Nothing short of a miracle will save her.
She was my secret Santa.
This woman, my friend, Jean McConnell, is in a vegetated
state, dependant on life support machines to stay alive. For close to 5 weeks, Jean has been in a
coma, the second one since she was first hospitalized early February. She was medi-vaced back to New Mexico two
weeks ago and there the doctors confirmed that she has suffered from
significant brain damage. She is in a
constant seizure state and the current prognosis is to start weaning her of the
respirator, knowing there are moments it is necessary for her to use it, her
family has opted to DNR (do not resuscitate) so she may die.
Backing up to the events that led up to this, Jean was
admitted to the hospital with gastritis. The severity of her stomach, caused other organs to fail, which quickly
landed her in the ICU; kidney failure followed and her first coma. The Chinese doctors minimally cared for
her. Even though she was admitted to
the best hospital in Kunming, it is a far cry from low-rate hospitals back home. Instead of
improving, Jean was mis-diagnosed with various ailments, luckily, Chinese
doctors are too lazy to see any remedies through, so Jean woke up after three
weeks in the hospital.
From there, I was sure she was on her road to recovery. It was
worrisome that she didn’t have
medical insurance, in order to seek better care in Bangkok or the US
but we
were sure she was going to make it. When I came to visit Jean during
her first coma, I would comfort her by talking to her; after she woke
up I came prepared with jokes, because she aware of her surroundings. I
updated her on her cute cats, the
weather or random facts. I did anything that didn’t
require too much response. In reponse to questions, she could
nod and blink.
Staying in the Kunming First People’s Affiliated Hospital
was her death sentence because two weeks later, she fell back into a coma. The Chinese doctors thought it would be a
good idea to unplug her feeding tube and increase her insulin levels, so she
went into hypoglycemic shock. That was the turning point. The doctors essentially killed Jean through
neglect.
In the states, I expect this wouldn’t happen without some
heavy repercussions. But in China,
hospitals are equipped but unskilled. Medical malpractice is commonplace and the hospitals require signed liability
contract before admitting patients. I
hate this country. It eats people,
alive; and spits them out.
I am scared for her. Jean's situation drives home lessons about life.
It is literally as the saying goes, “one day they are fine and the next
they are on their death bed.” For
Christmas, I had a small get together and we exchanged gifts. I fretted
over what I would buy Jean because all I could come up with as a gift
was literature or pornography (her little secret); but I didn’t
want to offender her with the latter. I
finally decided to buy her two Chinese minority designed scarves. She
loves fabric, so this was perfect. She really liked the red scarf, it
went with
her outfit that evening.
Now, she is close to dying. I think
about how quickly things change. I feel as if her life is being ripped
away unfairly, and I see so
many avoidable events in the past three months. Following her progress
from beginning to until now, her ups and
downs are mine and believing good people deserve good things, I am
still left
afraid. And now her death is imminent…
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