Hospital Time

      I've been to the hospital here often for different reasons: to read to the kids, visit patients, help birth a baby, and encourage the ladies with songs.  This visit was different- I was a patient.  I went in recently and had 3 sweet friends volunteer to come with me!  Brice stayed home with the kids.  Here are some things I found they do in a 3rd world country hospital:

     -If an ambulance comes in with an emergency all the doctors go that emergency, so you won't be seen until the emergency is stabilized.
     - Every patient gets an IV, no matter what there problem is.  Or at least they did the night I was there.
     -There are 2 bathrooms  for the whole emergency floor and one is for handicap.  Since I had an IV I felt I qualified to use the handicap one.
     -Healthcare is all free, but on the flip side there is no toilet paper, soap, pads, bandages- you have to provide that yourself.
     -The night I was there was very busy, (when is it not?),  so the bathroom had not been cleaned.  The floor was covered in urine.
     - Since you are being flooded with fluids from an IV and you wait awhile, you have to pee a lot!
     - While there, a prisoner was being treated too, being handcuffed and going to the bathroom takes awhile.  So, thus more waiting for a bathroom.
     - Thankfully one of the friends who came with me did not mind holding up clothes while I used the bathroom with an IV in a smelly room.
     - Even with over 40 people registered waiting to be seen for tests, they did not label blood samples, so I think I got accurate information back!

     I am thankful for friends that support us even on more challenging days and new experiences!