Hospital visits...

Let me just start by saying....I don't like blood, I don't like hospitals, I don't like flesh wounds....And the story can now begin... :)


So...it all started with a trip to Jesus Helper’s to arrange a surprise for Cheryl’s wedding which was going to be in a few weeks time! When we arrived at Jesus Helper’s, Brian came out to meet us with his head wrapped in a scarf. At first, I thought he was playing a joke on me so I laughed. He then unwrapped his head and it looked as if his entire face had been burnt. It was red, blotchy and he had awful looking, oozing wounds all over his face. It was swollen almost beyond recognition. I asked him what happened and he said that his face just blew up like that.

 

After speaking with Pastor Steven and Jane we worked out that about a month before Brian had been ‘diagnosed’ with epilepsy and had just had a reaction to the medication that the hospital had told him to take. His face looked so bad that I thought his airways may be restricted if his face kept swelling anymore. I told the Pastors that he HAD to go to hospital today. By this stage it was about 4pm. I knew we were in for a long night. So Jane and I went to a well-known and very good private hospital near my house. The doctor was very shocked by his face and told him he had to be admitted and was not allowed to go home. The problem was it was going to be a 50,000 shilling deposit upfront before they could admit him (money we simply did not have). So the only other option was to get a referral and take him across town to a different hospital.

We arrived at this hospital at about 9pm. The scene on arrival was beyond shocking. (Be warned if you don't like gross things...stop reading now!) Patients EVERYWHERE. All over the waiting room. Hundreds of them. Some lying on beds, some sitting on the floor, some on chairs, some standing. The smell was intense and the sounds were worse. Screaming, vomiting, crying, wailing. These patients were just waiting to be seen...some who had obviously been there for many, many hours. So we went to the counter and were told to go for assessment at the other side. We did so and waited for some accident victims to be checked. There was blood and all sorts of other things all over the floors and walls. And it was hot. Very hot.  

In the end we waited to see a doctor for a loooong time. During this time a woman came running out into the waiting room screaming at the top of her lungs in Kikuyu. She had just lost her father. It was one of the worst things I have witnessed in my life. I had seen scenes like this on TV, but never in real life. She dropped to the floor screaming and flailing her legs everywhere, grieving her loss. At this stage a whole crowd of people gathered to see what was happening. Then everyone started staring at me, the only white person in the hospital. It was awful. I looked down into my lap and tried to hold back the tears.

At about 1am we were finally seen by a doctor who said that it was indeed a reaction to the drugs. He also said that Brian needed to come back on Wednesday for treatment and to see a dermatologist. He was given a prescription for drugs as well. While we were in this room there were about 6 men, some sharing beds, heaving heavily, trying to breathe. I don’t think that some of them would have made it through the night. Just as we had finished with the doctor one man behind the curtain started vomiting mass amounts of blood in our direction. We made a quick exit.

We then had to wait at the medication counter for about 20 minutes while we waited for someone to come and serve us.

From this experience, I learnt many things.

1. Patience

2. It’s not that fun to be the only white person in a crowd of desperate, unwell people

3. How lucky I am to have good health

4. How wonderful the spirit of mateship is in Africa. Everyone at the hospital needed a friend to help them, to push their trollies around the waiting room. It really showed me how much love people have for each other.

5. How lucky I am to have medical insurance and how much the kids at the orphanage need it!

So we arrived home at about 3:30am, after a quick drive through the heart of Nairobi. I decided to take Brian and Jane home to my place as the road into the village that the orphanage is in would not have been safe at that hour. Brian was SO excited to come to my house and was happy to have a nice bed to sleep in!

We all crashed into bed after honey sandwiches, as I had not much else in the house to make at that hour!! I will never forget when Brian said, “the last time I had honey was in standard 2” (At least 6 years ago!)

 

In the morning we woke up slowly and I made some eggs and toast for breakfast. They were so happy to have eggs and bread. After this, Brian was desperate to take a cake back to the orphanage. So we baked a cake. I never knew the pure joy of baking until I did it with kids who have never seen an oven before! J

I am thankful for my health and the opportunity to serve Brian and Jane. They went back to the hospital on Wednesday and were turned away as all the doctors were on strike. They then returned another day. At this stage, Brian’s face has gone back to normal and he’s returned to school. We are still trying to get to the bottom of whether or not he actually has epilepsy. Please pray for this. It is sometimes a complicated process with doctors here. J

 Blessings!

Waithera (who doesn’t want to go to that hospital ever again... J).