In the past week in postings have been on Facebook rather than blog- access to Facebook has been easier with our comings and goings.
A week ago today, I had made a doctor’s appointment from Stephen due to stomach pain that had been going on for a week. Getting an appointment is an interesting process, which requires having someone else call since my Spanish is enough to get me in trouble.
The plan was that we would stop by the doctor on the way home, and see what we would need to pick up at the pharmacy afterwards. The doctor (English speaking) that everyone goes to was out of the country, so we got to me a man who was filling in for him. The hope was that he might know enough English to communicate- he didn’t. When it was our turn, we went into his office; a room about 8X10 with a desk and an examination table. Doing our best to mime the situation, we finally had to resort to calling someone to be our translator over the phone. The only person we could get a hold of was our taxi driver, who kindly dropped everything and came to our rescue (Blessing #1). The doctor said, “Go to the hospital immediately, you have appendicitis” (in Spanish of course!) A developing country hospital was not on the top of our list of places to go. One of our friends down here shared a story of his last experience in the local Granada hospital. He had cut himself, and while he was being sewn up, there was a cat licking up the blood off the floor.
We left the office wondering “Was this doctor right? Was he even a doctor? What do we do now?” We called our new friends, sharing the information with them. They said, “Stay where you are, we will be there in 20 minutes to pick you up and take you to a hospital in Managua.”( Blessing #2)
When we arrived at the hospital Emergency room we were greeted by an English speaking nurse (Our landlord had called ahead to a friend at the hospital. – Blessing #3) Stephen was taken back, I filled out paperwork and within a short amount of time the doctor was there with a diagnosis and how it would be treated (Blessing #4).
That evening we found ourselves in the maternity ward (no other beds in the hospital) with Stephen on high level antibiotic, an air conditioned room, and hospital food that was not too bad. (Blessing #5) The nursing staff was very good, Stephen’s translation program on his phone was extremely helpful, and Stephen became affectionately known as “Baby Stephen”. He was feeling much better with the antibiotics, anti-inflammatory and pain medicine.
Because of his strong immune system and antibiotics (for something else) that he was taking earlier in the week, Stephen’s body had encapsulated the appendix to keep it from infecting the rest of him (Blessing #6). After IV antibiotics for about 36 hours, he was sent home with four other prescriptions to continue to fight off infection as the encapsulated appendix shrinks and is safe to remove- this will happen in one more week most likely. It is not quite how they would do it in the US, but we are impressed with the doctor’s knowledge and reaction.
During this time, we have heard from so many of you. It was a tremendous encouragement to know that you were praying for us (Blessing #7)! I felt strong and able to handle things, like God was carrying us through every step of the process! (He was) We so appreciate the prayers from around the world!