As many of you know, a couple weeks ago we were dealing with a lot of sickness in our household. Mia had a fever and a rough day of constipation, but it was mostly Desmond who has struggled. Over the course of three or four weeks he had three different stretches of fevers ranging from two to five days in a row with high temps. This was both exhausting and concerning to us.
The third round of fevers lasted four days and involved very high temps and vomiting if he wasn’t consistently taking Ibuprofen and Tylenol so eventually we decided to take him to the emergency room. This was a daunting task to consider since we do not have a car and are still very early in our language learning, however it ended up being a great experience in which we got to see God provide in a really neat way!
We live in on-campus housing so everyone in our apartment building is attending language school, however we happen to live across the hall from one family who has a unique situation. The husband of this family is American and attends our school to learn french, but the wife is from France and so she speaks fluent french. Apparently this is not a common situation for our school, but has been such an incredible blessing to us in so many ways. In this particular circumstance, the wife of this family not only agreed to drive Desmond and I to the ER, but offered to be our translator as well. As I reflect on this experience I am amazed at how incredibly stressful it would have been to try and explain Desmond’s symptoms as well as understand all the questions they asked me if I had been on my own. Thankfully, with this sweet friend accompanying me it was a smooth trip. Here is a little glimpse into our experience:
Basically the whole experience can be summed up in the word “waiting”. This refers to the extended time we spent waiting, but also for how many different places we ended up waiting. I am used to the experiences I’ve had in the States where you generally check in, wait in a waiting room then spend the remainder of your time in an exam room, assuming you don’t get admitted or need additional testing. My experience here was very different.
First, we buzzed in and waited on some chairs outside. Then we were let in through a first set of doors and told to wait on some chairs in between those doors and the next set of doors. Then we went into small room no. 1 and a nurse took Desmond’s vitals and asked some initial questions. Then we waited in a big, general waiting room until it was our turn to go into small room no. 2 to fill out some paperwork. What was tricky about this room is that no one calls you in, you just go when you think it’s your turn and the room is empty. Thankfully my friend knew that we had to just go in. I’m certain that had I been alone I would have definitely sat in that waiting room for a long time, expecting someone to call me back.
After small room no. 2 we were taken back to the pediatrics part of the ER to wait in a waiting room meant for kids. Then we were brought into an examination room where we waited the longest. Eventually several people came to examine Desmond. Despite all of this occurring during his normal nap time Desmond was a very cooperative patient. He even did deep breaths when they listened to his lungs and opened his mouth wide for them to look at his throat. If you have ever witnessed us trying to brush Desmond’s teeth, you know what an incredible thing it is that he would willingly open his mouth at all, let alone for a stranger!
After everything we were told that, thankfully, they were not concerned, but think his immune system is just adjusting to a new place and so many new germs which is why he keeps getting new sicknesses. They encouraged me to continue caring for him with medication as needed and monitoring for dehydration or any new symptoms with the fever. Finally, we packed up and went to go wait in the big waiting room again until it was our turn to go into small room no. 2 for a second time. We had accidentally been discharged from the system too soon so we waited in there awhile for Desmond to get readmitted so we could pay for the visit (a remarkably inexpensive 47 euros!) then we were on our way!
I thought it humorous to share the experience in all it’s many steps because it was so different than what I, and maybe many of you, are used to, but I mostly wanted to share all the details to emphasize God’s provision. While I could not understand much of what was said and in my nervousness struggled to answer even simple questions well (example: I told the nurse Desmond was born in 220 instead of 2020 haha!), my friend understood all that was going on and had been to that ER before so she knew exactly where to go. Additionally, the hours spent waiting allowed her and I to talk and get to one another better. God also provided very kind medical staff who were so gentle with Desmond. Some of them even tried to speak to me in English, even if they only knew a couple of words.
The day after our visit Desmond woke up fever free and as if he had never been sick, but I’m still thankful for the experience. On one hand it was great to have peace of mind after bringing him in, but in a bigger sense it allowed me to see, yet again, the ways God provides.
-Selina
