I really don’t like the run around of doctor’s visits. All I want is for this cyst to be gone. Is that so hard? Today I’ve been in more pain than when I broke my left foot doing Taebo in ninth grade. And the car rides really haven’t helped at all.
Lauren and I came to the 1950’s hospital for me to be treated but the “Theatre Room” was being occupied. So, we went to the other hospital for her to be treated. Her hospital was a nicer one, looking like something from a 70’s movie. The last few days have been a struggle only speaking to her right ear. But now she can hear again. Praise the Lord! It was funny watching as she was given absolutely no privacy. A host of doctors and random patients came in to watch as they flushed a ton of water out of her ear. That should have been a warning to me, the rest of my day I would feel so exposed.
I get escorted into a smelly, dirty laboratory by the dentist, maybe a doctor and a lady who I don’t know. I have to lie on a filthy table and show my cyst to them all. They are just standing around like they’re watching rabbits reproduce. They didn’t even warn me that I was getting a shot. All of a sudden I feel a needle and I screech, tears rolling down my face. Mama’s not there to console me. The lady just looks at me and says “Pole (poe-lay)” which means sorry. I continue to cry as the dentist and doctor walk away.
Then I have to disrobe in front of the woman, with no curtain while she finds me a stained, too little green and white striped robe from the ground of the unorganized closet. I’m looking around the room as I sit waiting once again. There are two rusty table-like beds, a sink that is falling off the wall and a shelf with dirty robes, syringes and random boxes. There is a bathroom which has a bath tub with build- up soap scum from the sixties. The room does not look cared for and I must be honest that I’d rather put my clothes back on and walk in pain instead of have an unnecessary surgery that would’ve only taken twenty five minutes at Jessamine Medical Clinic.
The operating room wasn’t any better. I was panicked; I didn’t realize a cyst would be this serious. Just to give you a picture. Hospitals in Kenya are designed so that people sit on porches. You only go indoors when you are being seen. So, I walked from one room to the next exposed to the outside. I was so embarrassed. Once I got in the operating room I felt like I was in a Sci-Fi movie. The walls were white; the surgeon was wearing all white. He used his white gloves and a tool to pick up a cloth full of tools. I was a nervous wreck. I couldn’t stop crying. I wanted my Mama so badly. If I were going into surgery at home my family would be there and my Daddy would say a prayer for me before I go under. They weren’t there. It was scary. I was all alone as a foreigner in an operating room with someone who spoke no English.
It seemed like hours, them poking around with my cyst, offering me no medicine to numb the pain. I just found myself crying like a teething baby. When they had finished I was expected to walk back outdoors unclean to retrieve my clothes. At this point I lost my cool, “I’m not going out there in front of all these men. Please tell Mrs. Pastor to bring me my clothes.” In no time she brought my clothes to me but they refused to let me dress in the operating room. I walked, head hanging low past all those men and into a closet to change.
On my painful .75 mile walk God really spoke to me. I knew this experience was no accident. God wanted me to walk in the shoes of these Kenyans. He wanted to show me what my life would be like living here. I may not be able to even get to the hospital for working crazy hours. If I do get off work, I’ll lose money and be losing more once I get treated. The treatment may not be efficient, causing infection and a visit to another doctor. Once I do get treated I may be in pain but still have to walk home because I don’t have money for transportation. Sadly many Kenyans are suffering and dying from minor diseases because they can’t afford treatment. Thanks for giving me a cyst Lord so that I could experience the past two days.
