are frequently disastrous. In an act of final desperation, the surgeon took the swollen brain tissue from the patient's temporal lobe, excised a significant portion, then wrapped up the case, stating that if the patient was not dead within a few days, her mental capacity would be severely impaired. The next day, Donna had a few moments between cases, so she decided to slip up to the Neuro Intensive Care Unit to see if her patient was still alive. As she approached the room, Donna listened for the sounds of the mechanical ventilator. When there were no sounds of the patient being artificially ventilated, Donna was certain that she had already expired. As she entered the room, the sound of laughter floated from the other side of the curtain. Donna Immediately assumed that a team of orderlies was cleaning the room and changing the sheets for the next patient. In spite of an intense belief in the power of prayer, Donna was startled by a welcoming hello as she peered behind the drapes. A vibrant woman, head wrap intact and face aglow greeted her. "Donna, let me introduce you to my husband." And so it was that this grateful couple inquired about the surgery and the surgeon's grave words. Donna cautiously suggested that the patient had been in a crisis situation and must be grateful for the power of prayer. A relieved look of understanding and awe crossed their faces... and a look of absolute gratitude ...for life...together, and for memory intact. Soul and spirit For 300 years, Western science has assigned the soul and spirit to oblivion. These parts of ourselves have been considered a fantasy conceived by ancient man to explain natural phenomena. In keeping with this "science," the profession of medicine became increasingly analytical and technical in its approach. There have been breathtaking advancements in diagnosis, prevention and containment of the disease process. The medical community has worked it's own "miracles" in the treatment and restoration of traumatic injuries. Yet, "healing" has been incomplete. Native Americans have long believed that to be healed was to go beyond the cure and to live at peace and in union with the Great Spirit. To be healed was to live and to die without fear. Now, in our modern society, a monumental shift has begun. Validated by persuasive research and solid evidence that there is an undeniable alliance between the mind and the body, many physicians and scientists attest to the synergistic effect of the psyche and the spirit in expanding or attenuating our bodies' remarkable abilities to restore and sustain health. Dr. Larry Dossey is a well-known speaker and author, and one of a growing cadre of respected physicians who acknowledge and document the seamless interaction of body, mind, spirit and psyche. He speaks to this issue: "I used to believe that we must choose between science and reason on one hand, and spirituality on the other. Now I consider this a false choice. We must recover the sense of sacredness, not just in science, but in every area of life." Dr. Dossey has been at the forefront of research in exploring evidence that affirms the reality of distant healing and the efficacy of intercessory prayer. He has cited extensive and convincing empirical data showing that the act of prayer can greatly affect the practice of medicine. He explains, in his lectures and his books, that growing evidence supports the thesis that our minds exist as a part of the universal mind, unburdened by time or space. It is this mind, omnipresent, infinite and eternal, that co-creates with God. The miraculous, inexplicable events seen on a regular basis in the practice of medicine can be attributed to the explosive power of this union of man's spirit with that of the creator. It is an ever-expanding group of highly educated men and women such as Dr. Dossey who are investigating the wider and wondrous frontiers of integrative 21st century medicine. These leaders of research into the otherwise unexplainable validate our faith by their statistical and scientific approach to substantiate the miraculous. With renewed confidence, we rest assuredly on ancient wisdom: We are never far from the eternal arms that embrace us. Gloria Davis has been an anesthetist for the Mayo Clinic since 1978. Prior to that time she worked in an Intensive Care setting where she participated in the struggle between life and death on a daily basis. She finds a great measure of joy in being "with" these patients, her spirit accompanying theirs as they move between our worlds. It is from that foundation that she observes the inexplicable that happens when a patient is touched with love and hope. Copyright 2001 Gloria Davis |
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Oct 2001 |
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