hospitals, lines, shakes

I probably shouldn't have asked in my last blog "whatever next", because i got my answer on Thursday night. I woke from a dead sleep to a rumbling noise and my bed being shaken back and forth rather vigorously. It didn't take me long to work it out - an earthquake. It lasted just long enough and was strong enough to get scary and make me wonder if I ought to make a move, and then it all settled down, although it took me some time to settle down again! Apparently Ecuador is on a fault line, and these are fairly regular happenings. I went onto the Guayaquil newspaper website to see what I could find out, and it was a 5.2, which seems a fair little shakeup to me! 2 houses in Guayaquil were destroyed, both squatter type dwellings, made of bamboo. When you look at some of those places and where they are built, hanging onto hillsides by their fingernails, it's a wonder more of them didn't fall down.
At this end of the last 2 weeks it feels as though I have spent most of them in hospitals, in fact it has been big parts of every weekday but one. I have got to know 3 of the Guayaquil hospitals quite well! But will I ever figure out the system, or even if there is one?? The big project was getting a test done for Narcisa, our lady who has the heart problem. When we were finally able to get her to see a surgeon, he wanted her to have a cardiac catheterization done, so we would know if she even is a good candidate for surgery, or if the damage was too advanced. This would be a simple enough process in Canada, but a whole different story here. She was admitted to one hospital, and the test done in another. And organizing that took an astonishing amount of time, and patience, and tolerance!! And many trips back and forth between the hospitals, and many people to talk to and many lines to stand in and bits of paper to be signed. It took 4 half days for Nikki and I to get it all in place, with Narcisa in the hospital all the while. A word about the hospital she was in: A very old place, I think someone said it's a heritage building! It is something from another age, big old place, built around a central courtyard, which was actually very nice. But then you go into the wards, which are the oldfashioned wards from 100 years ago, beds all lined up along both sides. As basic as you can get, this is the hospital for the poor. Men and women on the same ward, different ends, but no real dividers. NO curtains to pull around the beds to give privacy, no tracks even, there never have been curtains. Patients provide their own drinking water, toilet paper, even their own dishes, which they wash themselves after each meal and keep by the bedside. And the signs on the walls - Don't sit on the beds, Don't throw garbage on the floor, and my personal favourite - Don't spit on the floor!
All was accomplished eventually, and on Tuesday morning I was at that hospital at 7, rounded up 2 porters, a wheelchair, a nurse and an ambulance, put the patient together with all of the above, and waited for the doctor who was to come along to show up, an hour late! And finally off we went, me in the back of the decrepit ambulance with all kinds of new friends I made while we waited. Then of course we had to wait for a very long time at hospital #2, because we were late, and the doctor had got himself occupied with other affairs. But in due course it was done, I only had to make 3 trips out to get DVD's that they needed that nobody had told me about, then go and pay for bloodwork they did during the procedure! Then finally done, and back to hospital #1, siren going! All in all, an experience. And I have left lots out.
The good news of all that was that the damage to her heart is less than they had thought, so she is able to have surgery. Sort of a good news, bad news story. Good that she is eligible for the surgery she needs to repair that heart defect, but when I think about what will be involved in getting that done...oh dear! And I have a bit of a misgiving at having something like open heart surgery done in that hospital.
Thursday and Friday mornings were spent with someone else needing attention, we went to the nearby hospital, which does have a system of sorts, but involves waiting in numerous disorganized lines, for every step of the process, and there are many. By the time I emerged at the end of friday morning, my patience had worn very thin. I think this is the hardest part of my job here, the hospitals, the lines, and waiting and waiting. I went home feeling frazzled and exhausted.
But then in the afternoon I went to Bastion, made a couple of housecalls, then went and visited with Graciela, the wife of the man who had the leg ulcer. I don't get to see them anymore, now that the ulcer is all healed up, so I went just to visit and catch up. And got such a welcome, and had a great visit. Then went to pick up my nicely sharpened machete (well, I have banana trees to deal with!) from Felipe, and stayed for awhile, sat on a stool in his shoemaker shop, chatted, watched him repair a pair of shoes that most of us would have thrown out long ago, and watched the world go by his place on the main street - most of Bastion does go by sooner or later. And he knows them all.
And so 2 hours later, I went home feeling restored and at peace again. That's the good part of my job, getting to spend time in Bastion, with old and new friends. I am so blessed by knowing these people.
An update on Michelle, the little girl with leukemia: we had a call from her dad this week, saying she is doing much better than she was, tolerating the chemo and in good spirits. Good news.