Summary written between May and August 2015

The History of a Miracle

(Summary written between May and August 2015)

For me and my family this is the story of a miracle as important to us as the raising of Lazarus from the dead.  My husband, Kenneth Lynn Babcock is in the computer room with me.  Yesterday his doctor gave him a healthy A-.  He still has to occasionally deal with chronic asthma that has been a part of his life for 53 years, since his first mission in Mexico, but there are virtually no lingering side effects from the pneumococcal meningitis that could have taken his life while we were serving in the Chile Concepcion Sur mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The first five months of our mission, from October 29 to March 26, 2012 were spent in the city of Victoria, two hours south of Concepcion, Chile, as member leader support missionaries. Then my companion became seriously ill and I was told that he would die.

This history of Elder Babcock’s illness and recovery can be divided into four parts:

1.  Forty two days in Clinica Alemana, a hospital in Temuco;

2.  Thirteen days in Pewman Ruka, a hostel near the hospital, and five and a half weeks (May 18 to June 25) back in our home in Victoria;

3.  A second hospitalization in Clinica Alemana ending in a flight home to Salt Lake;

4.  A long recovery period of almost two years.

We felt that it was a miracle we were able to return to our home in Victoria after the first hospitalization. We hoped to be able to complete an eighteen month mission. At the request of President Osvaldo Martinez, we had been working on a history of the miracles that occurred during the first hospitalization.  We finished the first draft of a day-to-day history of part 1 just before Elder Babcock had to again be admitted to the hospital.

Part 1 -    On June 23 Elder Babcock gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting in the Victoria Branch, the first since his illness.  We didn’t know then that it would be his last talk given as a missionary.

He had several weeks to ponder the assignment and had spent all day Saturday preparing.  He didn't share his preparation with me, but was confident that he had a well prepared talk that filled the assignment. Instead of giving that talk, he spoke from the heart and shared his testimony of how the Holy Ghost had helped the doctors know what they should do to help him and bore testimony of the love of God for all of his children.

At first I was confused by his account and had some question about its accuracy.  And then I realized that he was sharing what he remembered, the third miraculous recovery that occurred during the fourth week of his time in the hospital.

He didn't remember the pain and the confusion, the coma and the semi-consciousness of the first weeks of his illness.  I had kept emails and notes and letters.  He had read them and helped me combine them into the 70 page history of his time in Clinica Alemana. But I realized it was up to me to share the part of the part of the story that occurred when he was dying. 

At first I didn't realize how ill he was.  Dr. Rodrigo Rivas, the neurologist, let me know that his illness was very serious and that his age was against him.  The doctor was not optimistic.  They were able to stabilize his body for a short time, but the infection was very aggressive, quickly spreading from the left ear to the brain lining, to the right ear, to the sinuses, the mastoid bone and into the blood.  His kidneys and liver were failing.  His blood pressure was very low, even with medication.  He was on a breathing machine.  Modern science could keep oxygen moving through his body, but his body was cold and swollen and heavy, without response.

In this time of despair, President Osvaldo Martinez, the mission president, was with us in Temuco. He had two dreams, on two consecutive nights. In the dream of the first night,  President Martinez was in Elder Babcock’s room in the hospital with the doctors.  The doctors removed the tubes from Elder Babcock, and he sat up in bed. 

Knowing how sick his body was, I interpreted the dream as a witness that my husband would be allowed to die and that he would be able to continue his work as a missionary in the spirit world.  It was a comfort to me to feel that the Lord would not allow him to remain on the earth in a damaged body, unable to communicate. 

The following morning, President Martinez shared his second dream.  In this dream, Elder Babcock got out of bed, stood on his feet, and gave President Martinez an abrazo.  His face was translucent, but the President said he could feel his body and that it was a real physical body. President Martinez was convinced that Elder Babcock would recover. He  added that it was unusual for him to remember his dreams.

Elder Babcock had already received two priesthood blessings from two different sets of Elders.  President Martinez had also given him two different blessings, and a third, as the missionaries were asked to fast again, that Elder Babcock would not just live but have a total recovery.

The first time the mission president asked the missionaries to join in a mission-wide fast and to pray for Elder Babcock, our family and I joined the missionaries in fasting.  Dr. Leo Mikesell, the mission doctor who had come from Santiago to talk with the doctors, assured me that everything was being done medically that should have been done.  He was getting the correct treatment, but Dr. Mikesell was not optimistic. His wife was prepared to fly back to Sat Lake City with me to take his body home.

