Hope rises...

This blog is long. It is about Kenneth and what transpired on Wednesday. I will continue Thursday's events in the next blog...actually the one that will show above this one.

Well, the squeezing continues. Susanna met Jim at our mechanic’s first thing Wednesday morning to give him a ride back to the house. What we had thought was going to be the loss of a car for a day was going to be the loss for 3 days and the cost was going to be once again, much more than we had expected. I could feel the knot growing in the pit of my stomach. I began trying to find things to be thankful for regarding the car situation. God quickly brought to my mind that He had kept us safe on the roads and that we had not broken down anywhere along the way. He also reminded me that I was to trust in Him with all my heart and not try to figure why this car thing was such an issue…He was in control of all of it. Okay.

Not long after that little heavenly reminder, my phone rang. It was Susanna. She had talked with her oncology contact and told me that the doctor was willing to see Kenneth and give his opinion regarding his condition. We would need to have another x-ray done of his pelvis area and another blood test. She told me where we could go to get it done that day and that she would be happy to take us. She had a light schedule this week so she was free to help us. I was so excited.

I called Miguel and asked him to call Danelia right away. He told me that his mother had said that Danelia and the children had gone to Managua but he didn’t know why. I asked him to go ahead and call her and maybe we could meet her somewhere and get the necessary exams done. He said he would. I was thinking how great it would be if we didn’t have to go all the way to Tipitapa to turn around and come back in to Managua.

I waited and waited but didn’t hear back from Miguel. I called him back about 20 minutes later (remember, I said I was short a stitch or two on patience?). He said that Danelia wasn’t answering her phone and that she must have left it at home. He told me she should be back home around 2:00 or so that afternoon. I told him to call me as soon as she got home so we could try to get Kenneth in to get his testing done. Miguel assured me he would do so. I was discouraged and frustrated. I called Susanna and let her know. She just told me to let her know when I heard from Danelia.

Again I waited…this time about 10 minutes. Those stitches were dropping fast and furious. I called Miguel back and asked him for Danelia’s number. I told him I wanted to try to call her myself. He said okay and gave it to me. I could hear the shrug of his shoulders in his voice. I told him it was important we get this testing done that day and that I would use my minutes to call Danelia so he didn’t have to use his. I’m sure there was another shrug.

I immediately tried Danelia, not expecting her to answer but was almost giddy when she did. I asked her where she was and she told me they were at the Mascota Hospital. I could tell by her voice she was upset. She told me that Kenneth had been running a fever off and on since Saturday and she asked me if I remembered his fever on Saturday. I told her I did. She said that Kenneth began experiencing a lot of pain and that she was out of pain medication for him. He hadn’t slept much the night before and that his pain was now all the way down to his knee and that his arm was hurting him.

I tried to explain to her where we needed to go to get the testing done. I was failing miserably. I told her I was going to have Susanna call her right back and talk with her. She said okay. So I called Susanna and gave her Danelia’s number.

A few minutes later, Susanna called to tell us that Danelia thought she would be through at the hospital by noon so we were going to meet her there and then head on over to the area to get the exams done. Susanna was going to pick us up about 11:30 so we could go meet Danelia and the
kids.

When we arrived at the hospital, we thankfully had a gate guard who allowed us to go through without question. Susanna said they’re usually quite strict there about allowing “outsiders” to come in. We waited in the appointed place for some time with no sign of Danelia. Susanna called her again and she said they were waiting on the doctor to come back in to dismiss them.
Again, we waited…and waited. Thankfully, Susanna has about the same level of patience that I have. We decided to go looking for them. Susanna thought they were probably in the emergency room area since they came without an appointment. We walked through the area to a dirty, run-down entrance where there were women with children laying on the ground and sitting in the shade. It would have been an appalling sight if it would have been the first time I had seen such conditions. Sadly, it wasn’t. But even the lack of shock didn’t negate the sense of indignation that this is how the poor must live and the second-class treatment they so often receive.

The masked guard (in response to Swine Flu fear)at the ER door enjoyed his position of authority. When Susanna asked if we could come in to find Danelia and the kids, he said we needed to wait there outside the door and he would go check on him. Susanna gave him Kenneth’s name and he carefully and deliberately locked the door behind him. I’m sure the waiting women had to feel a bit of boost that they weren’t the only ones to have to remain on the wrong side of the locked door.

