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Darke
County Senior Scribes
My Miracle
By Marianne Cox Clark
My miracle occurred twenty-five years ago and I have felt that I have
been living on borrowed time ever since that day. I have envisioned
writing this story for a long time but until just recently it has not
been a serious thought. I should be thanking God daily for his
intervention and the saving of my life but, in truth, I am very
negligent in that department. I regret to say that life is just too
busy. No matter how often I apologize to God for not talking to him
enough and no matter how many resolutions I make and promises to do
better, I still come up short. “Help me Lord to do better,” I keep
saying.
I was vacationing with my family in August of 1984. We arrived at our
cabin early on Saturday morning. The truck containing all the
necessities for a week of camping was parked in front of the cabin
door. There was a slight downward slope where the truck was parked and
one of grandkids somehow managed to release the brake and the truck
rolled backwards and into the cabin door. But only for the grace of God
no one was in the way when it happened.
Later that same day, my husband and I were out fishing with several of
the grandchildren and one of them cast out and caught my ear. I ended
up with a very unusual earring. The hook was embedded in my ear
lobe with the worm still squirming on it. My daughter took me to St.
Petersburg to the emergency room and the hook was cut off behind the
barb and removed. If nothing else it was good for a laugh.
I woke up around midnight that first night with a nagging headache. I
went to the bathroom to look for something to ease the ache in my head.
All of a sudden it felt like something had exploded inside my head. The
pain was greater than anything I could ever remember. All I could see
was white with what looked like roller bars going from top to bottom
continuously.
Eventually my vision cleared and the whiteness went away. I began to
feel very sick to my stomach and I began to vomit. The pain was still
in my head but not as bad as when the explosion took place. The
vomiting continued for a while then I began to have spells of diarrhea.
For a while I didn’t know whether to sit on the stool or lean over it.
I don’t know how long this went on until finally I just laid there on
the bathroom floor. I don’t think I ever passed out but I could have
fallen asleep. I finally got up and took some aspirin and went back to
bed.
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I did everything that vacationers
do but the headache was still there. We fished, water-skied, rode on
the big tube behind the boat and just had a good time. Then on
Wednesday in the late afternoon I needed to use the bathroom. It was
while I was taking care of Mother Nature, I had another explosion in my
head. I sent my four year old granddaughter to get her mom.
Kathy took one look at me and yelled for help. “I’m taking Mom back to
the hospital,” she screamed to the others. Once again we were on our
way to St. Petersburg, this time at a much faster pace.
We went to the same hospital as before but no one was available. All
the staff was working on a little girl with an ear infection. We waited
for about fifteen minutes and I was once again suffering with the pain
and vomiting.
Kathy was aggravated and she went to the window and told the slim staff
that they had better see me right away because she was sure I was
having a cerebral hemorrhage. She told them that a vein in my forehead
had popped out and was as big as her little finger. They must have
taken her seriously because, before I could object, I was in a
helicopter heading for Toronto where my family met me several hours
later.
After a series of tests we were informed on Thursday morning that an
aneurysm had burst in my head on Saturday night. The blood had
coagulated and formed a clot in my head behind my left eye. It had
burst again on Wednesday evening going into the same clot. I was told
that I must have surgery immediately and that I had 25 percent chance
of survival and less than that that I would not have serious
complications such as blindness or the loss of some physical
capabilities.
I was a professing Christian at the time and the Primary Superintendent
at the Hillgrove Federated Church back in the states. My prayer at that
time was that I would go to meet my Lord or that I would live with no
physical impairments. I knew that my life and my marriage would suffer
too much if I had to go home a cripple.
The surgery was performed on Friday and on Saturday morning my husband
and my two oldest daughters were allowed in to the Intensive Care Unit
to see me. Kathy and Larry came in right away but Connie was too scared
of what she would see. When they saw me lying there sipping on a cup of
tea, they went to tell Connie it was OK for her to come in. The rest of
the family was back at the campground packing for the trip back to Ohio
and waiting to hear of the outcome of the surgery. Larry, Kathy and
Connie stayed in Toronto to be with me until I could get out of
Intensive Care.