The Lord sent a second witness to me that proper care had been given, even though he was dying. Dr. Carla Concha, a bilingual Chilean doctor of infectious diseases, assured me that Elder Babcock would have had no better care in Salt Lake City, Utah or anywhere in the world.  The other doctors had asked her to make sure that I understood that Elder Babcock was dying. I explained to her my testimony of eternal life and the continuation of personality and family.  I knew that Ken would be a missionary in the spirit world and I would see him again.

Dr Concha helped explain to the doctors my desire that he not be kept artificially alive.  I felt she was a gift sent by the Lord to comfort me.  I was able to write a letter to my family assuring them of my faith in the will of Heavenly Father and my acceptance of this change in mission assignment.  

I finished the letter and ended my fast.  And at that moment, Elder Babcock’s body started to respond. For no scientifically understandable reason, his kidneys and liver started to improve.  We looked for the slightest movements.  The doctor said that he saw him move his mouth around the breathing tube.  I began to hope that maybe he would wake up and that I could tell him I loved him and say goodbye.  I felt oddly joyful, but still doubted the possibility of total recovery.

On Easter morning, he squeezed my hand.  On Monday morning, he opened his eyes and recognized me.  He couldn't talk and he was in pain, semi-conscious, with his eyes closed, but he was alive again.  The doctors were able to do more things to help him.  They didn't want me to get my hopes up, but they were excited. 

That same night as I prayed and pondered our life together, I felt impressed by the Lord to write down 12 goals.  We would stay in Chile and complete our mission.  We would go to the temple in Santiago in October.  We would be an example and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the staff at the Clinic.  Elder Babcock’s recovery would happen in a way that would show the power of God.  I would be blessed to be able to understand and communicate with the doctors and not be dependent on the young missionaries who were a constant support and strength to me and an example of service to all of the medicos and workers in the Clinic. Not all of these goals came to pass, but the recovery did come, and it showed the power of God in marvelous ways.

On Wednesday, Elder Babcock was off the breathing machine.  He could smile.  He could say words.  He knew who I was.  He recognized our daughter who had come from the Pennsylvania.  He wanted to know what day it was.  He wondered how he got to be so bad off.  He was able to eat applesauce.  He was able to move his arms and legs more.  He still couldn't hear, but he could read our notes and talk to us.  A week after he first woke up he was moved from ICU.  He was smiling and cheerful.  He was trying to teach the gospel to the doctors and nurses.

But two days later something happened.  I don’t think Satan was very happy about all these miracles.  Elder Babcock didn't wake up.  He didn't recognize me.  He didn't want to eat.  They tried to take him for an MRI, but he got seizures and was almost comatose again. Two young elders had just come and I asked them to give him a blessing.  I remembering the elder saying that God knew what was happening and that nothing would happen that was not according to His will.  I was comforted and remembered again that Elder Babcock would recover in a way that would show the power of God.  I felt impressed to again play the music of the Tabernacle Choir on the iPad next to his ear.  It seemed to calm him. 

The neurologist couldn't understand why Elder Babcock wasn't better. The Elders and Hermanas continued to provide encouragement and support.  They sang to him, and they prayed with us.
 

President Martinez came again and gave him a fourth blessing.  While the President was with us, Elder Babcock recognized him as someone important and felt that he was having a missionary interview.  But his great desire was that he be able to be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost and be able to hold the Priesthood.  He was re-living his youth, his childhood and his introduction to the gospel as a 16 year old boy.  As the day progressed he relived many memories and seemed to be experiencing many pressures and influences, both good and badOne of the visiting elders held his hand for hours during that afternoon, and as night came on and the fears increased, we found ourselves in a battle with hallucinations as Ken tried to save me and our family from certain death.

Finally the one of the nurses recognized there was a problem and called the Doctor.  He brought back some medication that he had withdrawn and helped Elder Babcock go to sleep.  

The next morning we talked about the invisible visitors.   Elder Babcock felt his mother had been there.  At first I thought he had forgotten that she was dead.  But then I realized that perhaps she was on a mission from the spirit world to help her son.  Elder Babcock had asked one of the visitors who was dressed in white if he had oil for a priesthood blessing.  He talked about being in a war. And at one point he asked me: “Don’t you think that Satan will attack the priesthood.”

“Yes,” I said.
 

After that things started to get better again.  I put a calendar on the wall and circled the day.  I made a list of the names of our children and their spouses and the names of our grandchildren.  I made a time line of our activities for the last five years.  It included the dates of our previous mission and the time at home between missions and information about our time in Chile.

