30th April 2013

One of our church friends came to visit Charlene and shared with me something that I could not believe. He met a client for work in the morning and told the client he was not free to meet in the afternoon as he was going to NUH to visit a 4 year old friend. And the client asked "Is it Charlene?" Wow. The client is a friend of one of the special mum in my support group. I seriously think half of Singapore is praying for Charlene. 

We do not know the number of churches nor all the people praying for Charlene. But we thank God for sending all these loving people who stood by us in prayers. We also thank our church YMM for all the support (prayers, financial, food) that they have given. So blessed are we that for a whole week, all our meals are provided by friends. 

While our hearts are in pain seeing how Charlene suffer, we continue to trust in God for deliverance and believe that the plans our God has is to prosper us and not to harm us. 

29 April 2013

Charlene is so loved by many people. My friend's husband took time-off specially to visit Charlene. He had tears in his eyes when he saw Charlene and said that his heart very pain. We have no idea how Charlene can touch the hearts of so many people. It is perhaps a gift that God has given her. We are praying for this uncle who loved Charlene so much that he will come to know our Lord Jesus Christ who love us and Charlene and him too.


A lady from our cell group told her friend to pray for Charlene and this friend brought along a pastor who has the gift of healing to pray for Charlene. Upon hearing that we are from Yishun Methodist Mission, Rev Cecil shared of how YMM was very much involved in the fundraising of his ministry in South Africa. God sure has his way of using people.

25 Apr 13

At 330am in the morning, a junior doctor came running out to the waiting area & informed us that Charlene heart stopped and they managed to revive her after 20 minutes of CPR. The 2 of us were so affected as we waited outside her ward speechless.

Meanwhile, God has been sending brothers and sisters in Christ non-stop. They include our church mates, the special mums support groups and even strangers to come and pray for Charlene and us.

One of my friend's friend (Deborah) heard about Charlene's condition and felt compelled to visit and pray for Charlene. That was my first time seeing her face to face. Deborah also brought a man along with her to pray, which i assumed is a pastor.

After praying for Charlene, the man asked Deborah to take down his number and update him on Charlene's condition. He said he will pray for Charlene 3x a day. Then he said something that stunned me and Deborah "Don't worry, I have not seen death on her (Charlene's) face. " He explained that he had seen death before, and know when the patient was dying or not; if the patient was dying, he would no longer pray for recovery but pray for other things instead.

After the man left, Deborah told me that the man was a stranger that she just met. She was talking to her maid in a taxi about Charlene's condition, when the taxi driver overheard the conversation. The taxi driver quoted her a Bible verse and asked for more details so that he can pray for Charlene. When the taxi reached NUH, Deborah asked the man whether he wanted to come along and pray for Charlene. The man readily agreed.

Deborah was as shocked by the man's parting words as I was. She kept apologising to me worried that the man's actions may have offended me. I reassured her that i'm ok.

When i recounted the story to Des, he was very touched by the man's actions and words. He felt that the man must be an angel sent by God to remind us to trust in him. We decided that we would give Charlene as much time she needs to recover.

24 Apr 13

The doctors called us for a conference. They explained to us that Charlene's condition is worsening due to the poor lungs functioning, and the lack of oxygen in the blood. This increases the risk of the heart stopping. They wanted us to decide whether we want to resuscitate her if the heart stopped. They advise us that Charlene condition is expected to worsen across the days and resuscitating her is prolonging the inevitable.

Both of us cried and were lost as to how to make such a decision. Des didn't want to see Charlene suffer, but we didn't tell the doctors about our decision at all.

23 Apr 13

Des and I rushed back to NUH in a cab at 12 midnight. We were shocked to see Charlene with many tubes and probes inserted into her small body. She needed to be put on the respirator and have many lines all over her. It was a sight we were familiar during her NICU days, but this time it is more serious. Charlene was on 100% oxygen support.

The ICU doctor told us that Charlene lungs is very weak now, and they need to give her as much support as possible now while we wait for the lungs to slowly recuperate. She prepared us by saying that Charlene's condition was likely to get worse for the next 2 days before becoming better.

Both of us were very worried and we decided to stay throughout the night. Des has already brought his office clothes, so he went to work straight from the office in the morning. He couldn't take leave because there was some important work events that he had to be there.

22 Apr 13

In the early part of the day, Charlene was doing quite alright. Her fever has subsided, and she was sleeping soundly in the day.

We decided that we should activated the maid to care for Charlene in the night. I went back home early for tuition whereas Des stayed back till evening to instruct the maid.

Just before Des left the care of Charlene to the maid, the nurse found that Charlene fever came back and they gave her panadol immediately. When Des was on the train home, he received a call from the doctor saying that Charlene appeared breathless and the O2 saturation was bad. The doctor decided to send her to ICU for better monitoring.

21 Apr 13

Charlene's fever was controlled in the morning, but by mid afternoon, her fever shot up to 39.6 degrees. Also, she was not tolerating any of the milk feed. She vomitted her water feed and also whatever little amount of milk she was fed.

We sent her in to NUH immediately. During the taxi ride, Charlene calmed down somewhat but vomitted during the ride. She turned a little blue after the vomitting causing much worry to Des and I.

At A&E, Charlene was screaming at a 'simple' pin prick of her finger for blood test. She never had such reaction before and it is somewhat reassuring to see her cognitive progress.

The A&E did an X-ray and diagnosed her with pneumonia. Also, they noted that her O2 saturation level is low and gave her oxygen immediately.

After some waiting, Charlene was sent to the general ward. The doctors did many examinations, and Charlene keeps crying even though she was very tired and it was obvious that she wants to sleep. In the end, we asked the doctor to gave her some sleeping medication to get her to sleep. Her heart rate went back to normal after the medication was given and she was able to sleep soundly. That night, the 2 of us managed to get some rest in the hospital.