Hospital Stay

The first week of July I (John) came down with a bad case of malaria, it did not help that I was very tired when I came down with it. After three different types of medication and missing almost of week of school I thought I was recovering knowing I was not 100% but I went back to school. Kathy, a clinical officer (physician’s assistant), asked me to be checked again for malaria so several days later I did. I couldn’t believe it, I still had malaria.

The following morning, Cindy, Kathy and I went to Kiminini Cottage Hospital, a Catholic hospital which Kathy had worked at. They tested me again to make sure I had malaria and then started me on first of three IVs with quinine. At that stage it had to be given intravenously over a 24 hour period. I did get the one private room in the hospital. The room was about 10 by 10 feet with a private Western style toilet. There with 2 plastic lawn chairs, a single bed with a foam mattress, a small bedside stand, and the metal stand (very simple but adequate) to hold the IV.

The nurse who inserted the needle for the IV apologized and said, “Sorry” before putting in the needle my vein. The IV took 4 hours and then you need to wait another 4 hours before stating the next IV. For lunch I was given a tasty meal of green grams (similar to lentils) and rice by a delightful woman named Tabitha. Cindy and Kathy left so they could be home before dark. For supper I had cooked plantains (cooking bananas similar to boiled potatoes) and a couple pieces of meat in sauce. Since there was nothing else to do I started reading the book, “Killing Lincoln” by Bill O’Reilly. The night of rest was better than I thought it would be considering the quality of the bed and having a needle stuck in my arm.

The next morning after I awoke, the nurses changed, Tabitha came with my breakfast of porridge in a thermos and a hard

boiled egg, and of course black tea. Cindy came later with some snacks for me plus drinking water and fruit. I started my third IV around 8:00 in the morning. After Cindy arrived, Tabitha came back and asked in Swahili if I wanted some hot water to bathe. She left, boiled some water and came back with it in a large plastic basin so I could give myself a sponge bath in my bathroom. Finally around 11:00 they came back to take another blood sample. After about an hour and a half we found out the results were negative. Praise God! So an hour later we paid the bill which must be done in Kenyan hospitals before you can leave we journeyed back home. Often patients must pay in advance before they can even be treated. By allowing us to pay afterwards, it was an example of white privilege.

By American standards all of this would seem unsanitary and about 100 years out of date. For me, I was very satisfied by treatment and hospitality shown by all of the hospital staff. I am truly thankful to them and Kathy in helping me recover from my bout with malaria.

During my stay and recovery I realized something which I have never experienced to such an extent, I had seen the face of God! That is something as a missioner we are encouraged to do in our work, to see the face of God in all we meet. No, the face of God wasn’t the Pope, a bishop, a priest, surely not in a rich person or politician, it was not a white person. She was in a short, Kenyan woman with missing teeth, who had not finished primary school, who could not speak English and probably couldn’t read. It was the cook, Tabitha. Her smiling face radiated out encouragement to me that all would be ok. Yes, I am truly blessed.