One of my jobs was to be the local village "doctor." I was running a flourishing medical practice (unpaid) among our village friends, and others came from surrounding villages too. In Jungle Camp we had received basic training in various health problems, and we had several medical manuals, including the Merck Manual. But the reality was greater than we knew. We treated open wounds, pneumonia, gave shots of all kinds (I even had to give Jonathan shots when he got a high fever and was quite sick with bronchitis). But the hardest one I couldn't treat was when a teenage boy fell off the top edge of a fence and tore open all the skin in his private parts. We sent him to the small hospital in Bharatpur to get stitches. We sent other severe cases like this there too, though we were the follow-up team, changing dressings, providing shots and medicine and check-ups.
Those we helped would bring food in return, or invited us to eat with them, always yummy, but very spicy. Besides this, we often had visits from our Wycliffe colleagues. This time down Ron and Gail came with their boys, went swimming with us in the Rapti River and took elephant rides. Probably swimming in our local river where the cows drank and bathed was not the best, in retrospect.
After a month in the village, we again faced medical challenges. I came down with a very high fever. Bill made contact with Kathmandu and arranged for an emergency flight, though they were waiting on a broken part for the plane so we had to wait an extra day. According to my journal,
We took off from our village for the airstrip in a dilapidated jeep with no roof but a piece of plastic that Bill put above us to protect us from the rain. We arrived at the appointed time of 8;30, but no plane. Finally at 9;30 Bob came and landed and "Praise God" were our first words! I was quite ill by this time. Next to the plane were two of our amazing JAARS pilots who flew our teams to and from our villages.
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| SIL pilots beside one of the two JAARS planes at the airport in Kathmandu. |
By the time we landed in Kathmandu, I was rushed to the hospital where tests were begun. Our friends Ron and Gail took our kids for us. Continuing from my journal,
Saturday evening I started shaking with chills and my fever kept going up. The thermometer was kept on the small table next to the bed. My fever peaked near 106 degrees. Before that I thought 103 was high! At first they thought it was a severe bladder infection, but the chills and fevers came every 18 hours, so then they knew it was probably malaria and began treatment. Bill was exhausted too. They kept the fever down with medication. "May 25, 1073: Isaiah 48:9-13: I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction...."
However, I must have been allergic to the morphine they gave me. When it was time to sleep, I began seeing nonstop pictures. That morning I had told the doctor I saw a yellow duck with a tuxedo walk across the ceiling. He laughed. But then my private cinema began and hallucinations lasted until 4:30 in the morning when the doctor prescribed something to stop them. Bill called our friend Gail to come sit with me as he was so tired too. Gail came and we began rejoicing together and praying for others. And then sleep came."
It was another mercy of God to hold the high fever until we reached Kathmandu. The hallucinations continued to come on and off for many days. Really strange and some scary ones. (I don't know why anyone wants to try drugs). One time, in one corner of my hospital room, there was a large flower pot that kept changing different kinds of flowers. Once a nurse came in and her earrings had live birds flapping their wings and chirping. When I hit rock bottom thinking they would never stop, and with complete weakness, I felt myself slipping and could do nothing but trust my Shepherd and Lord. He told me not be afraid, I would be alright. Soon I received an injection and had the best night's sleep in a week.
Then the doctors found I also had several kinds of worms and had to treat those too. They found other things in my blood they also treated. Carl and Sharon Kotapish came by and visited too. How grateful we are for the family of God He put around us here and now."
After several weeks I regained strength. And we got some good news about Jonathan. He had been treated for over a year now for tuberculosis and the new X-rays made it possible to finally declare him cured! We had much to rejoice over in God's goodness and healing. We had a ceremony of flushing down the toilet the remaining pills.
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| Jonathan with friends in the village |
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