Transformation, the hospital and thanks - Grant

It has been a couple of days since I was last able to blog. Through much of Monday night Jeff was pretty sick. We got the antibiotics into him in the morning and Barb (one of our nurses) very graciously said she’d stay with him for the day allowing me not to worry about Jeff and continue to help with the work.

Tuesday was a good and busy day with getting a lot accomplished including a first coat of paint on the main walls. I did the last of the scraping and as good as that work was – to remove the pink paint – the scraping was getting a little old and I wasn’t sad to see the last of it. I worked on painting the back wall (kitchen) white and moved on to a couple of other walls that needed to be white. Rahab’s House was again transforming. The first transformation was the removal of the walls and with them the cubicles of the brothel. The second transformation was with the removal of the pink paint. The third transformation was painting the walls – white on the ends and yellow on the sides with white on the bottom sides of the rafters as well to add further light to the space.

Just after lunch I called Jeff to see how he was doing and he seemed to be improving. I rested easier and carried on with my work. By the time we got back to the hotel Jeff had taken a bad turn and was even sicker than he had been and he was very quickly dehydrating. Barb and Kit agreed that we needed to get him to a clinic. Clay had recommended a particular clinic that had American doctors. We called to arrange to get Jeff in. We were reminded that Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were holidays in Cambodia to celebrate the king’s birthday. The only doctor on call was Khmer which made his ability to communicate in English a question mark. I called Clay not knowing what to do next.

Cambodia is mostly years – at points decades – behind the West as far as medical care goes so one must take care in where to go. It is also not a matter of just calling an ambulance – you are on your own. Clay gave me the name of another hospital and the phone number and told me he was on his way to the hotel to help. I called but got a recorded message that the number was not in service. Worry was really setting in now. Jeff’s dehydration was way passed anything I’d experienced myself. Clay called again and said that he’d just stopped into a hospital – The Royal Ratanak Hospital – and that he was on his way and would be at the hotel in 10 minutes. The Royal Ratanak Hospital – somehow that just seemed very appropriate. I was able to tell Jeff and Barb and Kit that Clay was on his way. When he arrived he called and told me that he’d arranged a tuktuk to get us to the hospital. I had been thinking about a taxi – like a real car – but the tuktuk would be able to move through the heavy Phnom Penh traffic much more nimbly. I had to help Jeff out of the room and down the elevator. When the hotel staff saw Jeff and me half carrying them they practically jumped over the desk in their concern.

Kit had Jeff on the other side. Paul was on the outside steps and immediately jumped up to take Kit’s place. We lifted Jeff into the tuktuk which had just become an ambulance. Clayton told the tuktuk drive, “I drive fast and go beep beep all the time. You follow me and drive fast.” We sped through the streets with our driver keeping pace with Clay’s moto. The rain started pouring. The driver made to put down the canvas but we told him just to drive. We arrived at the hospital which opened only a month ago and wants to be known as the best hospital in Cambodia. A security guard arrived with a wheelchair and a woman at the desk approached to guide us directly into an emergency room. Two nurses were immediately helping Jeff under the watchful care of Barb and Kit. I was called to go out and fill out the necessary forms which I did. Clay arrived after parking his moto. When I turned in the forms he told me to go ahead back into see Jeff and he would collect Jeff’s passport when it was ready.

In the time it had taken to fill out the forms the doctor had come and gone and an IV had been started by the head nurse. We were then whisked up to Jeff’s room. I’ve been in a lot of Cambodian hospitals to see the facilities and to visit with the people but I’d never seen a hospital like this in Cambodia – or even in Canada. The care has been superb. Even so I have to remind myself that only about 1 or 2% of Cambodians would be able to come to this hospital.

Jeff quickly improved with the IV fluids and antibiotics. He got a bad infection from something he’d eaten – and he ate with all of us so it was by God’s grace that we weren’t all like this. I stayed the night in his room. Barb was going to sleep down in the lobby to be close but I insisted she go back to the hotel with Marty and Kit who’d come to visit in the evening.

Jeff was much better on Wednesday and I half expected him to be released but the doctor wanted to keep him through the antibiotic treatment and until his systems were working properly. So I am sitting and writing this on Wednesday evening after Jeff and I had a very quiet day. I’ll be staying with them again tonight and we should be heading back to the hotel Thursday.

I want to publicly thank Barb and Kit for their amazing care. Barb who stayed with Jeff throughout the day and who first said Jeff needed medical care and who had to be told to go back to the hospital. And Kit who upon arriving back at the hotel was up to our room in a shot where she and Barb provided such loving care to Jeff and who both accompanied us to the hospital.

I also want to thank Clayton who truly is his brother’s keeper. Clayton has shown his quality as a disciple of Jesus in many ways went way beyond the call to make sure we got the care we needed. I will forever be in you debt Clay. We all love you and are so thankful that God has called you to work with ARC.

I’m off to another night on the couch – and I’m not even in trouble.

A very thankful Grant.