After a few minutes, the guard returned and said that Kenneth wasn’t there. Susanna explained the situation to the man and that we had just talked to his mother and asked if I could come in and walk through the ER and see if I could find her. He said they were probably over in the oncology department. Susanna asked him again and although he wasn’t happy about it, he agreed to let me do so, saying Jim and Susanna had to remain outside. I thanked him and began my trek through the ER.

There were several rooms off the main corridor that were filled with women who were standing or sitting holding their sick or hurt children. All the little ones seemed to be crying or whimpering. Everyone was waiting their turn for a doctor to say they were next to be seen. I wound my way around the hallways, looking through windows and doors, but to no avail. I am guessing seeing a white face in those hallways is not a usual thing as almost all the doctors and nurses stopped their activity and stared as did the women. I would say all noise stopped but that’s not true. The crying and moaning of the little ones continued. I was glad when my search came to an end and I returned to the exit.

The guard saw me coming and met me, escorting me to the door, asking me if I found them. I shook my head no. He told me triumphantly that he knew they weren’t there and that he had told us that. I agreed, thanked him for allowing me to look and wished him a good day. I prefer to think he must not have heard me as he didn’t respond in kind. His good-bye was the very deliberate clicking of the door locking behind me.

Jim was waiting for me by himself outside the ER door. Susanna had returned to the parking lot in case Danelia and the kids came out. We walked back to the main area and decided to go scope out the oncology department. The man at that desk was much more courteous and told us which one of the series of colored stripes painted on the wall that we were to follow through the hallways. Our stripe was pink.

We found ended up in a hallway with very little signing. Susanna saw a man sitting at a desk behind a glass door in a small hallway that branched off the main hall. We went in there and she asked about Kenneth. He had no idea and kept asking her to repeat his name. He wanted to know the doctor’s name. Of course, we didn’t have that info. She called Danelia again and she said they were just leaving and we would meet them out front. We thanked the cordial man and as we were leaving to get back in to the main hallway, we literally met Danelia and the kids at the corner.

The kids were so excited to see us and we got lots of hugs. Danelia also gave a very tight hug. I introduced her to Susanna and we walked back to the parking lot. Danelia had to get a prescription for morphine for Kenneth filled at the pharmacy. Because the script was written by a Mascota doctor, she could get it filled for free there. Jim and Susanna took the kids to the car so that they could sit in the a/c. Kenneth was running a fever and she thought they would be more comfortable there.

As Danelia and I began walking toward the pharmacy, we met her husband who was carrying a plastic bag with all of Kenneth’s existing x-rays and lab reports. He had taken off work to bring them in to us. He took the prescription to get it filled and Danelia and I stood there and talked. I could tell she was upset and as I gave her a hug, she began to cry. She has been under so much stress for over a year and it was taking its toll on her. Most of her conversation consisted of her worries about what was going to happen to Kenneth and how hard it was to watch him be in pain and not be able to alleviate it.

I told her that God provided someone else for us to talk to and that if she and her husband agreed, we wanted to get the new test results that afternoon and then see if we could get in to see the doctor. We had already covered most of this ground, but I wanted them to know that we were going to take care of the financial end of this second opinion and that was something they didn’t need to worry about. It was out of respect and courtesy that I asked their permission. And they gratefully and graciously gave it.

We left to go get the x-ray done first but on the way, realized that none of them had eaten anything since early that morning, if then. They had arrived at the hospital at 7:00 a.m. It was well past 1:00 at that point. Susanna and I agreed that everyone needed to eat and so we went to Doña Blanca’s. This was the first time we had been back since before we had gone back to the States in June. It was so good to see everyone. And the kids were super excited…this was a new thing for them. We asked if we could buy their lunch and again, they agreed. Danelia’s husband very quietly thanked me.

Danelia seemed embarrassed that we were buying their lunch. She told me that Lindsay could share her plate. I assured her it wasn’t necessary but she said that Lindsay wouldn’t eat much and she would do better eating off her plate. We all decided to get some food so that they wouldn’t think we were feeding only them. I wished I had been hungry…I love Doña Blanca’s! Kenneth got a plate full of food but when it came time to eat, he just took a few bites and didn’t want to eat more. We got a to-go box so they could take the food home with them.

The next stop was to get the x-ray at Salud Integral, the private hospital. This is where Danelia had first sought treatment for Kenneth because of the oncology department, but because they didn’t have any money, they refused to see him and sent her to Mascota, the free hospital. The class attitude was still quite obvious. That is something that still angers me here. I hate it and I hate how everyone falls in to their “place”. We were immediately taken care of…Danelia and her family sat virtually ignored. Thankfully, they were with us or I wonder how long it would have been before someone even spoke to them.

