Monday morning I had a woman come to the Clinic to see me about prolonged bleeding from her uterus. She told me that over the past six months she has been bleeding very heavily. During one six week period she bled every day, and in September she bled down to a hemoglobin of 5 (a woman’s hemoglobin is normally around 12 to 14), and required a transfusion of two units of blood. She showed me an ultrasound that had been done in September, which showed a large, seven centimeter fibroid tumor within her uterine cavity. Most fibroids are within the wall of the uterus, and therefore not really mobile. This fibroid appeared to be on a stalk within the uterus, and was the logical source of my patient’s bleeding.
I had quite a surprise when I examined her. Sometime over the past three months the intrauterine fibroid tumor had managed to squeeze through my patient’s cervix, much like a baby’s head coming through the birth canal. When I did her pelvic exam, I found that the large mass was now prolapsed outside of the uterus (but not outside of the body) and easily palpable.
Examining her made the tumor bleed. And she bled, and bled…….and bled. I had a river coming out all over the bed, the floor, my sandles….even a little bit on the wall. It soaked two blue towels and kept coming. I called María Luisa in from across the hall to help me. I tried to stem the flow, and María Luisa started talking to my patient about Jesus. I had very few options. I couldn’t take her to the operating room – I had no anesthesiologist. I couldn’t give her blood – because we have no blood bank here in San Lorenzo. The only thing I could do was pray.
María Luisa realized that we were in a bit of trouble, and asked me if she should pray. I said yes. When she said, “Amen,” – I took the blue towel away that I had been using to try to control the bleeding. The bleeding had stopped. All that was left was a little trickle of watery fluid.
God is so amazing. And He is so good. Once again He has shown His hand in a mighty way.
San Lorenzo
Afterward – we put an IV in Leidy, rehydrated her and then sent her to a local laboratory to have her blood drawn. We told her to go home to Borbon (about an hour away) and we would check on her results. There was no reason to keep her in San Lorenzo, as blood can not be obtained quickly here. Her hemoglobin came back at 5.1. We called her and told her she needed to go to Esmeraldas for a blood transfusion.
We will plan to operate on Leidy at the end of this month. Please pray that we will be able to get everything coordinated for her surgery and that everything will go well.
