I had started to write a blog about the trials of having sick kids, only to have things get even more difficult. So, to all my faithful readers, I’m sorry about the recent lack of entries, but I’ve had one or more kids sick for over a week now.
In fact, Wesley got so sick, that we had to take him to the hospital. He couldn’t keep so much as an ice cube or one sip of rehydration fluid down. The school nurse took one look at him and said he needs to go to the hospital. I guess she was right. Wesley was so dehydrated that it took 3 attempts to get an IV started. Wesley did remarkably well. Even with all the poking around he never cried!
Wesley was admitted to the hospital for his dehydration and further tests. At first his lab results showed an elevated white cell count and the doctor was concerned that he may have appendicitis. Since, he had no other symptoms and no stomach pain she decided to wait and see. We were relieved that she made this decision, as we were unsure if there were any adequate surgeons or that the he even had appendicitis.
The next day the doctor said that his tonsils were very red and had white spots and she decided that he must just have a throat infection (although she never did a throat culture). She started him on IV antibiotics. After about 24 hrs of antibiotics, his fever was gone and he was able to eat again. So, the doctor said that he could come home.
Going to the hospital with a little kid is never easy. In the Philippines it’s even more of a challenge. In the US you may have to wait in the waiting room of the ER for a long time and you’ll certainly have to pay a lot of money, but at least you can be reasonably sure that you will get good care and that your doctor knows what he/she is talking about. This isn’t necessarily true here.
There are some good doctors here. You can get some good treatment, but in Baguio you just can assume that every doctor is reliable. I never realized just how much trust we as Americans put in our physicians until I had to take my kids to the hospital in a third world country.
Taking Wesley to the hospital was actually the second time I’ve been to the hospital here. The first time I went I had to take Hudson in for an accident we had. When I stepped into the ER I immediately noticed that the sheets were dirty. They didn’t change them between patients! I also discovered that there was no soap in the bathrooms, or anywhere that I could find in the ER! When Hudson had to have an IV, there were ants climbing up and down his IV pole. I did feel like the doctors were correct in their diagnosis and treatment, and they did appear to use clean needles, but the overall lack of sanitation was alarming.
So, this time when we had to take Wesley to the hospital, we tried out the new private hospital. It was a much smaller hospital, which meant that initially Wesley had to share a very small room (about the size of a standard single hospital room in the US) with four other sick kids, including a newborn baby. Thankfully, a private room soon became available and we didn’t have to worry about Wesley spreading his germs to the newborn or catching anything from anyone else. That being said, we were still much happier with the new hospital. It was so much cleaner! Clean sheets, soap in the bathrooms, and even rubbing alcohol was used by the doctors before treatment.
Another thing about the hospitals here is that the patients are expected to bring a caretaker with them. The caretaker is usually a family member and will assist the patients with everything non-medical (such as feeding, dressing, etc.). This meant that Chris or I had to be at Wesley’s bedside for 24 hrs a day. We couldn’t even leave him to make a trip to the cafeteria. Doing so would have meant leaving Wesley all alone with out any supervision or help. This gets challenging when you have two other little kids at home. Thankfully we have good friends here who helped watch Hudson and Addie so I could bring Chris something to eat or give him the chance to come home and take a shower while I took care of Wesley. Let me conclude this entry with a big thank you to everyone who helped us here in Baguio. Thanks also to all our friends and churches around the world that prayed for us. We certainly felt God’s peace in the midst of everything and are rejoicing in Wesley’s home coming thanks to all of your prayers.