It all started on a train from the border of Thailand to Bangkok. Our train ride was supposed to be 18 hours long, and we all got our own beds to sleep in. My assigned seat was not only away from everyone else on my squad but also from any other train passenger. My squadmates would walk by and laugh that I was all alone over here and try to tell me I could go talk to other people. Something in me was telling me I needed to read for a little bit, and then go to bed early. So, by 9:00 I was snuggled into my bed and off to sleep.
6 hours later – 3:30am
“Hey Jenn? Sorry to wake you. Can you come look at Sarah, she’s in a ton of pain.”
Sarah Schultz on my team had woken up with a severe stomach pain, was throwing up violently, and her symptoms just made us all nervous. After we explained to the concerned Thai train conductor that she wasn’t screaming just to be rude, he realized the situation seemed serious. We decided since we didn’t know what was happening and it could potentially be appendicitis that we should take her to the hospital.
So, in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, with no way to translate really, Sarah, Kristine, and I jumped off a train and into an ambulance.
You know those hospital shows where the patient is screaming at doctors, saying things they’ll regret later on? Yeah, that was Sarah. Kristine and I were in a mix of emotions giving her grace because she was in pain, trying to make decisions despite the language barrier and our lack of sleep, but really just trying not to laugh too soon.
My favorite quote of the day came from our ambulance ride where Sarah was concerned that the EMT’s looked too young and she shouts out: “Why is there no oxygen in this s**t?”
Please know that Sarah is the most loving, caring, empathetic person that has a huge heart for the homeless in the world, so this was totally out of character and we all knew she would laugh at this someday too, so it was okay to laugh.
Anyways. Throughout the day, we discovered that Sarah had a really bad kidney stone, but needed to stay in the hospital for awhile because she was dehydrated. After some pain meds were in her system, Sarah started to become her normal self. The rest of the day we saw over and over how God was providing for us in a situation that was full of unknowns.
In the morning, the nurses came and provided us with some delicious rice soup:
Once we settled Sarah in, Kristine and I needed to find wifi to settle some details because at this point we expected to stay the night at the hospital. We also desperately needed the largest coffees we could find! So, we took off with some sketchy directions and realized the only way to get anywhere was to walk on a highway… Here’s a little snapshot of that:
We eventually did find a glorious coffee shop that only sold large coffees and had the best wifi that we’ve had on the whole Race so far. After getting details sorted we went back to Sarah’s hallway hospital room and found her looking fantastically better. She was hydrated again, had color back in her face, and this little hospital didn’t seem like they could do much for her at the time. We decided that we all really did not want to spend the night in this hospital, so we waited hours for the doctor to come to discharge her.
While we were sitting there, the was a whole family with kids, teenagers, young adults, parents, and an elderly man walking in and out of a hospital room constantly. Their faces were joyous when they walked into the room and distressed every time they walked out of the room. Over the course of the next two hours, we slowly watched this family watch as their loved one died. The moment she passed away the whole place felt heavy, and all three of us had tears in our eyes as we watched this family mourn. I sat and prayed over the family offering them my deepest regrets through my eyes and a head nod as they walked by us again. It truly felt like this moment was the reason all of this was happening, just to pray a little comfort over this hurting family.
The time came for us to leave, and we tried to find a way to not walk on the highway again with Sarah. The thing about rural Thailand is that their taxis are only motorcycles – there’s literally no other option. But that sounded like the WORST idea with three large backpacks, two exhausted girls, and one recent hospital escapee.
That’s when God sent one of the nurses that had taken such good care of Sarah to us, and she pulled us by the hands inside of her husband’s pickup truck. She got us partway, and then pointed down a street and told us to keep walking… huh.
3 Kilometers Later…
We made it to the most ADORABLE little train station ever! The man we had asked in the post office for directions, got on his moto and every time we needed to make a turn he would drive up and tell us which way to go. I have never been so excited to see a train station in my life.
At this point, Sarah got sick again and wasn’t looking so good again. Kristine and I were starting to fall apart (mostly me because Kristine is incredibly tough), and we were second guessing leaving the hospital. In the end though, we knew we just NEEDED to get to Bangkok, and get her to a hospital there if needed. After waiting 5 more hours, then taking the GROSSEST (see video for why) train ride ever, a little more confusion with a taxi cab driver, we finally made it to our hostel!
Here’s our final video about that train ride:
In the end, we learned:
1. Kidney Stones are painful.
2. God provides in the smallest, most meaningful ways, that make the biggest difference.
3. We all need to pray for the doctors that deliver Sarah’s future children.
