Johannesburg: There Are Still Many Good People...

After I visited with Kechi, Layi and her husband came by and brought me chicken salad for lunch. After they left, I felt very weary and decided to go and catch a nap in the hotel.

Brother Dotun and his wife visited me at the hotel, brought me food and also gave me R200. At this point, my fridge in the hotel was overflowing with food people kept bringing me. I was very grateful for this because I did not have to buy food and could save money that way. Brother Dotun and his wife dropped me off at the hospital and soon after, Lanre came with his friends, Mike and Vicki, and insisted I go out with them. He was furnishing his house because he was expecting his family to move down from Nigeria and we all went with him to shop for bargains in beds and mattresses. I knew Lanre was trying to give me a break from the hospital and I really appreciated it, but when it got close to visiting time I told him I needed to be with Kechi.

When we got to the hospital, they actually waited for me to visit with Kechi and it took a little longer that time because she was running a fever and was being kept cool. She was shivering a little as her bandages were being kept moist. I spent the whole visit praying, and rebuking the fever. When I looked up, I saw Lanre standing just inside the door of the ICU, head bowed, obviously praying. I was so touched.

Lanre was an incredibly genuine, caring kind of person. Very rare. It was clear why Ulo called him a friend. I was so glad there were still people like him in this world, and so proud he was a Nigerian. I had seen the best in human beings since Kechi's accident.

Sade and her husband are other examples of fantastic human beings. After my visit with Kechi, Lanre took us to a place in Randburg for dinner. Sade and her husband had come to the hospital to see me and when they called me, they found out where we were having dinner and drove thirty minutes to see me. They were leaving the next day and had to see me before going. I will miss them so much. Sade actually bought two outfits for Tara, my baby girl in Nigeria.

I was very fortunate to have met the most selfless, incredible people during this trying period. It was indeed true that God would not allow a burden too hard for us to bear. He surrounded me with the love and support of the most wonderful people...

To Be Continued...

Johannesburg: Realities...

Dr. Nel warned that there will be scar tissue from the grafting which might be corrected with reconstructive surgery and pressure garments, six months to a year down the line. He also said that the last person that had Kechi's kind of burns needed more than seventeen surgeries! This seemed so much to me at the time. Little did I know that Kechi was going to have almost fifty surgeries before we left South Africa!

Also, Kechi's face would likely need debridement and require grafting. At this point, I was praying that her face would be spared.

I was very grateful that Dr. Nel took the time to explain in detail what was going on with Kechi. He did not make any promises, indeed he stressed that Kechi was a very, very sick girl and that they were all praying that she pulled through.

After my session with him, I sought out Dr. Plani, the trauma surgeon. In his gruff, but kind manner, he assured me that Kechi was doing well so far, and in response to my questions, said that she would be on the respirator and sedated for a while.

I then retired to the visiting room to wait for visiting time and also used the opportunity to ruminate over the reports I had got from the doctors. Then I began to pray. It was beginning to dawn on me that this was not going to be a short hospital stay...

To Be Continued...

Johannesburg: Being Anxious For Nothing, Praying In Everything...

One week after the plane crash, on the 17th of December, I decided to remove the weave in my hair and wash it.

This was a major move on my part because it indicated that I was relaxed enough to actually look at myself in the mirror and decide to take better care of myself. Of course, this did not run to make up or any sort of primping. It just did not seem important to do any more than basic hygiene and then rush off to the hospital. But my hair was a mess, and I was beginning to look like a crazy person so I decided to fix that and felt so much better.

In order to speak to any of the doctors, I had to get to the hospital early and this time I wanted to catch up with the plastic surgeon that was handling Kechi's surgeries so far.

He was a young South African named Dr. Nel, and he took the time to explain to me what exactly they were doing. So far, they had done the debridement on her two arms. They were moving slowly so as not to cause her undue stress and the surgeries would be done every forty eight hours.

The next surgery was slated for the following day, Sunday, on one leg, and the next one on the following Tuesday. He also said they would check on the first arm and see if it was ready for grafting and if so, they would begin grafting on Tuesday. They would not be able to graft until they were sure they removed all of the dead and infected skin unless the graft would “fail”. This meant that the skin used to graft onto the wound would become infected and will not be integrated into the site.

I now had another prayer point, ‘Lord, please let the graft ‘take’!

To Be Continued...

Johannesburg: The Worst Was Over...

God is awesome and mighty!

Lanre came to drag me off to eat lunch but I asked him to wait until Kechi came out of surgery. The surgery went well and when she was settled in the ICU, I went with Lanre to have lunch. Between him and Betty, I was getting fed, whether I felt like it or not. They also showed me around some parts of Johannesburg. It really was a lovely place but my heart was back in the ICU of Milpark Hospital with Kechi, and I could not really appreciate the sights.

That day my usual prayers over Kechi felt like a fellowship because the sister on duty was also a believer and kept giving me bible references to read to Kechi. I felt a breakthrough, that for the first time, Kechi had participated in the prayers and at the end when I asked God to open up the windows of heaven and rain down His anointing on Kechi, I felt an assurance in my spirit that the worst was over.

That night, the sister on night duty told me that Kechi was responding to my voice. She encouraged me to continue letting her hear my voice because the nurses believe that even in a coma, patients respond to the voices of their loved ones and it encourages them to hang on and fight their way back...

To Be continued...