The linear memory he has now begins with the fourteenth of April.  They were able to do surgery on his ears and remove a quantity of liquid, relieving a lot of the pressure on his brain.  His hearing was improving.  He was able to use the computer.  He only needed two people to help him to the bathroom instead of four or five.  The therapist convinced him he could walk with a walker.  We tried to convince him that he wasn’t sick anymore.  He was just weak and in need of time to recover.
 

Thing seemed to be going well, but, the medications were complicated.  The doctors needed inspiration to know what to do.  The new MRI showed a problem.  The Doctors were confused.  They feared that he still had the infection after all.  They were considering major brain surgery.
 

This is the time that Elder Babcock remembers, when he felt that the doctors had been making mistakes and needed help from the Lord.  Dr. Rivas talked to us about counsels, saying that one doctor cannot make decisions alone and that there were three doctors who would be counseling together and deciding what was best.  He told Elder Babcock that he was a Christian and that he didn't know why the Lord wanted Don Kenneth to spend more time in the Clinic.  And when he left he told Elder Babcock to have faith. 

The neurosurgeon had seen him on a good day and recommended continued antibiotics instead of surgery.  The neurologist, Dr. Rivas and the infectious diseases doctor, , Dr. Concha agreed: no surgery. Dr. Concha said an interesting thing, “If it were anyone else, as a doctor I would feel compelled to consider the worst case scenario and act accordingly.  But because of your faith and your prayers and the miracles, I think we can wait and trust that somehow the problem can be taken care of by extending the current course of antibiotics and hoping that restarting the cortisone will help.”
 

And so we had two more weeks of walking and talking and interacting with the workers at the hospital.  We left some of them with invitations to church, pass-along cards and copies of the Book of Mormon.

On May 6, six weeks after his arrival, Elder Babcock left the clinic, without a walker, without a wheelchair.  He had me to hold on to, and we stayed in Temuco almost two weeks for follow up appointments and to get readjusted to life without nursing help. 

I wrote this summary of our experiences in Clinica Alemana when we had been living back in Victoria for a little over a month. 

The five and a half weeks back in Victoria between hospitalizations was very important to us, but frustrating for Elder Babcock.  At first he made major strides in mobility, gaining strength in body and mind.  By early June we were taking long walks.  Even though he was not able to attend night meetings or continue his responsibilities as the district clerk, we felt that we were where we needed to be.  He did not remember the computer systems and found that the branch clerks he had already trained were able to take over his responsibilities in the district.

Fortunately, his personality was intact. Many faces seemed familiar to him, but he could not remember the experiences he had had with people. He did not remember people or places, but when we visited a place, he responded the same way he had initially.  Sometime a memory would return with details.  We attended Sunday meetings and restarted English classes in our home, with many non-members attending.  The missionaries, members, and neighbors were very aware of the miracles that had occurred in our lives.

After a few weeks he seemed to be getting weaker instead of stronger.  We did not understand at the time that he was suffering from adrenal insufficiency and low sodium in the blood.  Also, there were no outward symptoms of a major sinus infection that was developing. I communicated with Dr. Rivas by E-mail and discussed the possibility of low blood sodium. 

Three days after his sacrament meeting talk, Elder Babcock was back in the hospital in Temuco.

Part 2  -

During the recovery period in Victoria which was now coming to an end, we made many trips to Temuco for appointments with doctors who continued to be amazed at Elder Babcock’s marvelous recovery.  For the details of our struggles and joy during this time,

Part 3 –

The second hospitalization was hard for us to understand, but the missionary experiences we had in the hospital during those last 34 days helped us feel that we had indeed completed our mission.

The Wednesday after his talk in sacrament meeting Elder Babcock fell during the night after getting up to go to the bathroom.  I was not strong enough to help him back up.  His mind was clear, but he couldn’t walk or dress.  One leg and arm seemed paralyzed.  I called the wife of the mission president, Hermana Martinez, and again the zone leaders drove us to Temuco.

 

Dr. Rivas, the neurologist met us in the emergency room.  He said it was not a stroke.  There was no brain hemorrhage, no vasculitis or thrombosis.  Elder Babcock did have a bad sinus infection and his sometimes his right arm and leg didn’t work. The doctors took a sinus biopsy and restarted the antibiotics. They had no explanation for the low sodium in the blood. 

