Below you
will read another glaring example of our living faith and the strong presence
of the saints in our lives. The cardiologist Dr. Vasilios Karogiannis testifies
to us his moving experience and a great miracle of our great Holy Physician,
Saint Panteleimon.
I will
mention to you with precision one of the many medical miracles colleagues have
experienced in their medical career without ever having them made public. It
was the summer of 2000 or 2001, I'm not exactly sure which year, and I was on
duty as an intern cardiologist at Sotiria Hospital. I always took the so-called
German work hours of 3:00-6:00 AM. Though all internships took place during the
summer, it was quite exhaustive. After 5:00 AM, however, no patient came in for
an emergency. July 27th dawned and at 6:00 AM my summer vacation began. At 5:55
AM, though very tired I also was happy that I was starting my vacation, and I
began to get my things ready to close the book of my internship and leave.
Then an
incident came in with an ambulance stretcher. The driver of the ambulance told
me it was a woman who was a cleaner at the neighboring Gennimatas Hospital, who
had pain in her chest and asked to be transferred to our Hospital where I was
interning to be examined by a cardiologist. He told the ambulance driver to put
her in the intern room and I remember he reassured me saying: "Doctor,
don't worry, there's nothing wrong with her. She's 45 years old. It's probably
neurovegetative." Bringing the stretcher into the office the nurse called
out for me: "Doctor, quickly. She's having a cardiac arrest."
I ran there
and began resuscitation/defibrillation, rubbing, etc. for a long time, but the
ECG of the patient was an isoelectric line, or a straight line, without the
woman having heart, lung or brain function. She was essentially dead and nurses
were preparing to transfer her to the mortuary. Deeply saddened for the young
dead woman, in a flash I thought about the feast of Saint Panteleimon that was
dawning, and I grabbed the defibrillator and supplicated within me: "Saint
Panteleimon, you are a physician, today on your feast help this young
woman." Immediately I did the medical, and probably unnecessary,
defibrillation while the dead woman was connected to the monitor without signs
of life, and yet automatically there began to appear an EKG on the monitor and
with an image of the anterior myocardial infarction.
Immediately the ambulance took her and brought her to the myocardial
infarction unit. I want to note that the woman throughout the duration of our meeting
never saw me because she was either in cardiac arrest or in a coma. Completely
tired I left to go home and I erased the incident from my memory throughout the
duration of my summer vacation. I returned to work on August 14th at 8:00 AM
and when the morning shift nurses greeted me I suddenly remembered the
incident. I asked if the patient from my internship, whose name I still don't
know to this day, is still alive, even if she was still hospitalized or
discharged. They responded: "She's leaving today and is in room so and
so." Without wearing a shirt I ran to the room they indicated. Without
saying a word I saw a woman sitting on her bed eating her breakfast. As soon as
she saw me her gaze lit up and she said to me: "I thank you for saving my
life." I then told her that it wasn't me but someone else saved her. With
tears in my eyes I showed her an icon on her bedside table.
It was Saint
Panteleimon. Moved and agitated I left the room without saying another word.
Even today I don't know the name of the woman. This is a testimony of the
living presence of our faith in God and our saints.
Sincerely,
Vasilios Karogiannis, cardiologist
Athens
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