Ummm... excuse me?
"Wilfrid can't speak and I need alcohol!"
"What's wrong with Wilfrid?" now I'm digging through my medicine cabinet. Wilfrid was sick on Thursday- mostly head congestion, but obviously felt really cruddy and complained of shortness of breath. He didn't have a fever, so I gave him some Respi-Tann (thanks, Mike) and told him to call for me if he got worse. Some ladies, including Sony, came by and prayed for him and sang hymns after the prayer service. I peeked in and joined them in prayer and he seemed about the same as earlier.
"He can't get up and speak!"
I handed over the bottle of alcohol and followed her downstairs. I learned a long time ago sometimes I need to just go with it til I can sort through it.
Wilfrid was lying on the floor and Herman was holding his head. Sony began to pour alcohol on his neck & chest and vigorously rub him. She was jostling him pretty good and calling him to answer her.... no response. This went on for a minute or 2 and finally he peeked his eyes just for an instant and rolled his head back and forth- then slumped again.
OK, now I see... Wilfrid is really out of it and the alcohol rub was to revive him. But it wasn't very successful. I ran upstairs trying to figure out what to try. I thought he might just be dehydrated, so I poured a little gatorade in a cup and dripped just a sip in his mouth. It came right back at me instantly!
Hmmmm... pa bon, not good, at all. Well I'm not ready to try and start an I.V. so now I announce, "We need to take him to the hospital."
Only, Rusty wasn't back with the van, yet. I hollered for Nick. Of course, as always he was standing right behind me already. I told him to get ready to go, and if Rusty came right back we'd be ready, or if not we'd go without him.
I ran back upstairs (4th trip, now) to gather necessities, while Sony kept working with Wilfrid... bless her heart she even gave him a quick sponge bath. Rusty pulled up just then and off we all went.
The guys wanted to take him to a Dr. just around the corner, but on questioning we found out that it wasn't really a Dr, but some native herbal medicine guy. Rusty yelled at them that we weren't going to any leaf doctor! He went instead to a clinic about 20 minutes away that we use fairly often and have a relationship with the doctor there. Let me tell you, we were tearing over those rocky, rutted, non-existent roads. But if you looked at the speedometer you saw that "flying" was only about 25 MPH.
Our friend was not on duty at the clinic, so another doctor came in. I can't even tell you what I think about that experience. Just let me say, it took a great deal of restraint not to say too much, and the leaf doctor was starting to look good. We left after about 15 - 20 minutes. We decided after that craziness, to go where we knew they had excellent care, even though it is far away in Port-au-Prince and quite pricey.
It felt good to be greeted at the curb with a wheelchair and be taken immediately back into a modern hospital exam room. The doctor did an exam and immediately started an I.V. He ordered tests and sent me down to make arrangements for a room. After labs & x-rays were finished we got him settled into a semi-private room, with attentive nurses caring for him. He was now more responsive and would have a chill and rouse and say a few words, then fall back to sleep when the chill subsided. This went on for several hours, but each time he woke up he was a bit more alert. It became apparent that the test results weren't coming soon, so late in the afternoon we got all the necessary phone numbers and left the hospital, leaving Herman behind to sit with Wilfrid.
We've talked with him several times this evening- the first report was that he was able to eat just a little this afternoon. Then, tonight Herman reports that the doctor came back in and said he doesn't think it's anything serious. Good news! Maybe even just dehydrated and needing that I.V. to get him going. Please pray that that's the case. It was pretty scary there for a bit when he thought he was dying and telling us goodbye.
I'll keep you updated on him as I hear more news, but things are looking up tonight :)
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