Once again, having Susanna with us was invaluable. The doctor had told us he wanted a front view and a lateral view. The woman with whom we were dealing with at the front office, seemed a bit cranky with life in general. She told Susanna that they could only do a front view and that there was no such thing as a lateral view – that it didn’t exist. Susanna explained very patiently to her what view the doctor wanted. It didn’t matter, the cranky lady again said such a view was non-existent. Susanna tried to call the doctor. He didn’t answer and so they continued to discuss this for a little bit. The technician was obviously getting a bit peeved. We decided to get what we could and simply tell the doctor that the department refused to do a lateral. This is the hospital where he is the head of oncology so we imagined that wasn’t going to be good news for someone on the staff.

We really didn’t have to wait terribly long until they called Kenneth’s name. Susanna had us go back with Danelia…I think more for the presence of gringos being a sense of insurance of good treatment than anything else. The x-ray technician, again a woman, was very sweet with both of them and with us. She had been the first person there who gave even a modicum of respect to Danelia and her family. But even so, the remarkable thing was that all the questions were directed to me, not to Danelia. I could answer only one of the questions – didn’t understand most of them and didn’t know the answers to the rest of them. No one would ever confuse which one of was Kenneth’s mother. It seemed to bother me more than Danelia…I guess she’s used to it. I don’t ever want to get used to that. Although, I love it that Kenneth calls me Mamita and I cherish his hugs and lavish affections…I want his mother to be treated as she should. I think Jesus wants that, too.

The x-ray tech asked us to step outside the room while she took the x-ray. We went out in the hallway and stood. The tech closed the door and just a few seconds later, here came the cranky lady from the front desk. She saw us standing in the hallway and came down and told us we needed to go out and stand in the waiting room. She pounded on the posters and told us that it was dangerous for us to be there. She then motioned us down the hallway. I smiled and thanked her and we turned around and walked down the hallway. She looked at me as if I had lost my mind. My mind was relatively safe but my tongue was in mortal danger of being bitten off.

Kenneth came out a few minutes later and he went to join Susanna, his dad and his sister at the main desk area. Jim, Danelia and I waited for the x-ray and the reading of it. We received it in a relatively short time, thanked them and left. The x-ray was terrible, but the radiology report said everything was normal. Danelia and I looked at each other…could it be that the doctors at Mascota were wrong? Maybe the miracle we were all hoping for had already occurred and we were holding the proof in our hands. There were shadows and marks on one side of the pelvis but maybe it was just a bad film…after all, the radiologist said it was normal.

We were all more upbeat as we headed over to the lab to get the blood work done. I was amazed at how matter-of-fact Kenneth was about getting the work done. It made me sad to realize he’s an old pro at getting stuck with needles. I gave him a hug and he pulled my face down to give me a kiss. I gave him one in return. I could feel my eyes beginning that all-too-familiar stinging. I told him to go with Jim while I paid the bill. God was gracious to help me get a grip on it right then.

Susanna went back with him to get the blood drawn. Within just a few minutes we were able to leave. The report wouldn’t be ready until the next morning. Susanna had talked with the doctor and our appointment was changed to 4:00 p.m. the following day.

It had been a long day for the kids. Kenneth was still running a fever and Susanna thought it best if we go ahead and take them home. We wished we could have seen the doctor that day but it just wasn’t going to happen. Susanna showed Danelia where to meet us on the North Highway the next day. She said we would then go on to the doctor’s office from there.

Danelia asked us to take them to Miguel’s so that she could ask him if he could go with us on Thursday to the doctor. Her husband had already lost a day of work and didn’t think he could take off another so soon. When we got to Miguel’s, he wanted to know how we had found Danelia in Managua. I laughed and told him with my cell phone. He asked Danelia why she didn’t answer her phone when he called her and she said that was when the doctor at Mascota was talking to her about Kenneth. Miguel wanted to make sure I knew he had tried to call her!

We introduced Susanna to the rest of Miguel’s family and although it’s not something that’s usually done, I told Miguel’s mother and Elizabeth that we just couldn’t stay. They understood and we all said our good-byes. I’m pretty sure that the conversation at that house that night was similar to the one we were having in the car on the way back to Managua…there was still hope. We still had the oncologist to speak with the next day and after all, the radiologist’s report said the x-ray of the pelvis looked normal. We were all ready for some good news. It had been a long day for all of us. I’ll write about Thursday in the next blog.