Home

After a huge Honduran thing about payment, I am home.

I am glad to be in my sweet bed, with my pillows and my blankie.  I missed the cool night air of the mountains.  It was so hot and oppressive in the city, even with air conditioning in my room.  The a/c is another story for another day.  There is no place like home.  And, I am oh so thankful to be here.

I am doing remarkably well, especially when compared to last time.  I was so sick for so long last time.  I have had no nausea or vomiting since surgery.  Praise God.  I am already eating, even though in the hospital I was forced to eat a bit more that I was truly ready to eat.  Now that I am home, I can choose the amounts.

It is sometimes easy to criticize someone else's decision.  I am guilty of that, too.  When I do that, I usually do not understand the entire situation or all the factors involved.

Many people think we are crazy for not getting to the States for this.  There are many factors involved here.  The first one being I was too sick to get to the bathroom, much less on a plane.  Most airlines would not have let me on if I was that sick.  The three major airlines that leave Tegucigalpa leave once a day and all arrive in the states between 4:00 and 4:30.  Then there is the issues of clearing customs and such and still finding a hospital and a doctor, having tests, making decisions all in unfamiliar territory, as Houston, Miami and Atlanta are not very familiar to me.

We arrived at a private hospital at 5:45 a.m. on Sunday morning.  I did not have surgery for over 48 hours.  All the while I was having blood work, urine work, sonograms, x-rays, catscans, consultations.  By trying to leave for the States, that would have delayed the whole process by a minimum of 12 hours.  For that time, I was on pain and nausea meds, not that they helped much.  But I had a good team looking out for me and caring for me.

We have friends here.  Some of which are quite wealthy and could seek treatment anywhere they chose.  When we moved here, we asked them where they would take their kids in the middle of the night, or if they were sick.  Without exception, they said Hospital Viera.

We live here, we work here.  We help the people.  As missionaries, to be effective as much as possible, we have to put our trust not only in God, but in people here.  Yes, this is a third world country.  Yes, the public hospital is horrible, as many of you well know.  The private hospitals are different. Even some of those aren't too good.

There are very well-trained, very knowledgeable doctors here.  Most have been trained in Honduras and are proud to be here helping their country.  We, again, were blessed with a very knowledgeable surgeon.  He kept waiting because, as he explained to us, the readings on the catscan and the reading on some of the x-rays were conflicting.  He was not wanting to do the major surgery I had, unless it was absolutely necessary.  He wanted to be absolutely sure.  Since it was my belly on which he was cutting, I could not fault him for that.  He called in an exceptional internist to help him decide.  Like the surgeon, the internist wanted to be absolutely sure.

I have received excellent care from the doctors and the nursing staff.  I could not have asked for better.  Anywhere.  The nurses were gentle, kind and patient, even one night when there was a communication problem over the iv.  The four nurses and I were beyond frustrated with the situation that was no one's fault.  Yet they remained in control and professional.  Wish I could say the same for myself.  I acted like any mature adult would.  I cried.  They begged me not to cry and assured me all would be well.  Ultimately it was.  It didn't seem like it ever would be at the time.

Another factor is cost.  Since becoming missionaries, we pay a lot for insurance premiums that, we have discovered, don't pay much of anything.  Last minute airline tickets are expensive.  There would have been two, one for me and one for Marc.  Not to mention an ER, tests, doctors, surgery.  Hotels and meals have to be included as well.  Since we were confident we could receive good care here, we could not justify all these expenses.

We were in ER for six hours.  I had multiple x-rays, a catscan, a sonogram, an EKG,  blood work more than once, urine work,  tons of meds ( a week's worth), a team of three doctors, a two hour surgery, etc., etc., etc.  Our total bill, for doctors and everything was $6053.00

You can rest assured when you are here, and you dehydrate, or cut your finger and need stitches or even have an attack of appendicitis, we will take you to Hospital Viera.  You would not want to go anywhere that we wouldn't take ourselves.

Again, I thank you for the many, many prayers.  I covet those prayers to continue as I heal.  And while you are praying, please pray for Matt, our son-in-law.  As I was being dismissed from the hospital, he was being admitted for a staphy infection.

Terri