Hello everyone,

So I was going through my phone and in doing so, I stumbled on two pictures I realized I’d never uploaded on this site.

I guess I may have uploaded one on the Facebook page – “Onuoma’s pages”

The pictures are visual depictions of a catheter. This is a device used to draw blood and give treatments such as intravenous fluids, drugs, or blood transfusions. Here “a thin, flexible tube is inserted into a vein, usually below the right collarbone, and guided (threaded) into a large vein above the right side of the heart called the superior vena cava“.

This is a painful procedure mainly because the catheter is embedded in a large syringe. The syringe goes into the vein, the tiny tube is pushed in and immediately the syringe is withdrawn.

You see many SCD warriors have what may be described as tiny veins. This often poses a problem in trying to administer intravenous fluids or obtain blood for medical tests. Sometimes they may be pricked as much as five times before a procedure can be completed. Hence, the reason why doctors resort to using catheters.

Each of the pictures has a story behind them. A story of pain and sadness and eventually answered prayers. Please do not misrepresent them to mean that I’m ill. My main objective is to buttress how the Lord came through for me in my pain.

Below is the first picture snapped on the 9th of January, 2020. In this particular picture, the medical practitioner had resorted to inserting the catheter in the large vein in my chest.

Would you like to know why this particular picture resonates with me? It was a time when I had taken several exchange blood transfusions through catheters. At each of these times, both my thighs near my abdominal region were inserted with a catheter. It was either this or nothing else.

Thus, the choice to use my chest on this particular day scared me. The tears that flowed were unimaginable. Not to mention the fact that you equally weep when the tubes are being retracted.

Please see below.

The second picture is quite different. It was taken on the 13th of October 2020. See below

Here the catheter was placed in my neck. The level of pain for this particular procedure was excruciating. After the below procedure, I recall weeping so much and telling God to end it completely.

I no longer wanted to go through any more exchange blood transfusions. Guess what? He came through and since then, he’s honored my prayer. I could not be more thankful and grateful for his faithfulness.

“Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, ….. Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee – Job 22 v 27-28.

Reference:

NIH – National Cancer Institute “Central venous access catheter” https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/central-venous-access-catheter