You know you’re in a Guatemalan hospital when…
Before giving your name, the first thing you do is hand over a stool sample in a baby food jar
The doctor sticks an IV in your hand without getting any background information from you
You realize after your IV is in you still have your sweatshirt on
The waiting room is also your bedroom
You get goody bags and one of the items in the bag is toilet paper
There are 6 patients total in your room
Your bed is on the floor
The nurse doesn’t care if you share a bed with another patient for the night
Your sheets don’t match and they have the last patient’s dried blood spots on them
You get served cooked bananas for supper
The bathroom in your room is out of order for 30 minutes while one of the workers leaves to buy a replacement pipe for the running sink
Patients from the other room come through your room (with IVs in tow) because your room has a bathroom
Blood starts making it’s way out of your IV and the nurse laughs and says “No problema”
If you need the nurse you just yell, “Jackie”
The nurse does her rounds at night with a flashlight and times the drops of your IV with her cell phone
The doctor greets you in the morning by saying “hola amoeba party!”
The head nurse waves you good bye, she tells you how much she will miss you and to look her up on facebook
This past wednesday I went to the hospital with the rest of my team, and after our poop samples were examined, we were informed that we all have parasites! And then informed that some of us would have to spend the night.
It was an experience that I will never forget. I was angry and frustrated at first, but through many laughs with the rest of my parasite infected friends God healed my heart and reminded me that He is in charge (not me!)
God also reminded me after receiving the $350 (US$) hospital bill that it's His money (not mine!)
I was able to pay the bill using most of my spending money for this year.
If you feel that it is on your heart to help me pay for the hospital bill, please send me an email ([email protected]) and we can make it happen!
Thank you so much!
