Actually it was more like five and a half hours counting the bus ride in and out of Portoviejo and two taxi trips, but it was still time well spent.
First a couple of comments on health insurance in Ecuador… No matter who you are, if you are in Ecuador when you have a medical emergency there is help available. There are free clinics in most towns (including San Clemente and San Jacinto) that will take any walk-in customers throughout the day. If you need hospital care, an ambulance will be called and you will be transported to the nearest free “General” hospital.
It is better to have some sort of insurance so that you can be transported to a less busy hospital or (better yet) to a private clinic where you are more likely to get immediate attention. But, even without insurance one can count on being well cared for at the general hospital. Unless of course there has been a major earthquake shutting down many hospitals and over-loading those that remain.
Exactly one year ago yesterday I was struck from behind by a motorcyclist and had the entire left side of my face damaged as I flew into a parked car bumper and broke my left cheek bone. I had IESS insurance, so I was transported to an IESS hospital and then later to a private clinic in Guayaquil where I got excellent care. I was released in a few days with a rebuilt cheek bone and almost no scaring. But, what about ex-pats with no extra insurance?
A friend of ours named Janie had a debilitating pain in her stomach one and a half weeks ago. Initially the doctors thought that she was having an appendicitis attack and she was transported to a private clinic in Portoviejo. The doctors there determined that she did not have appendicitis and wanted more money for more tests, etc. Janie was transported to the local general hospital where it was determined that she had a serious ulcer in her stomach and needed immediate surgery.
She got the surgery and has been recuperating for about a week or so. I went to visit her Thursday. She was coming out from under sedation and she responded to my presence but could not speak since she was hooked up to the breathing tube. I went back yesterday to see her again.
Now for the “slice of life” news…
We had been hoping that the tube supplying oxygen to Janie would have been removed so that Janie could talk, but the tube was still in place when I visited yesterday afternoon. I got to Janie’s bedside at about 12:30 and she was sleeping, so I could not communicate with her at all. She was hooked up to all of the modern monitors and I could see that her pulse and blood pressure were both high.
Not knowing what else I could do – I took Janie’s cold hand in mine and began to sing. Almost immediately Janie’s pulse rate dropped by more than twenty beats per minute. I sang old ballads, love songs, country and western songs, and hymns. Doctors and nurses came by and encouraged me to continue. Other patients (who presumably only understood Spanish) looked on with approval. So, I kept singing.
I know lots of songs, but after about a half of an hour I was repeating myself. I stopped for a minute and Janie’s pulse rate started to increase. So I asked Janie if she wanted me to keep singing? I saw tears in her eyes and took that as a sign to go ahead. I sang on and Janie’s heart rate came back down!
I know that God has blessed me with a good voice and I have been able to sing before large crowds in many great choirs. However, never in my life have I been more rewarded sharing the gift of music than I was yesterday standing alongside Janie’s bed singing hymns of praise to God for Janie’s recovery.
In between hymns, I would lean down next to Janie to reassure her that her friends; Laurie, Bette, Carol and Mary were all praying for her recovery. I also told her not to worry about where she would go after the hospital as Mary and I had lots of room for her and would welcome her and her little dog, Rocky to our home for her recovery. I kept telling her that all she needed to do was to, “get better!”
Janie seemed to be comforted by those words, but her heart rate crept higher as I spoke, so I would break away and resort back to singing. I had actually broken some rules by going back to see Janey, so after about an hour and a half the guards caught up with me and “suggested” that it was time for me to leave.
So I stopped one more time to reassure Janie that she was loved. I sang one more song to the “congregation” of recovering patients and left the hospital thanking God for the chance to comfort an ailing friend.
Life is good in Ecuador!
God bless you and your wife for doing what you can in Ecuador.
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The older one gets the more one realizes that small acts of kindness pay huge dividends to the giver and can make differences that last for years. Life is good!
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How great! Only you could give her that gift.
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Thank you, Libby. I know Janie appreciates your love and visits too. Hopefully she gets better quickly and can return home. 🙂
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So sweet. Glad you got to comfort someone special. Love you!
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Thank you, Baby. I can remember singing songs to you when you were a baby resisting sleep. They say music soothes the savage beast. I do not know about that, but I know it soothes restless babies and recovering patients. It was a joy to be there. Life is good. Love you!
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Tears in my eyes, too, John. You and Mary are indeed special.
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Thank you. We are blessed and really feel joy sharing some of our blessings.
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Yes, what a very special thing to do! God Bless you both and may Janie heal quickly to be able to return home.
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It was a joy to be able to spend some time with Janie and to provide some comfort. Hopefully she will heal quickly and be able to come back to her home.
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What a wonderful, healing gift you have. I hope your friend is better soon.
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It looks good for Janie. She is impoving and hopefully will be released from the hospital soon.
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I’m so glad I had time to read this while online.. Ah, an Angel at work – thank you for what you’re doing and thank you for sharing.
Love, Lisa
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It is we who thank God for the small chances to serve. It was a blessing to be bedside and to share a few minutes with Janie.
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Golly. This one made my eye pits a little moist, John in Ecuador. Quite the slice of life indeed. Isn’t the best feeling in the world doing precisely what you know God wants you to do? It’s how we’re supposed to operate all along.
Carry on, and prayers for Janie!
PotP
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It is a great feeling indeed, and one I wish I could say I felt all of the time. It is a constant chore, but a worthy goal to put off the natural man every now and again and just do the right thing. It seems like much of our time lately has been taken up worrying about, visiting, and trying to help take care of Janie’s things as she recovers. Mary met with her yesterday and she is getting much better. We are hopeful that she will be released soon to resume her life here again on the beach.
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