Prayers for Nestor

A couple of weeks ago we had an amazing case in our hospital.  A gentleman named Nestor (who gave me permission to share his picture and story) presented for removal of a chronically inflamed and infected gallbladder.  With so much inflammation and the presence of multiple other chronic ailments (diabetes, etc), he had a slow recovery from the surgery.  In fact, he came back a few days after his first discharge and was found to have a large infected pocket (abscess) under his diaphragm.  The abscess was drained surgically, and he seemed to get a little better.  However, he took a bad turn for the worse a few days later.  He became very anemic and spiked a white blood cell count of 39,000 (very high, especially for an elderly diabetic).  According to this information, he was bleeding and had a very bad infection.  We gave him several blood transfusions.  An imaging study showed fluid in his abdomen, and our surgeons feared that his intestines were so compromised that they were beginning to die (necrotic bowel).  Once again, this sick gentleman had to go to the operating room, this time possibly just to confirm the diagnosis of necrotic bowel and try to make him comfortable in his last remaining days of life.

I had become attached to this family, as they had spent much time in our hospital, and I had been Nestor's primary physician for his non-surgical problems.  Nestor's wife and daughter were always by his side, and they were often found reading Scripture to him during his illness (even at 5:30 in the morning).  Before this third surgery, I decided to go and have a prayer with the family.  A chaplain was there as well, and we had a very powerful time of prayer.  It was one of those times when you could tell for sure that God's Holy Spirit was in the room.  I didn't know how God would choose to answer the prayer, but I knew that we had been heard.

The next day, our surgeon reported that he had opened Nestor's abdomen and had found only fluid.  After a thorough search, his intestines appeared to be very healthy, and no other infection, source of bleeding, or otherwise dangerous process was found!  Over the next several days, Nestor looked like a new man.  He continued to regain his strength and he was sent back to his home.  I saw him in follow-up a few days ago and he's looking more spry every day.  Did God perform a miracle in this man?  I believe that He did!  How many miracles does Jesus perform each day?  We don't perceive most of them now, but when we get to Heaven we'll have an eternity to praise Him for all the wonderful things that He's done.

Sr. Nestor Silva and his family