Tad's Life

Saturday morning at the Hamptons this week is fairly calm. Jonathan is over at Corrie’s house. The Timberlakes just got back this week from summer in the US, so the buddies are reuniting. We thought that they were going to spend the night here, but, at the last minute, the plan changed. So Jane and I had a relaxed evening with just the two of us. We actually watched a movie (mediocre, but without many interruptions). Then this morning we slept in and started the day at a reasonable pace.

Juliette works for us on Saturdays. Today she brought her daughter, Adja. So we have the joy of this cutie in the house. She walked around with me while I took photos of the happenings at the Phare today.

By that point Jane was out doing first aid on a talibé. Also, a church group (the main Baptist group in Dakar) was starting to gather. A little later, Alex stopped by to pick up a pastor and his friend from PA who came in last night. They are here to visit MIS. I met them and changed money for them (since it is Saturday and the banks are closed). Jane by now was on the couch working on grading vocabulary quizzes.

Meanwhile, the phone keeps ringing. Antoinette has been at the hospital with her sister for days. They have finally decided that she has septicemia, a system-wide infection started by a deep abscess in her hip that also infected her brain. This explains the bizarre combination of symptoms: hip pain, coughing blood, stroke-like loss of one side of her body strength. And it will mean surgery and a lengthy hospital stay and even then, in our judgment, her life is in significant danger.

This is very serious, but the delays in treatment are tragic. Yesterday the government hospital that finally made this diagnosis tried to transfer her to a private hospital for treatment, actually sending her in an ambulance across town, only to be told there were no beds available. That is what happened 10 days ago when the Mbour hospital sent her up here to Dakar, only for the family to find out there was no room in the government hospital. They had to wait days, with the sick lady staying with Antoinette’s family, until a bed opened up.

And, of course, the family is at the end of its resources. That was the Saturday morning question. Probably the Lord let it come early on while I was relaxed and mellow. But this lady won’t be able to afford treatment unless we step in and participate financially. And we have no idea how much it will come to. Normally that would raise my stress levels significantly. Today it just feels like the only right choice. (Thank you, Lord.)

// posted by Tad @ 10:38 AM