“O Lord my God, I cried out to You, and You have healed me.” (Psalm 30:2)
In 2006 I was pregnant with my first child; I began to get very sick around the 5th month. I had extreme pain in my lower back after I ate. It got so bad at times I could not sit down, or lay down. On one occasion I did not sleep or eat because of the pain. I was admitted into the hospital and given pain medicine but they would not help at all. I sat in the bed screaming. The doctors could not figure out where my pain came from. They assumed it was due to the pregnancy and kept me on pain medicine.
I suffered with severe pain on and off till Jan. 2008. I was in so much agony, my parents took me to the ER. Once again the doctorss could not find out what was wrong, they sent me home. This went on 3 times in the course of a weekend, I was in and out of the ER. I remember one night being curled up in my bedroom floor, screaming at the top of my lungs from the pain. I was throwing up what looked like coffee grounds and I knew at that point I was dying. I screamed for my mom and asked her to call the ambulance. She hesitantly called, knowing that the doctors were not able to help me all weekend. The ambulance came and got me, I saw my son crying as they carried me out. I was on so much pain medicine I do not remember much at all. I remember a nurse came to me and asked me if I had gastric bypass before; I told him yes, and he called my gastric bypass surgeon. I was immediately transported to Lexington medical center and taken into emergency surgery. My surgeons operated immediately, when my stomach was opened they saw that my intestines had twisted around my stomach and were completely black from gangrene. The infection was killing me. The Dr. told my parents I would have died if I had arrived ten minutes later. He also told them that no one in my condition could survive. They prayed and called everyone they knew to pray for me while I was in surgery. I was in surgery for 17 hours. I was in a coma for a week and operated on a second time to remove any dead tissue that was left. The surgeon gave my parents the news; I was not going to make it. My body had totally given up and all my organs quit working and I was on life support. People from many different churches came and sat with my family and prayed with them through the night. By God’s grace my lungs started working; my heart started pumping on its own. I had the breath of life breathed back into me. It still wasn’t looking good for me but my family had hope. I was taken off life support a week later. I was very confused from the medicine, I didn’t know much of what happened or why I was in the hospital. I had tubes in every place you can imagine, and in some places they made holes to put tubes in. I was coherent but mostly asleep from pain medicine. But when I was awake I would pray, I would not turn my TV on because I knew I needed to pray if I was going to make it. Two weeks later I took a turn for the worse. I had a perforation in my intestines; I had to go back to emergency surgery. This was the worst possible thing that could have happened to me. They had already removed most of my small intestines and part of my stomach… now I had to have more removed. I remember the nurse taking me into surgery and I grabbed my mom and asked her to take care of my child. I knew I could not go through this again, I was so weak and so sick, I knew my body could not handle any more trauma. After surgery; Once again my family was given the news… Crystal is not going to make it. Again, my organs went into failure and I was back on life support. Two days later my organs started responding. By God’s grace I was alive. It was a long road to recovery. I could not eat; I could not walk, or even lift up my arm. At times I did not know who I was or where I was. I missed my child so much I was hallucinating and dreaming of him always. I hated to sleep because the devil was attacking me in my dreams. I had the worst dreams you could imagine. I was in critical care ICU for 3 months, and at home with an IV and a nurse for 2 months. The dr. said I would be disabled, never be able to gain weight, malnourished and be sick the rest of my life. I had so many people come to pray over me, as God’s word says:
“Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” (James 5:14)
Every step I take is a testimony of God’s grace, mercy, love, and healing power. My son doesn’t have to grow up without his mom. I didn’t miss him turning 2 on his birthday, and now he is 4! Each day is a struggle for me, I still have complications and feel sick every day. But, my gratitude and thankfulness outweighs my pain and sickness so much more. Some days it is hard, I feel so sick that I can’t play with Caden, but I am thankful that I am here with him and that is what is important. I cried out to God, he heard my cry, along with my family, friends, and church family and I am here today to give God all the honor and glory. God is no respecter of person’s…if He can heal me; He can do the same for you!
The doctors said no, she won’t make it but God said YES she will!
But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” (Luke 18:27)
I am not going to sit in the back of the church anymore and just be a spectator. God has saved my soul, and saved my physical body not once but twice and I am going to work for Him and His purpose as long as I have breath in my body.
