Week 3

This week was probably the hardest week yet. Sophia and I had quite the unexpected adventure…

Project

This week, Sophia and I planned to continue testing on the solar oven. We were able to determine that the modifications we made last week did increase the temperature inside the oven, and we were excited to move forward. However, in the middle of testing on Wednesday, we experienced a slight road bump that changed the course of our entire week and so unfortunately no significant progress was made on the project for week 3.

Hospital Visit

Yes – you read that right! From the beginning of our trip, Sophia has had more trouble adjusting to the climate than I have. She had been feeling sick on and off throughout the first 2 weeks, but was taking some medicine Fr. Paul had given her and was starting to feel more settled. On Wednesday, her symptoms came back with a vengeance and Fr. Jesu and I made the executive decision to take her to the hospital. Fr. Jesu told us that Sophia would be able to see a doctor and evaluate her symptoms, and then if necessary, she would be admitted.

What we weren’t told is that when Fr. Jesu called Fr. Paul to inform him of Sophia’s condition, Fr. Paul called the hospital and told them to admit her straight away. So when we arrived at the hospital, we were immediately whisked to the ER and nurses swarmed Sophia, closing the curtains so I could not see what they were doing. It seemed like in a blink of an eye they were bringing in needles and poking Sophia while a child screamed behind us and next to me nurses were slapping another woman into consciousness. Have I mentioned yet that I don’t do well with medical stuff?? The nurses were laughing at me, because at this point I will admit I was crying just as much as Sophia was. The entire experience was incredibly overwhelming.

They brought us to an air conditioned room and hooked Sophia up to a saline drip while an ultrasound was ordered for her. The ultrasound was an interesting experience also – the room was small with a single curtain to give the women some privacy, and your shoes had to be removed before entering. There was a sign outside the door that said “determining sex of baby by ultrasound is illegal in these premises” which was depressing as we later learned that this law helps to keep women from having abortions if their child is not the sex they want.

After the ultrasound, we went back to air conditioned room where we stayed for 3 days and 2 nights while Sophia continued to received medicine via her IV. The staff was SO kind to us – from bringing me extra sheets so I could stay to the dietitian taking our food orders (she even brought me french toast for dinner and was able to find some mashed potatoes for Sophia!) – they definitely made our stay as comfortable as possible, given the circumstances.

Visitors

We received several visitors throughout the 3 days in the hospital. The first and most common visitors were the nurses. Along with Sophia’s medical staff, we would occasionally have 6 or 7 nurses come in all at once and just stand in the doorway to stare at us. We definitely provided plenty of entertainment for them!

The janitor, Monica, came in to sit with us a few times. She only spoke Hindi and every time she talked, it seemed like she was telling me her whole life story. I would just smile and nod, and I wish I could have communicated with her more.

We received a visit from the Jesuit Provincial who stopped by to talk to Sophia for a few minutes. That was kind of cool and he asked us what we were doing and gave us a few ideas for travel once out of the hospital.

Our friends Sangita and Rajesh also came to visit us – Rajesh trains some of the nurses at the hospital so they heard through the grapevine that we had been admitted. Sangita brought Sophia a rose and sat with us for a few hours, showing us pictures and telling us stories to keep Sophia’s mind off of the discomfort. Both Sangita and Rajesh took me to the canteen (a small outdoor shop) for lunch/a break from sitting in the hospital room, and I was very appreciative of that. At one point, there was a dust cyclone while we were walking to the canteen and that was a crazy experience also – it seemed like the hospital “excitement” was unending.

Finally, there was a very sweet nun who brought Sophia communion at one point. This was funny for us, because Sophia isn’t Catholic. It took a few minutes and lots of hand motions, but eventually the nun understood that I would take it instead. However, she prayed over me like I was Sophia and was going on and on about my health and new life and healing and it was both peaceful but also very ironic.

Challenges

The first major challenge of this whole experience is that pretty much no one spoke English. It took almost a whole day to get the nurse to tell us what Sophia’s diagnosis was – not because she didn’t want to tell us, but because she simply didn’t understand that we had been asking for it. We were not told what medicines Sophia was receiving either and I had to do a lot of observing as to what the nurses were doing/writing down to make sure everything was safe. There were also several times where Sophia would call for a nurse for something, explain what she needed, and the nurse would just stare blankly at her and then leave without returning.

Another major challenge was staying calm. It was clear that Sophia was uncomfortable and anxious, and I had to make sure that I was able to talk her through what was going on and remain calm, especially when she was in pain. This was very hard for me to do especially when I was so uncomfortable, and I had to make sure to excuse myself from the room if necessary so I could breathe for a second.

Takeaways

We arrived back at the compound on Friday, and Sophia was prescribed several medications and 2 days of rest. We are getting ready to go into week 4, and these are the things we’ve learned:

1. We need to take MAJOR precautions from the sun. Just drinking lots of water and putting on sunscreen is not enough. We have increased our arsenal with oral re-hydration salts, more salt on our food, energy drink powder, and extra breaks throughout the afternoon.
   
2. Apparently people in India must not get very emotional?? The nurses found it amusing that we were both so upset about being in the hospital and shook their fingers at us several times saying “no cry today”. There was one particular moment where Sophia was having a really rough time, and a nurse actually brought out a newborn baby to show us to cheer her up.
   
3. We have really great people supporting us here. Everyone was so kind the whole time and really put forth an effort to make us comfortable. The hospital we stayed at was actually founded by the Jesuits, so I know that with the connection to Fr. Paul and Fr. Jesu, we received extra special care.
   
4. My mission here is still to love – even in the gross, uncomfortable, scary moments! I walked past this sign in the hospital and it made me smile. It was a good reminder throughout the hospital visit.

5. I never ever EVER want to be a doctor 🙂 (although I’m pretty sure I already knew that. This DEFINITELY validated it!)

Sophia is on the mend and hopefully I will continue to stay in good health – thanks for all the extra prayers and love you are sending our way! Hopefully next week I’ll have a more travel-related adventure to share 🙂