Look What You Can Buy in Santa Cruz

I am a reader and often the only thing in the suitcase coming back from Canada is a load of books. Imagine my delight when I walked into the local grocery store and found a new selection of English books -- Vinyl Cafe Diaries by Stuart McLean, a Sunday at the pool in Kinglali. Yes, there would be a market for those and a variety of other English books. But Wayside Flowers of Alberta and Animal Tracks of Alberta? If anyone wants a copy for just under five dollars (I didn't say they were cheap), I will get you one.

The Last Chapter

Tuesday morning our guest, Gordon Gilchrist, arrived from Alberta, Canada and we planned to spend a week or ten days exploring agricultural projects in Bolivia. Arrangements were made enabling Erselia to purchase the needed drugs for Jhonny and we planned to hire someone to stay at the hospital over night so that Erselia would get some much needed rest.

Jhonny was breathing on his own – no respirator. However, he appeared to have seizures every five minutes and during that time it was difficult to keep his body from arching. After the seizure ended someone would straighten his body so that he could breath normally again. With medication these seizures were controlled but it was very evident when the medication was wearing off. The specialist was very optimistic about his progress; the doctors in the unit also felt there was improvement.

We were just finishing supper when the phone rang asking me to come to the hospital. I left immediately, expecting to find the lady that would care of Jhonny for the night. Instead I found Erselia crying in the hall way. She told me that Jhonny had died but I was positive that I had misunderstood her. I went into the ward and found out that it was true. Between 8:30 and 8:45 Jhonny was laying in bed and everything seemed normal. Then his heart stopped. There was no notice, nothing. It just stopped and everything was over.

Dealing with death when you know it is imminent is one thing. But dealing with it when you think things are progressing in something else. Because Erselia was in shock, Jake, Gordon and I had to make all the decisions, purchase the coffin, pay the bills, and tie up all the loose ends. It was good we had gone through the process. The half hour process with Jose Luis turned into a three hour marathon with Jhonny because there was so much more bookwork. Because the offices were closed no final accounts were available so the secretary had to add everything up, cross check it, and then come up with the final bill. We paid the estimated bill and I will go back and get the final numbers next week.

It was midnight before we left Santa Cruz and arrived in Patujusal at 5 in the morning. Imagine being woken up to be told that your son or your brother was dead. The body was brought to the church, washed, dressed and placed in the coffin again.

The next day some of the neighbours helped build the nicho – the tomb for the coffin. While that was being constructed the rest of the neighbours and the school children were singing and hearing scripture at the church.

It was nearly five o’clock in the evening when the red truck with the coffin and the family headed down the road to La Pista to the cemetery. Behind were the people, walking or biking the 11 kilometers. Thankfully, another neighbour picked up another load and everyone gathered at the cemetery for the internment. The candle lit ceremony was impressive. Jhonny was laid to rest. He is in heaven without any pain, with a brain that functions normally, with legs and eyes that are perfect. As hard as it is for the family left behind, I know that everything is working out for good. We are thankful that God has taken care of him and we are assured that He is also care for the family and friends left behind.

Isolation

After a very frustrating weekend we have come to an amicable relationship with the staff in the Isolation Unit. The regular staff are doctors with whom we have worked before and we are now able to have out questions answered.

Jhonny has two serious infections -- chicken pox and a severe urinary infection. The chicken pox is running its course and they are treating the urinary infection. Aside from that he is suffering from seizures related to the operations. These seizures are happening every five minutes and cause severe body contortions that also affect his breathing. When the seizure subsides Jhonny needs to be lifted back into a laying position. Because his mom is short she has difficulty doing this.

We talked to the specialist today and he is hoping that within a week or two Jhonny will be able to be transferred to the hospital in Yapacani and then to our house. He will need at least three months to rebuild his energy before they will consider radiation.

The lack of knowledge about brain surgery is quite evident. Only the specialist really knows what is going on and the rest of the doctors are on the same learning curve as we are. Thanks to the internet I have been able to research what is happening. Although it seems like ages to us it has only been six weeks -- not an unreasonable amount of time for brain surgery.

Same stuff -- different day

It has been over a week and nothing has changed -- just more surgeries and more CT scans. Saturday night was another night at the hospital waiting for surgery. The two hour surgery ended up taking four hours and Jhonny now has two shunts in his head, as well as a four catheters to drain the liquid from his brain. A feeding tube was going to be inserted at the same time but the doctor failed to show up so that was done on Monday.

Today Jhonny was moved to another part of the hospital -- into isolation. He has pimple-like spots on his body and they are not sure what is causing them. His room is very nice but he isn't enjoying it. He still is not responding except to noise and touch.

Because he has been in bed and inactive for so long his limbs are atrophying. It is very hard to move his legs at the knees although moving them does bring about a negative reaction. His hands are clenched, rigid, and bent backwards. When he lays his body is arched and his head lays at a peculiar angle. No matter how many times we straighten out his body it returns to that angle. His teeth are clenched and he often is grinding them.

It is hard to go every day and see no change. It is hard not to be discouraged. This is also affecting Erselia and she was very eager to go home for a day this week. It is the first time she was willing to leave the hospital for any length of time. We left Tuesday night and came back Thursday morning. Erselia was able to spend a day with the rest of her family and enjoy the Independence Day celebration in the community.

When we came back today Erselia and I talked about the future and she said she did not want Jhonny to continue to suffer. They want to know what his quality of life will be before they continue with more treatments, especially radiation. Our new challenge will be to get an answer to that question.