Appendectomy

Thursday, July 22, 2011
(Hamle 14, 2003 ec)
Diré Dawa, Ethiopia

This is John Dols blogging today. Yesterday we had quite the day. For the first time some of our students are getting sick. I am guessing that it has to do with altitude and dehydration. No worries, we are pushing water and sleep when people are feeling sick. So, when Lauren Moore said that she wasn't feeling well we decided to treat it with Ethiopian Gaterade (fizzy water, salt, sugar, limes, and orange mix) but it did not help. So when she told us that she was feeling sick and she had pain in her side Anne, Br. Getachew, and I decided to take our first trip to the hospital this trip.

After an initial check at the clinic, under the advice from the nurse at the clinic we went to the big public hospital. After a short wait where I entertained her with my version of Justin Bieber (even sporting the Bieber hairdo), at the same time watching a person get stiches in the open emergency room, she was seen by a nurse that believed she had a bad appendix. We were brought to a nurses station to have her admitted at the same time Br. Getachew saw a doctor who brought her to a private room to examine her. Most rooms had six beds with people in them, they don't really have private rooms, so we got lucky. It ended up that this rooms would be her home for the next 24 hours. After an initial exam and an ultra sound, it became obvious that she would need an operation to remove her appendix. A note about the hospital, it is not what we are used to, but everyone was very accomodating and hospitable trying to make her feel safe and comfortable. She had her appendix removed in a 15 minute procedure.

That evening Anne, Lauren LaVelle, and Carly stayed with her in her private room. In the morning when I returned, she felt better, was experiencing some pain from the surgery, but was in good spirits. The initial pain is gone and she will need to take it easy for the next few days, but will be fine and will even be able to swim with the group in Baba Gayou in a week. The total cost for the procedure, the prescriptions, the room, and everything between $50-$75. It was a little more expensive for us because we are visitors (for Ethiopians it would have been $40-$50). They were going to charge us $4000 Birr (about $400), because we are foreign but because we are here for service they gave us a discount. We were very lucky, Lauren was very lucky, because if the appendix would have burst, she would have been in very bad shape. It was also lucky that we found the doctor we did because he set us up nicely. We are, and Lauren is, very blessed.

The rest of the trip is going very well. There are so many stories that we will have for you when we get back. We are building very great relationships, trying to stay busy, at the same time trying to embrace a lifestyle that is meant to be lived at a slower pace where relationship is more important than anything else. We have 2 hour meals and the whole country shuts down between noon and 3pm.

It is hot in Diré Dawa and this is the cool months, I can't imagine the hot months. It is as if God turns the heat on at about 10:30 and doesn't turn it down until 4pm. I hope you are enjoying the blog and the twitters. Continue to pray for us and we will pray for you as well.

John