Last week, a beautiful little girl said to me, "My mom is back from the hospital, she is getting better!" She is bouncing with a big smile on her face like little kids do when they are thrilled with the news they are delivering. Unfortunately, she did not know the truth....neither did her mother. Her mother will die soon.
We sent the woman to the hospital and paid for an exploratory operation. The woman left the hospital before getting any news because she was worried about paying the bill even though we had agreed to. Maybe she knew we had no money to pay the bill either, but hospitals give us credit and we pay them back. Either way, two days after her operation, prior to getting any news nor medicine she left.
It is quite normal to not give people bad news about their health here. Of course in the west we would tell the patient exactly what was happening. I decided on a compromise that we decided to follow, we told the mother she was very, very sick and she needs to take care of herself and we will take care of her children. We do not know what will happen.
So what do you do when the little girl is bouncing in front of you? Gulp, try not to think to much, smile and say,"Good".
2 comments:
Well, you have a very intersting life there in Thailand, my man. Strikes me you see more of life in a week than most of us will ever see. Are you glad you've seen so much? Do you wish you'd seen less sometimes? The stories you tell are significant, I think. I hope you guys are both doing well. Take care. Tu amigo, Eric Peck
Hey Eric...great to hear you are enjoying the blog. I am impressed that you have retained all of your Spanish!
I think of my life here and I think about Jim Valvano's speech at the ESPY's a dozen or more years ago. The short version is... "try to laugh, cry and think everyday...that is what I call a great day." There are only two things that are really hard for me. One is the death of children. One in particular still upsets me a great deal. The other thing is the children picking the garbage in Cambodia...really upsetting. The other sad things are far offset by the daily wonderful experiences...especially by the hugs of the children (which are plentiful!). Take care.
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