Due to some graphic content may not be suitable for all readers.
It is Christmas Eve here in Hong Kong and I am sitting in a living room looking at a Christmas tree with Katey beside me trying to work the remote so we can watch a movie. How we ended up here is completely a God thing. Here is my story….
December 22nd my squad and I (all 26 of us) headed for the airport to catch our flights out of Hong Kong to the Philippines. Our flight was supposed to leave at 6 pm but the plane was delayed and delayed and delayed. During this period of time I started feeling really ill. Actually I thought it was from downing a bag of m n m’s real fast and then running thru the terminal. After a while it was clear that something was really not right. I started throwing up uncontrollably and had the runs really bad. I literally hugged the toilet (I’d never been so glad to see a western toilet in my life) and cried and lay on the bathroom floor for hours. My sweet teammates tried to take care of me but there was really nothing they could do. At one point I was alone when two women heard me crying and begged me to let them into my stall. They knelt down beside me and one of them held me against her and rubbed my back. The other women rubbed some lotus oil (used for calming stomachs) over my forehead and then she proceeded to lift my shirt and rub it all over my chest. Honestly I was to ill to care what they did, I was just relieved to have someone there. And then the women holding me said “Jesus will take care of you. It will be ok. You are going to be ok. God will help you.” They were the first of many angels I’d run into on this ordeal. I don’t remember them leaving but eventually they were gone and my friends returned.
It was decided that Katey (who is a nurse) and I would stay in a nearby hotel for the night and fly out the next day. We both thought I had a very bad case of food poisoning or had caught the flu from another of my teammates. So we left my squad who was boarding the plane and I was put in a wheel chair with Katey following to head back through customs. I want to take a moment and thank the employee who helped us through all of this. She not only stayed with us all through customs but booked us into a hotel, carried all my luggage and waited for us to get a taxi. I think she must have been another of God’s angels.
We got to the hotel around midnight. Right after entering the hotel room I ran for the bathroom and to my dismay (sorry this is where it gets gross) I started having the runs but instead of being brown they were bright red. I was losing blood. As you can imagine this scared the b-g-b’s out of me. I made Katey look in the toilet and we decided it was time to call an ambulance. Luckily ambulances are free in Hong Kong and they got to us very quickly. I remember them giving me oxygen but I don’t remember anything after that until we arrived at the hospital. Eventually I was told that I wouldn’t be leaving that night and I was admitted to the geriatric ward (ok you can laugh now). I’d like to point out that 30 does not make me old. 🙂
Well I burst into tears upon seeing my bedmates (all 7 of them) mostly tied to their beds and moaning. Katey reassured me that I would be ok. We made a plan for her to try and get a hold of someone at AIM, and she left.
I’ll spare you all the gory details of my roommates showing me their rumps, of being x-rayed, of the numerous shots and IV’s I was given. I did name the woman in the bed next to me Nadine. It made me feel better staring at her backside. Early on the 23rd Katey called me in tears. She was exhausted after staying up for over 30 hours, the airline was giving her a hard time, she had no contact information to get a hold of anyone at AIM or in the Philippines. We both felt afraid and very alone. But after the initial shock of my surroundings, I was filled with this complete calmness that must have been from God and I spent much of the day praying and drifting in and out of sleep. And I was moved to the Infectious Disease Control Ward. This was a huge blessing as I now had just one roommate and I was in a place where they could better take care of me. But because I’d been moved to a place with tighter security Katey and I could no longer get a hold of each other and I think that freaked both of us out. I didn’t know where she was and she didn’t know what was going on with me.
Around 5pm God sent me another angel. I had been softly crying when a nurse walked in and handed me a yellow bag. When I looked inside there were two cell phones (one for Katey and one for me) and a message from a man I didn’t know. He said to call him and I knew it was going to be ok. Right at that moment David (my angel) called on one of the cell phones and told me he was friends with Seth Barnes (our Chief at AIM). Praise the Lord!
Fast forward- Thanks to David, I was able to call and talk to my family for the first time since this whole ordeal started, Katey and I were connected again, I got to talk to my team and I had a lifeline to the outside world.
Katey and I had been told that I wouldn’t be leaving the hospital till after Christmas. So I was in complete shock when she burst into my room (in hospital gown and mask) to tell me that I was being released today (the 24th).
David and his family (who happen to be Christians) have taken us into their home until we leave (which won’t be until I’m done taking a round of antibiotics (probably on the 28th per doctor’s orders).
Katey is another of my angels. She has been such a comfort and blessing to me. I don’t know what I would have done without her here. I feel very grateful to all the people who have been and are still taking care of me. God is so good.
I am still very weak and not quite well so would appreciate all your prayers. The doctor believes I am recovering from Dysentery. Thank you also to my family, squad and all the others who have been praying for me. You will never know how much your prayers mean to me.
Merry Christmas from Hong Kong!
