After Monday at the public hospital, we visited the Burmese clinic on Tuesday and Wednesday.
A mom brought her little boy, Mango Oo, to our door on Tuesday morning. He had a fever and was breathing very fast; he had the signs of pneumonia. Stephen and I were supposed to be at the office at 8am to go out to Partners’ farm to harvest rice. They have been growing rice with a new SRI method that increased the yield incredibly. They were harvesting this week, and it quickly became an office event–and yes, we did learn how to harvest rice like a pro!
But I couldn’t take him to the hospital right then, so I said they could go ahead or we could go together at 5pm. They waited, so I went to take them. Seeing his difficulty breathing, I was guessing they would admit him and give him oxygen, so the Burmese hospital seemed a better option than the Thai clinic sending us on to the hospital. We piled onto the motorbike, at which point I learned that her husband was working out of town, and it would be four of us–me, the mother, the little 3 year old boy, and the 7 month old baby girl. Awesome.
We made our way slowly across town to the clinic, one of the furthest places away from our house. They did decide to admit him, so the family would need blankets and clothing. I suggested she call a friend to have them pack a bag for her. I could run home to get it, and come back across town to drop it off on the way to my bible study that was rapidly approaching.
No, the mother wanted to go. So I suggested they leave the two kids here to be watched by a nurse, doctor, or another patient. (It’s a pretty casual hospital. This is less crazy than it sounds.)
No, we would all go. Back on the motorbike, back across town, and then back again. Surely the doctor isn’t recommending this?
I suggest we go ahead as it’s getting dark, but the doctor says we need to wait a little bit. Now there will be four of us on the motorbike in the dark!
And then, the doctor says they need to put in the little guy’s IV first! They wanted to go ahead and start him on the medicine before we go. Now we have a crying three year old with a port in his hand, a crying baby because a foreigner was holding her while the little boy got his IV, and a light-headed driver of this four passenger motorbike in the dark.
It was about here that I was just thinking that our lives are ridiculous.
And then, God just decided to humor me. While we were on our way, the mother’s cell phone began to ring. Not just any ring tone, but blazingly loud–so loud that I could tell the speaker was blown as it shouted a carnival-ish tune.
Thankfully, she didn’t reach to answer it with all of us in tow, but we did get to drive through town with it declaring our arrival. I felt like a one-motorbike parade.
And I just laughed. Wherever we go, we bring the show with us.
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Today we were up bright and early to go to the clinic again. Saw Pyo, who was attacked by a dog about a month ago, needed his second round of tetanus.
If you recall my last encounter with Saw Pyo, I was a little nervous. I had been dreading it all week as his appointment loomed on the calendar.
I asked the translator to have his mom come along, but I had already warned Stephen that if she didn’t come, he was. I needed some back up. It turned out to be Stephen.
I will tell you, Saw Pyo did amazing. He was calm and collected; he barely winced.
But the best part was while we were standing in the line for registration. Stephen had just asked me if I thought any of the staff would remember him. I said these at the front desk probably wouldn’t, but the immunization workers probably would.
Just then a staff member walked by and saw us, saw Saw Pyo, and smiled. He had been the one to chase him down with me last time! He completely remembered us and the show we brought! 🙂
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