Felix is sick...

Well, Felix was late but he did come to work. It didn’t take Jim but just a minute to realize he shouldn’t have. He was in so much pain and he looked awful. Jim just took him back home. The visit to the other church will have to wait a week.
Felix has been complaining for some time of pain in his lower back, fever, nausea and occasional pain in the lower left quadrant of his stomach. We told him he needed to go to the doctor and he finally did. We helped him with the bus expense as that seemed to be the stumbling block for him going. Can you imagine? Our worry is no insurance…his is bus fare. That’s the difference between public health care and private health care…that is, that’s the first difference you see. Public health care consultations are free and private health care consultations are costly. That’s as good as it gets, trust me. It goes downhill from there.
Felix saw the doctor. He told him he “probably” had parasites and began treating him for that. Felix got a little better but that was short-lived. His complaints returned. The doctor then said that he needed to quit eating beans (mind you, that is the family’s main source of protein)and to drink lots of citric juice, like pineapple, orange and lemon juice. “Lots” when you are poor is very little. Once again, he felt better for a few days and once again, his symptoms returned. The doctor then decided that Felix was sick because they were drinking contaminated water and so now, Blanca boils their water.
He has been to the doctor 3 or 4 times in the last month and each time, there has been a different diagnosis and another round of antibiotics. The “free” visits to the government-run clinic in El Crucero are possible for Felix only because we are able to help him with his bus fare and the subsequent medication that the doctor prescribes for him. There is a clinic in his barrio but they are even less-equipped with staff and medications.
A few days ago, Felix came to work and apparently, he had been sick all day. We were gone until early afternoon and when we got home, we saw one sick man. Jim took him home and Felix said he was going to try go to the doctor that afternoon. I gave him money for the bus and a little extra in case the doctor prescribed any meds.
Since the next day was his day off, we didn’t see him again until Friday. He told me then that he had gone to the doctor Wednesday afternoon and that the doctor had prescribed another antibiotic and one pill for pain. He said he had a kidney infection and that he should start to feel better in just a few days. He had enough money from what I had given him on Wednesday, to buy the medication.
He came to work Friday and once again, Jim took him home early. Saturday, he told us he felt better but when we returned from Tipitapa about 4:30, we could see that his color was not good and he was feverish. His eyes are starting to look a little jaundiced. He went back to the clinic in his barrio and they told him he needed to have some tests done and that they think he might have kidney stones. He is scheduled to have a sonogram done on Tuesday morning...that is his late morning to come to work because Freddy come early.
Today, he is in so much pain, he can hardly walk and he is quite feverish. I am worried about him. I would not be at all surprised if he does have kidney stones and as bad as that is, I’m hoping that it’s not anything worse than that. We tried to get him to go to the hospital ER but he said the doctor told him he had to have the sonogram done first. So, he has to wait…and stay in pain. Jim asked if he could have the sonogram done earlier but he said that was the time they gave him the appointment. It is typical here to have to go to a specialized lab or testing place to have any kind of lab work or electronic diagnostics done…that is not free and I know Felix is worried about how much that is going to cost. I would imagine this is another area where we can help him.
We told him this morning that he needed to go home and rest. He kept apologizing and I told him that his health was more important to us than our plans for the day. I told him I wasn’t worried about it and I didn’t want him to be worried about it either. He said he did worry. We also told him that if he is still sick in the morning, that we wanted him to stay at home. He said he needs his job. I told him he had his job and that we wanted him to get well.
Today was payday and I think that was one of the reasons he came to work. We paid him his full week’s wages, which was extra this week with Saturday being a holiday (Labor Day). What we’ve been doing goes against everything we’ve been told. Almost without exception, we have been told that we cannot be lenient with our employees because they will see us as weak and will take advantage of us. I cannot believe even by the wildest stretch of my imagination that Felix is trying to take advantage of us. If he is, God will take care of that on His end. But either way, we’re not here to guard against being taken advantage of, we’re here to show the love of Christ. And right now, I think our guard needs to be reminded that God loves him and cares for him and that God is telling us that He can use us to be that reminder. We are always so blessed when we are faithful to be His blessing to someone else…makes me wonder why there are so many times I question and even resist that call? Today is a good day to ponder that.