Life’s miracles Today is a celebration of miracles for Roy and Roberta Serai of Wahiawa and their daughter, Sandee, 33, who has been on the edge of death for several years.
unite family
The Serais are grateful
that daughter Sandee
survives her ailmentsBy Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.com"We nearly lost her maybe a good half-dozen times," her father said.
The family is thankful for many gifts: above all, Sandee's survival from a series of near-fatal medical problems, and a host of doctors, interns, residents, nurses and others at the Queen's Medical Center who gave them support and hope.
Sandee, who observed her last Thanksgiving in 1998, said she is grateful to be home sharing her mother's kalua turkey and trimmings with her family. The closest she came to food for 1 1/2 years in the hospital was watching the Food Network on TV, she said, but now she can enjoy the holiday fare with some dietary restrictions.
The Serais' "most joyful story" began in near tragedy when Sandee was stricken in September 1999 with hemorrhagic, necrotizing pancreatitis, involving inflammation of the pancreas, abnormal bleeding and enzymes causing internal damage.
Among many people involved in her life-and-death struggle were Drs. Joseph Murakami, Linda Wong, Whitney Lim, Clyde Miyaki, Jarrod Sugihara, Steven Berman, David Fitz-Patrick and Mihae Yu.
Sandee was in so much pain when admitted to the hospital that she became combative and was placed in an induced coma to conserve her energy for healing, her parents said.
Doctors told the Serais in the first three days that she could die at any moment, and advised them to inform family and friends, Roberta Serai said.
But on the second day, she said, she told her husband: "No, she's walking out of here. That's the only way we're going to think.' ... After three days we had three miracles working for us.
"She had some really bad days, but every day that we had a rainbow coming in from Wahiawa, she had small improvement."
"She's kind of a miracle girl," agreed Dr. Joseph Murakami, her primary care physician. "It's Sandee's fortitude and her parents' fortitude, too," that she made it through "extraordinary suffering, prolonged hospitalization and long ups and downs," he said.
She began life as a miracle child because her mother, who had open heart surgery at age 19, was told she could not have a baby. When she persisted, doctors said she could have one with constant monitoring, but no more.
Always active and athletic, Sandee was state springboard diving champion from 1983 to 1986 in the Hawaii High School Athletic Association. In her freshman year in college, she blew out her knee in diving and had to give up the sport, her father said.
But she coached and demonstrated diving at Punahou School until she became sick. She also was volunteer coordinator of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu.
She began suffering bouts of acute pancreatitis in 1995, possibly because of poor dietary habits contributing to high triglyceride levels, Murakami said. (She admits to a junk food diet and a lot of concealed stress.)
She was in and out of Wahiawa General Hospital and Queen's for four years with all the complications of the illness, including respiratory failure and diabetes, he said.
In September 1999 she was back in Queen's with her systems failing drastically. She clung to life the first five weeks, with 18 infusion and medicine machines going at once. She was connected to a mini-hemodialysis machine and needed 24-hour care.
More miracles occurred: She had surgery to remove infected fluids leaking into her tissues; then when she was improving, a large artery in her abdomen ruptured, requiring seven units of blood and more units of plasma within 15 minutes.
Three doctors -- a rarity in the surgical intensive-care unit -- stopped the bleeding and stabilized her, Roberta Serai said.
"The doctors make a big joke out of me," Sandee said, telling her, "With all the blood pumped into you, you are related to everyone on the island."
Her parents were warned that she might have some brain damage and might need to be on hemodialysis all of her life or placed in a care home.
In November 1999, however, her kidney function slowly returned, amazing her nephrologist, Roberta Serai said.
Sandee was released to acute care two days before Thanksgiving last year -- miracle No. 7, Roberta Serai said, "because we thought she would be in ICU for many more months."
Miracle No. 8: "She didn't have any signs of brain damage."
Sandee was moved to a progressive-care unit in March 2000 to prepare to go home, then contracted candida, a fungal infection in her bloodstream. She was rushed back to acute care with labored breathing and a soaring bacteria count in her blood.
She began to crash, and nurses worked on her feverishly. After more than a month, she beat the infection and was placed back in the acute-care unit -- miracle No. 9, her parents said.
The young woman continued to improve from June to August last year, but "little incidences" kept her hospitalized, Roberta Serai said. Then on Aug. 1 the 10th miracle happened when she walked out of the hospital, her mother said.
The Serais practically lived at Queen's while their daughter battled for her life. Their only enjoyment, besides watching her get well, was watching the University of Hawaii Warriors winning games, Roberta Serai said. "They lifted our hearts."
They got to know everyone involved in Sandee's care and others at the hospital who asked about her and gave them encouraging hugs. They learned everything they could about her situation, medicines, procedures and equipment.
They performed small tasks for her, made bedrolls and did other things to help the nurses and keep busy. "All these little things kept us going," Roy Serai said.
There were times when Sandee could not speak, write or even scratch her nose, and she still faces recurrent problems.
But Murakami said, "She's actually doing pretty well now ... with a return to normalcy that we all take for granted."