We were back with our hospital friends, but they were not so glad to see us. Dr. Concha came to see us again. I was finally able to take her picture, and one of my first thoughts was that Elder Babcock would be able to give her the Book of Mormon. Ken told me that he thinks Dr. Concha and her family are one of the reasons the Lord withdrew his hand of protection. He needed us to come back to the clinic. We had unfinished business. Ken asked me to go back to Victoria to get the Book of Mormon he had prepared to give her earlier. This was when we and Ken wasn't well enough to give her the Book himself.

We did not know how long we would be in the hospital this time. A loveseat in the room folded out into a bed, so I was able to stay overnight.  I cut up his food and helped him eat, as his right arm continued to be weak.  He started hallucinating about movement in a picture in the room, which he was convinced was some kind of electronic screen.  They had forgotten to continue one of his medications in the hospital, and he was having severe withdrawal symptoms. It was a comfort to have doctors and nurses and aids that were familiar and knew his history. 

After three days in this familiar environment, Elder Babcock was transferred to the third floor pediatric unit.  We figured that it was a “mission transfer” and the Lord wanted us to be able to interact with and influence a different set of nurses, aids, and therapists.

His mind was finally clear again, but he was confined to bed and very weak.  It was as if his body was remembering all of the problems it had had with meningitis.  They identified his sinus infection as pseudomona aeruginosa and had all of the health care workers wear masks and gowns when they interacted with him.  Because the infection required intravenous antibiotics, he would be required to stay in the hospital for at least two weeks. 

Some days were difficult again.  Ken would wake up slow and foggy. After a week, things were still not going well.

After the first hospitalization, President Martinez had supported our desire to complete our mission in Chile. At that time, we felt it was the only possible decision and the right one. But about two weeks into the second hospitalization, the President told us that the mission department wanted us to return to the United States immediately.  We were sent a travel itinerary for July 19, but it was another ten days before the doctors would release Elder Babcock from the hospital. 

Some of the missionary experiences we had may help explain the sense of closure we felt.

On  Thursday, July 11 we were saying goodbye to a neurologist who had taken over while Dr. Rivas was out of town.  He was an evangelical Baptist and was very interested in talking with Ken about religious differences and the Book of Mormon.  I had asked the zone leaders for a Book of Mormon to give to him, but they were unable to bring us one until Friday.  .As the neurologist was leaving, two sister missionaries arrived and I was able to give him the Book of Mormon before he left the clinic.  We didn’t see him again.

A few minutes later, Dr. Suazo, the ear doctor came to say hello. Elder Babcock introduced him to the sisters. They shared their testimony and asked if they could have the telephone number and address it to teach him more. He gave it to them.

Then a nurse came in, one of the special who prays for Elder Babcock. We had a good visit and ended up giving her a Book of Mormon and got her telephone number and address for the Hermanas.

Then as the sisters were leaving,  Claudio O’Ryan, the physical therapist came in.  The sisters asked if we could have prayer before they left and asked Elder Babcock to ask who should say the prayer. He thought for a minute and then asked the therapist to offer the prayer. He gave a beautiful and powerful prayer using his own words and in the name of Jesus.  Then the sisters got his telephone number and address to teach him.

All this happened in an hour. We were very happy remembering that the Lord does things His way and answers prayers in ways we do not expect.

I found out later that after they left our hospital room the sister missionaries went around the floor singing. One couple came out of their room and asked if they could pray with them for their grandchild. They ended up in the Oratorio with 24 family members teaching them a lesson about prayer.

We were eager to make contact with Dr. Concha.  On July 8, Ken was finally well enough that I felt I could go to Victoria and get the Book of Mormon for her. We didn’t see her again until July 15, when she came to say goodbye.  She would be gone for two weeks.   Evidently she had been sick and had a doctor in Santiago.  She had  a class to attend there also, so it would be a working vacation.

I asked if she would have time to read and told her that Ken had prepared a Book for her before we left the clinic the first time but hadn't had opportunity to give it to her. She accepted it, read the dedication, and promised she would read the book. We could tell she was touched. And we both felt a tremendous weight lifted and a great sense of peace.

We didn’t know that we would not see her again, but asked the Sister Missionaries to contact her and offer to answer any questions she has about the Book of Mormon. I feel such great love for Dr. Concha.

Wednesday, July 17 I went with three sister missionaries to Pewman Ruka, the hostel to make reservations for our last night in Chile.  While we were there, they made arrangements to come back and answer questions about the church. These are fantastic missionaries, the same ones who had sung to the children and gotten contact information from the staff the week before.  