Three days later on Tuesday the surgeons came into the ICU to remove
the bandages and see if I still had my eyesight in the left eye. One of
the surgeons was the Japanese man who had invented the clamp that was
used inside my head. He just happened to be in Toronto at the time and
he was the one who was holding up three fingers when the bandages were
removed.
“How many fingers do you see me holding up?” he asked.
“Three?” I asked hopefully. The doctor was grinning from ear to ear as
my mother always said.
I was then released from ICU and taken to my own room. My assigned
nurse came in to see me and showed me a newspaper printed on that day.
The headlines were about Richard Burton. He had just died as the result
of an aneurysm that had burst in his head.
She told me that it is a rare thing for someone to survive such a thing
since the hemorrhage had occurred twice. The fact that the blood had
coagulated both times and used the same clot was a miracle in itself.
Surgical procedures are different now than they were 25 years ago but
back then I knew that God had surely been there during the surgery and
had answered my prayers in his miraculous way. I had a question for the
nurse.
“What happened during the surgery?” I ask. “I remember waking up and
everything was white and the lights were extremely bright and all I
could hear was myself screaming.”
She explained to me that I had awakened just as my head was being
squeezed back together by a vice. She further said that I had five
drill holes in my head starting in the middle of my forehead making a
semicircle up and around and down to my left ear. She said that a wedge
was used between each drill hole to crack my skull open so they could
take out the blood clot and that afterwards my head was put in a vice
to squeeze it back together and that was when I woke up. She said I was
put back out again and my head was stapled to hold everything together.
“Now,” she said, “Do you feel like you just came off of a woodworker’s
bench?” We both had a good laugh at that thought.
My husband and daughters left the next day to head back to the states.
At first I felt quite alone but then I realized that I was never alone.
God had been there all along and was still there. I had a wonderful
roommate. She had gone through the same surgery as I had. Her husband
was there several times a day and kept us both in supplies and provided
entertainment for the remainder of my stay.
Besides knowing that God was there, I knew that I had been the
recipient of so many prayers. All my Sunday school children were
praying for me as well as the members of my church. My mother was a
member of the Woodington congregational Christian Church and that whole
church was praying along with all my friends and family.
It was possibly on Wednesday or Thursday when I had a telephone call. I
was surprised to hear a baby crying. It was from my youngest daughter,
Renee’. She had remained at home while we were vacationing because she
was feeling very uncomfortable in her late stages of pregnancy. She had
just delivered and I was hearing my new grandson as he was becoming
accustomed to his new surroundings. I was overjoyed and once again
thanking our wonderful God for all the blessings he brings to us each
day.
That first weekend of my confinement was rewarding. I had a visit from
my sister-in-law, Anne. She came quite unannounced and was a welcome
break from the monotony of the hospital routine. Larry stayed behind
because of commitments with his ball team.
Anne stayed several days and visited with me when she was not out sight
seeing. She was from French decent and was in the height of her glory
to be able to see all the things she had read so much about.
It was exactly two weeks from the day I had been released from ICU and
I was on my way home. My best friend came in her Cadillac to give me a
ride home. Larry was with her and the ride home was comfortable and
uneventful.
My homecoming was just wonderful. I wanted to hug everyone I saw. My
recuperation was as exceptional as the surgery itself. I was back in my
office three months after I arrived home.
Six months later all three of my daughters went on a road trip with me
back to Toronto for my six month checkup. It was a cold and snowy day
when we left Ohio. We had trouble with the car stalling because of the
snow blowing up in and around the engine at least that was what the
mechanics had told us. We did, however, arrive safely.
I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the doctor’s office. My
roommate of six months ago was there also. It had to be a coincidence
or maybe an intervention from God that we would have the same time to
be back for our checkups. It was great to see her and compare notes of
our progress.
Yes, I thought I was a good solid Christian, but I have grown so much
in the past 25 years that I know now that back then I was just going
through the motions. I was still clinging to a lot of worldly junk and
over the years I have come to realize that none of that junk means
anything. All I want to do now is live for Jesus and do as he would do
in my everyday living. I am at peace with my life. It is the kind of
peace that can only come from the Grace of God. Amen
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