FRUSTRATION!

Anyone who knows me well will be wondering how I am even handling all this stuff that is out of my control. Today -- not very well.

Although the family made the decision to let Jose Luis die, the state has its laws and they are not willing to remove the oxygen. We went through this morning waiting and waiting. Finally a young doctor told us the same story -- his brain is not functioning etc, etc. Julio asked that the machines be removed and was told that the law does not allow that and we would have to wait another 48 hours. I asked for a meeting with the chief of ICU and he gave us the same story. I told him that the family did not know what to believe because we were told on Sunday that it would be Monday, on Monday that it would be today. I understood what was happening until the emotions came into play and they all talked more rapidly. From what we understood, the family could pay for the bed, then get something from the doctor, get some legal work done, and the machine would be removed. But reality was much different. When they removed the machine and Jose Luis started to gasp for air the mother said, "No, no" and the hospital took that as an indication that they did not want the machine removed. So we are back to square one. I am trying to get a translator for tomorrow so that I know what is happening and what needs to be done.

Although we don't want to be negative, it now seems like a money grab. The one doctor said we would have to wait 2 or 3 months because Jose Luis could come out of the coma! The cost of the bed with a discount is 120 bolivianos a day, not the 30 another family quoted. We are not sure if this is a true price or what is happening. We were also told that if we paid $110US we could get an EKG to prove that the brain was not working.

So tomorrow we begin over again.