Friday, August 22, 2008

Hospitals -- AAARRRGGGG

But first some fun pictures. This is the Elders and Sisters in our District/Zone during our second transfer. On the back row, holding the container of papaya is Elder Cenal, our District Leader. The second row is Elder Barfuss, our Zone Leader from Pocatello, ID, then Elder Orpia, Elder Consego, our other Zone Leader, and Elder Bajacar. Front row is Sister Parsons, Sister Jacinto, Sister Mijares, Sister Sumingait, Sister Baricar, and Elder Dapac. Elders Barfuss and Cenal, plus Sisters Jacinto and Baricar were all transfered today.

This is our handyman, Bobitz. Lately, we have needed him to fix a short in the light in our kitchen. It took him about 2-3 hours to complete the task. Including parts, it cost us 150 pesos ($3)


How did these guys get in here?

Well, second story. This is Brother Shields. He is a Vietnam Veteren from Las Vegas. His first wife died about 6 years ago. He met his second love and has been married 5 years to her.


Her name is Luz. She had a friend who knew Guy Shields and they were in love. They lived in Las Vegas until last year when they moved to the Philippines. It is amazing how many foreigners live here with their Filipina wife, but that is not our story.

Every afternoon on Negros Island all the locals build fires to fill the air with smoke. They say it is to keep mosquitos away, but we know it doesn't work that well. What it does do is get into the lungs. Brother Shields developed pneumonia and spent a few days in the hospital a month ago. This is one hall of the hospital which in the morning every seat is filled by patients waiting to see a doctor. The ceiling fans do not keep up with the aroma (bring a clothes pin).


This last week we visited Guy and found that he was not doing well, at all. In fact he had lost over 75 pounds since being in the hospital. He had determined he needed to return to USA to go to the VA Hospital in Las Vegas. We knew that the airlines would question his ability to fly and determined he needed to get a Medical Certificate to fly. We told Luz and he that we would help them obtain the necessary documents. This is the other direction looking outside. Directly across the roadway occupied by the motorcycle is the ER.


We said a prayer stating that we needed to see the right people at the right time to accomplish what would be best for Guy and set out with them for the day's excursion. We went to the doctor's office only to find out that the doctor was only in for half a day. We got there with 10 minutes to spare, got right in, and got set up for an x ray for Guy.

[We talked to another man the next day at the same doctor's office which arrived at 7:30 AM. We saw him at 12 noon and he still had not seen the doctor. He also was there for an x ray. Funny how those prayer things work.]

The x ray was read by an ER doctor who immediately called the original doctor for her to return to the hospital and requested that Guy go get an ultra sound, which we then went right over, and got right in. The ultra sound reveled that Guy had about 3 liters of fluid in his right lung. It has a capacity of about 7 liters. This is Guy back in the ER where his original doctor called in her husband, a surgeon, to do a little procedure on Guy.

"X" marks the spot. Wait a minute there are 2 "X's". Good thing the doctor knew which "X" marked the spot.

They were only able to get 2700 mls of the 3000 mls. Ha Ha. What you see in the jar is cotton swabs dipped in iodine. That is as sterile as it gets. Notice no mask. Notice the lovely assistant!!

Guy was admitted for observation for overnight. Remind me if I need to go in the hospital that "This is not the Place!"

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah we hope you don't have to visit the hospitals too!

Richard B said...

I'm glad you were able to have your prayers answered. We observed that there were a number of American military married to Koreans who live in Korea. As they age the same situation develops. They need to return to America for treatment,as the US military medical facilities in Korea will only handle certain medical conditions. Keep up the good work. You are doing a great job.

Gram said...

Dick said it all. I know I would never have gone to a Korean hospital for surgery. For one thing, there are no fat people or very few fat people and I don't think the doctors know how to handle that. We love the good old USA for hospital work. Prayers to help and I'm convinced that missionary prayers are answered faster than others. I hope he improves quickly.