The Final 10 Days

I believe many are curious about Zechariah’s condition. What exactly had happened? Was he ill? Why did he pass on so suddenly just in 10 days? No, Zechariah was not ill, in fact, he was very active and healthy. He hardly falls sick too. He has no symptoms...

The new Rubik's cube arrived the day Zech's admitted into the hospital.

24 Aug -Mon

THE SUDDEN HEADACHE

He had a painful headache on 24th August 2020 at 4 am. His dad went to take a Panadol, but Zech did not respond when he returned to the room. His eyes had rolled backward, and his heart was beating very fast. That was when we realize we had to rush him to A&E. While at A&E, the medical team is unable to find his pulse, and he needs to be resuscitated.

A CT scan was performed and they discover there was a tumor in his brain. We were shocked!

A CT scan was done, and they found there was a tumor in his brain. The brain was also swollen, due to tumour rupture. The A&E team Immediately drilled a hole in his skull to relieve the pressure and place him on an induced coma. His condition was unstable and at that point was already on life support.

His condition was needed to stabilise before an MRI can be done on him...

25 Aug -Tues

THE SCAN RESULTS

We were still hopeful as the chances of recovery from a brain tumor are high.

However, the results were not optimistic, the position of the tumour was near the brainstem. The brainstem is like our motherboard, it is the bridge between the brain and our body as they control breathing, blood pressure, and several other important functions. Apparently, the pressure has pushed the tumour against the brainstem which triggered cardiac arrest (that was why Zech’s heart stop) and the good part of the brain showed insufficient oxygen flow and potentially damage. The damage of the brainstem is irreversible. Hence in the medical world, he was considered brain dead, but we were hopeful. That was when I decided to share on FB for prayers, we needed God to intercedes.

Though fully intubated, Zechariah looked perfectly normal, he looked as if he was sleeping, his face was rosy and warm. He showed no signs of pain, he was not on morphine. We need more time and we were not giving up hope. The doctors had emphasised that a braindead patient, body will deteriorate and shut down eventually.

26 Aug - Wed

THE “TRIAL” BRAINSTEM TEST

These are the tests used to determine brain stem death:

  • a torch is shone into both eyes to see if they react to the light.
  • the eye, which is usually very sensitive, is stroked with a tissue or piece of cotton wool to see if it reacts.
  • pressure is applied to the forehead and the nose is pinched to see if there's any movement in response.

  • ice-cold water is inserted into each ear, which would usually cause the eyes to move.

  • a thin plastic tube is placed down the windpipe to see if it provokes gagging or coughing.

  • the person is disconnected from the ventilator for a short period of time to see if they make any attempt to breathe on their own.

Zech failed all the above tests, the doctor did not document the test as it would be time-stamping his death. They requested us to provide them with a specific date.

We refused to formalize the test as this is not a project, Zechariah’s life should not be determined by a deadline and test results.

We decided to pray and let his body show us the signs for the next steps.

27 Aug - Thur to 1 Sep - Tues

PRAYING FOR MIRACLES

Lots of prayers started to stream in, many came to pray for Zech. Many prayers groups were formed, 3 congregations were all praying for Zechariah. This little one had amazing power to influence and created a widespread prayer to seek God to intercede.


Even when the doc said he had already “passed on” since 26 Aug but we did not give up hope. We decided to continue to fight with Zech.

31 Aug - Mon

PNEUMONIA

Heartbeat (HB), Blood Pressure (BP), the oxygen level in the blood (SpO2), and body temperature are 4 vital numbers to watch out for. The various beeping and staring at the dashboard were nerve-wracking. His body temperature was at the lowest at 33.5 even with heater support. A sudden drop in his SpO2 to a single digit (healthy person is above 90%) due to Pneumonia developed on his left lung. He also became very sensitive to different position, any movement will cause his SpO2 to dropped. A lot more swings happened to his vital numbers were signs of body deteriorating.

2 Sep - Wed

THE ICU “CHEERLEADING”

Due to covid, KKH only allows the infectious patient to be warded in a single ward, the rest will be 4 bedder ICU. His swings got so frequent that the doctor decided to place him in a single room and increase visitors to 3 instead of 2. We needed more of Zech’s and our friends to encourage and cheer him, that was Zech - he loves people, fun and we blasted his favorite Spotify songs. During his changing time at 7:20 pm, we stepped out to have our “dinner break” in the waiting area. Suddenly, a nurse dashed out and said “His heartbeat had dropped to 25 (normal is 65)”. When I saw him, Zech had already turned pale, I saw his HB dive to 0 just in a matter of secs.

 

No tears, I went to him, gave him a hug, and said “Zech, you had fought well and you had made your choice. I love you so much.”

 

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