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 fter one of my next operations, the doctors decided to insert a catheter into my left kidney. Without meaning to, one of the nurses accidentally pulled at the catheter and ruptured my left kidney. I bleed for an entire day and night. I remember it was a Sunday and the doctor couldn’t operate on me because he hadn’t slept the night before. He didn’t think he was physically capable to perform such a delicate surgery with such little sleep – the operation was left for the following day. During the long wait, I went into cardiac arrest.
Growing up, I always had the figurine of San Martin de Porres with me and during my operations they would tape him to my hand. But this day was different, this time the doctor took my San Martin de Porres figurine with him in his pocket. He took the statue from me, looked into the air and said, “come with me, I need your help today”. |
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The moment had arrived when my father decided to take us to live in U.S.A. Good doctors were recommended from the northern and the southern part of the country, but he decided to move us to Miami. We settled in on one towns outside of Miami. We went to the hospital there and I was introduced to a new doctor. He was a bit strange, but reminded me of the one from Medellín. He was tall with an air of wisdom about him; people said “first God and then him”. He started to examine me and was surprised when he saw the condition of the catheter that was inserted into my back. I didn’t know that the type of catheter I had was unhygienic. He explained to me that there were other methods, which were not as risky. There was a special method, one which strapped to my leg. Later on that day my father took me to buy the new and improved one and I was very happy. Over the next few days I had a number of tests, some were very painful and so the decision was made to reconstruct my urinal tract. |
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First, they were going to reconstruct my bladder. They found that the artificial bladder, which was originally constructed using parts of my intestine, now was not functioning. The artificial bladder had been constructed around my original bladder years earlier. To everyone’s surprise however, my original bladder, which was thought to have been nonfunctional, had naturally reproduced itself. Once again, I felt I had been touched by the hand of God. The operations continued; the final one was to correct the urethra, but after two days it didn’t take and the urethra failed. They arranged an emergency operation with a specialist from New York. This time, the surgery took place in a special x-ray room filled with medical equipment. The room was set up like a theater – with twelve doctors observing. It was the first operation of its kind to take place in the USA. I remember there was a Chilean doctor, who was always by my side, he was working with the principal doctor throughout the operation. The surgery was done without anesthesia - they laid me face down and they removed the catheter that I had relied on for six years. They replaced the old catheter with a new one, which went straight to my obstructed kidney and continued up to my bladder in a spiral motion in order to keep my urethra from closing. The only thing I could do was bite my pillow as hard as I could while the tube passed through the tissue of my kidney, urethra and the bladder. I could feel and hear the catheter breaking through my insides. I said to God “I can’t take anymore”. At that very moment the doctor said, “finished”. There was a huge round of applause followed by apologies – I asked the Chilean doctor, to tell the head surgeon in English for me, that I was sorry for having complained so much. He told the surgeon to which he apologized for having caused me so much pain. He smiled with tears in his eyes and left the room. |
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With the days that followed the operation, I fell into a deep depression. The head surgeon recommended my father take me home because I was not psychologically strong enough to cope with all that was happening to me physically… Lack of psychological strength could also bring on death. That same afternoon my father took me home. I rested the whole day in my parent’s bedroom. That night while sleeping with my older brother, I woke up and sat up on the bed – I remember seeing my mother’s cousin and having a conversation with her. My brother was so terrified that he screamed for my parents – he didn’t know what was wrong with me. My mother’s cousin had died a few days before I got home – but she was with me that night. I heard my parents coming towards the bedroom while my brother continued to scream. I quickly said good-bye to her and went back to sleep again. My parents came into the room and my mother stayed with me. The next night my father stayed with me. The following morning, I woke up covered in blood – I was rushed to the emergency room. On the ride there, I nearly lost consciousness. When we got to the hospital there was no room available for me - I ended up sharing with a man who was going to have brain surgery to remove a tumor. >> |
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