D. is a 26 month old boy who presented to clinic last Wednesday in respiratory distress. His oxygen saturation was 85%, he had crackles on pulmonary exam and he had edema in his legs and feet. He was placed on supplemental oxygen and his oxygen saturation improved to 98% on just 1 liter of oxygen per minute. Initially, it seemed like he had severe kwashiorkor with pulmonary edema. However, his mother had a lot of trouble recalling the chronology of his symptoms. He may have only had edema for 1 day. He had an elevated white blood cell count indicating possible infection but no fever or cough. We wanted to refer the patient to a hospital given the severity of his symptoms and the uncertainty of what underlying illness he had. However, his mother did not want to take him to a hospital.

D’s condition worsened considerably over the next 48 hours. He developed wheezing and worsening distress and his oxygen requirement kept rising and the edema was worsening. He received antibiotics, steroids, albuterol, magnesium, furosemide and suctioning. His parents still did not want to go to a hospital. They asked us to do what we could. On Thursday he was receiving continuous albuterol. His breathing was more labored and slowing down and his level of consciousness was decreasing. He was dying. Miraculously, he did not die. On Friday morning, he still had a very abnormal lung exam, but was significantly better than the middle of the night. He continued to improve and his lung exam normalized on Saturday. He was weaned off oxygen over the next 2 days and had normal oxygen saturation on room air by Monday morning. He is not ready to smile, as you can see from his picture, but he is miraculously better.

I had a sinking feeling on Thursday night as D struggled to breath. We were doing everything we could do for him. There was nothing else to do but pray. But prayer is no little thing. It is mighty. And God answered our prayers with a miracle. D was at death’s door on Thursday night, but today he is ready to go home. There is no medical explanation for D’s amazing recovery. Praise be to God.