The original travel plans were to have us return to Salt Lake City on July 19.  However, Elder Babcock was still on intravenous antibiotics and was just beginning to walk again, with help.  On July 15 it had been an achievement to be sitting on the side of the bed. He was awake more.  His memory was recovering.  He could now say the months of the year and days of the week backwards. By July 19 he could stand alone and walk with the help of two women. He walked out into the hall and became the talk of the clinic.  On July 20, while I was organizing things in Victoria,  he walked twice around the atrium.  July 24 he went up and down steps for the first time, only ten steps, but preparation for getting on the airplane. 

Sunday, July 28 Elder Babcock was released from the hospital.  We spent the night at the hostal,.  It was good for the staff there to see us again and be reminded of the missionaries and the miracles that had occurred in our lives. 

We met the Mission President, his wife, the new mission nurse and her husband and Dr. Mikesell at the airport. Dr. Mikesell accompanied us on the first class flight home, from the airport in Temuco all the way to the emergency room of the University of Utah hospital.  There, the Stake President released us as missionaries and told us to keep on our missionary badges until that night at home.  He assured us that we had completed our eighteen month mission in nine months and that we would have the opportunity to share our experiences with members of the stake.

The doctors did a few procedures and gave instructions, but they did not admit him to the hospital. Ken was still weak and unsteady, but able to maneuver.  We stayed with our daughter’s family for three days.  It was a blessing that I was able to care for him at home after that.

We began the slow process of making appointments with specialists.  Continuing sessions with a physical therapist helped him progress in strength and mobility.  In a  major sinus surgery in mid-October, the doctors were able to totally eliminate the infection, improve drainage, and close a connection between the brain and the sinus that had contributed to the problems.  For the first time we felt that Elder Babcock was receiving care that he could not have received in Chile.

We reported on our mission in our home ward and in several wards in the stake, always bearing testimony of the goodness of God and his miraculous power.  We had been able to share the gospel in a very real way with doctors and nurses and hospital workers in Chile and to strengthen the testimonies of many young elders and sister missionaries throughout our mission.

At the beginning of the new year, 2014, we returned to serving in the Salt Lake temple one day a week, and we were both called to teach Primary. Ken began spending his days doing family history work.

I was often reminded that many of Elder Babcock’s memories were still hidden from him, especially of places and events that occurred in the last five to ten years. And yet he seemed to have very clear access to old memories, coming up with specific names and details connected with long ago events. 

To help important memories come back, we returned to the U. S. Virgin Islands in May 2014 to visit St. Croix and St. Thomas islands where we served our first mission together.  We were able to stay in one of our former missionary apartments and attend church meetings on each island.  When he saw people and places, Elder Babcock was able to retrieve memories that he had lost.  He said it was like seeing a movie.

2014 continued to be an eventful year.  We gathered with all of our family except two for a reunion at Bear Lake in Utah, for an early celebration of our 50^th wedding. We experienced the tragic early death of a troubled grandson.  Our youngest daughter was married. We explored Bryce Canyon on mules.  Our first missionary granddaughter returned from her mission to Panama.  We attended the Salt Lake Temple to remember our official 50^th wedding anniversary.  A granddaughter was born and blessed.  We travelled, visiting and assisting several of our children.   

During November and December of 2014 we were blessed to discover and correct a secondary effect of the many cortisone treatments he had received during the treatment of his meningitis. During our temple service on November 8, he fainted twice. He received a blessing from his co-workers after the first episode.  We were miraculously blessed with replacements for our assignments and impressed to go to the University of Utah hospital emergency room.  Ken ended up spending Sunday in intensive care when the doctors had systematically eliminated the possible causes for dangerously low blood pressure.  The standard emergency room treatments hadn’t worked.  The head doctor in intensive care’s suggestion of adrenal insufficiency as a cause was inspired.

Because Ken had received so much cortisone during his illness, his body was not naturally producing the hormones he needed when he was under stress.  This diagnosis was eventually confirmed and the problem is being taken care of by taking a small cortisone pill every day and wearing a medical alert bracelet to advise doctors to increase the dosage in case of an accident or illness.

As Ken’s energy has increased so has his ability to exercise and make his body stronger.  He has become an active and energetic 74 year old.  

Miracles and blessings in our lives continue, but the chapters relating to the miracle in Chile are coming to a close. We look forward to a missionary reunion on October 2, 2015 with President and Sister Martinez and their family and many of the elders and sisters who served us.  In answer to their fasting and prayers, we can testify that Kenneth Lynn Babcock has been blessed with a full and complete recovery.