Previous entries: Day1, Day2, Day3
Day 4-Thursday
So much has happened since our visit yesterday. Elizabeth and I walked into Elaine and Isabel’s room yesterday and encountered a very different scene. Elaine was gone, the bed was stripped, and my heart nearly stopped when I realized what that could mean. Later I found out that she was discharged from the hospital even though she was very sick. Towards mid-day Elaine’s son came in the room looking for her flip-flops that had been discarded under the empty bed. I was relieved to see him as I wanted to share the information I had gotten about some American doctors coming to Nicaragua. I wrote on a piece of paper that the American doctors would be at that hospital on March 3rd performing surgeries and if she asked for Susie, they would see about treating her as well.
Isabel has taken a turn for the worse. An infection has set in that is threatening her life. Her daughter was crying as we glanced in the room and several family members were tearfully gathered around Isabel’s bed. Elizabeth and I did not even want to enter the room as we didn’t want to intrude but as soon as they saw us they waved us in and gave up their chairs so we could sit close to Isabel and pray over her. Isabel’s daughter said that her mom was dying.
It doesn’t surprise me a whole lot that Isabel had gotten more sick. I don’t know how many people survive the conditions they are in. Right next to Isabel’s bed I noticed a piece of bloodied tape hanging off of the side of the IV drip hanger. Many nurses surrounded Isabel this morning checking her blood pressure, heartbeat etc. She let out some loud and painful moans as the nurses rolled her to the side to fix her IV drip. As the nurses left I noticed that they left behind a bloody tube hanging from the IV hanger. It is a very unsanitary place.
To read about the remainder of our day click on Elizabeth’s blog.
