Mike's friend, Sule and
his wife, Helen, insisted that I should go to their house to shower, change and
have lunch before the trip, and Uzoma and Carol went with me. When we got back
to the hospital, I went to the ICU to be with Kechi.
The nurses were
dressing her wounds, wrapping them up for the flight. This meant that most of
her body was covered in bandages. By this time she was crying out loud at the
pressure in her hands and wondering for how long she would be able to stand the
pain. I was later to know that this swelling was normal for deep tissue burns.
The swelling could only be released by making cuts in the skin. The nurses
assured her that the pain would go away soon but she kept crying, obviously in
a lot of pain. The nurses at Shell hospital were very professional, but very
kind and obviously very affected by Kechi's condition. I left knowing that they
would be praying for her.
She was transferred
from the hospital bed to a stretcher and we started the journey. By the time we
got outside, the sedative she was given had started to take effect and she was
out. I went into the ambulance with Kechi and Sister Jane, one of the kindest
nurses I have ever met. Mike, Brother Amos, Dr. Moses and some other staff of
Shell followed in their cars and the procession left for the airport. Jane
talked to me all the way to the airport, reassuring me of God's grace and
telling me never to stop trusting God.
We got to the airport
by 8.30pm. The S.O.S. plane was supposed to arrive at 9.00pm. We waited for
about 30 minutes and the plane arrived on schedule.
As soon as the plane
taxied to a stop, a doctor and a paramedic disembarked and were met by Dr.
Moses and the other doctors from Shell. They immediately came to the ambulance
and I left to give them room to work. They set to work on Kechi, started an IV
from a vein they located in her chest. After that, they asked for help to load
her into the air ambulance, the smallest plane I had ever seen. Inside the
plane, there was hardly any space because it was full of equipment one would
usually see in a hospital. Kechi was strapped onto a narrow cot and was soon
connected to a lot of lines and leads, and instruments began beeping and
humming.
I was asked to board
and I gave Mike a hug before taking my bag and bible from him. I thanked
everyone and boarded the aircraft. There was hardly any space left to sit as
there were about three other people apart from the pilot and the doctor and
paramedic. I was sitting at the rear of the plane, but the good thing was that
Kechi was directly opposite me...
To be continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment