The rest of the story . . .

The two things I didn't post from China were about Jesse being sick and our hospital experience. Probably just being paranoid, but I didn't want to risk them tracking us down for quarrantine or offending anyone with my description of the hospital. So here are the stories.

The Jesse Story

10/20/09 Email to my family:
Well, 24 hours from now we'll be arriving at the airport, ready to fly to
China! I wanted to ask you all for even more prayer . . . last night
Jesse woke up with a horrible cough/wheezing, so bad we had to use the
nebulizer. He's better today, but still coughing. He has allergies, and
this happens to him a lot, so I'm not worried about his health. But we
ARE very worried about the flight. Not only do we not want people to
think that he'll make them sick, but even worse, China is
quarrantining--for 7 days--people with fevers or flu symptoms (because of
the swineflu). The quarrantine has been my biggest fear about the trip,
and now to have Jesse get this cough the day before we leave is horrible.
He has an appointment with the allergist this afternoon. I'm hoping to
get a letter from her saying that it's allergies, so no one will think we
need to be quarrantined. I'm also planning to get a cough suppressant
for him, but all the ones I've found so far for kids are large bottles
which can't be carried on. Please pray that we can get this figured out,
that God would heal him totally TODAY, and that we would not be
quarrantined for any reason. (Even if we're healthy there are rumors
that they quarrantine people who are NEAR sick people too; we just have
no way to know what to expect.) And pray for Heath and me to have peace;
we were both feeling pretty anxious last night.

Thanks so much. I probably won't have an update until after we're there,
but thanks for your continued prayers. We need and appreciate it so
much.

10/21/09 Email to my family:

Well, the bad news is I'm writing this email from Maryland. The good news is we're avoiding quarrantine. This morning we made the decision when Jesse threw up in the van on the way to the airport. Turns out it wasn't allergies, but the good ol' flu. Since I've been to Beijing 3 times, I told Heath he and the others should go and Jesse and I would catch up when he's better. So now we're scheduled to fly out Friday, exactly 48 hours later than planned. That'll get us to Beijing in time to spend one night there, and then we'll all fly onto Xian to get Tabitha. It won't affect the adoption schedule, but it may affect my ability to get my Peking Duck dinner!!

All last night I kept waking up in a panic, thinking about all the "what if's." And this morning was all the "why's". I don't understand why God would say no to our prayer for good health. I mean, Jesse hasn't been sick in several months--why this week? Why this day? Even a day earlier, and we'd probably have been fine to travel. I don't understand at all. But the amazing thing, and the thing that proves to me that prayer does make a difference, is that I'm not a total basket case. Normally I would be ballistic, angry and very upset. I don't handle it well when things don't go according to my plan. I'd been praying for good attitudes whatever challenges we ran into--I just didn't think we'd run into them before we even left! But I guess the prayer has worked. No, God didn't heal Jesse in time for the flight, but He has definitely been working in my heart, and I'm actually at peace with this decision. I guess I'm learning, ever so slowly, that I am NOT in control--no matter how well-planned I may be. God is in control, and I need to surrender that need for control to Him. If nothing else, I guess learning this lesson may be why He allowed this to happen.

Please do continue to pray that Jesse and I get/stay healthy, as well as the other 4 who are on the plane right now. Thanks again.
Love, Erin

The Hospital Story
(the original version that I wrote but didn't post)

By 4:00 we decided we needed to get help. We left the kids with Mom again. They worked on their AWANA verses, "wrote" in their journals, and watched a movie. We took Tabitha down, and exchanged more money to be prepared for a doctor. The assistant manager here speaks English amazingly well, and he was a big help. He sent us to the hotel clinic first, but there was nothing they could do for her there. They said to take her to the hospital. By this time, she was crying, and she wanted to walk because holding her seemed to hurt more, no matter what positions we tried. But soon, she couldn't even walk without pain, so we had to carry her. We were planning to take her to a Western hospital that Kelly R had recommended, but our guide said to meet her at the Children's Hospital, which is very close to here. Not knowing any better, we took her advice. The asst manager got us a taxi, and we headed off. (By the way, once you're off the island, the traffic and insane driving habits are about the same as the other places we've been in China.) When the driver stopped the car, and said "here it is," we were thinking . . . "Where?" He had dropped us off in front of a building that had no doors. It was a courtyard with a skylight roof. There were rows of colorful chairs and various parents and children sitting around. We knew Helen wouldn't be there for awhile because she lives an hour away. Tabitha was crying terribly by this point. Heath was holding her in a standing position, trying to take her weight without putting any pressure on anything. I was trying to communicate with the check-in people. She had us fill out a card, and then said go to the 3rd floor. So we went to the third floor (took awhile because the first stair case was locked half way up), and no one was there. Just a big empty, dirty room, with benches. So we went down to the 2nd floor, thinking maybe we had misunderstood. Here someone saw us looking lost and pointed to a counter. We stood there, waiting for help, but lines don't really exist in China, so there were about 8 other ladies shoving papers to the worker, and we didn't know what to do. I was about to give up and say, let's just go to the Western Hospital with or without our guide (no cell phone to get ahold of her with). But just then someone said, Hello, I'm Kelly--Helen's friend. Praise the Lord. I've never been so relieved. She at least figured out where we needed to be. There was a different section of the 3rd floor, where there was indeed a doctor. There were not different rooms or anything, just cubicles, made of ugly green plastic, and everything was dirty. Kelly explained the problem to the doctor, and he looked confused. They talked for awhile, but didn't seem to make any progress. The doctor scribbled something on what looked like a prescription pad, and sent us out. We went back to where we started to deal with the cashier. OK, our daughter is screaming in pain, and you're making us deal with money first! Unbelieveable. Kelly had a big argument with the cashier, and then went off somewhere else. She came back saying that we needed a deposit of 3,000 yuan (roughly $400+ dollars). We didn't have that much money with us, and they wouldn't accept our credit card--only AmEx. By this time, Helen arrived. She put the deposit on her own credit card. Then they took us to a different section of the hospital. This part was at least fully indoors, but so old, dirty, scary looking. We went into a room, where the doctor looked at the catheter and tried to figure out what to do. Not having her full medical history, he wasn't sure if he should just remove the catheter and put in a new one or not. Helen and Kelly were yelling at the doctors about their lack of urgency. She came back in the room and told us, "Now they're working!" Even if we could speak Chinese, having her help advocating for us was invaluable! Helen called Janet, who called her orphanage worker, who got the doctor's #, and finally the two doctors talked and determined it was OK to put a new catheter in. I don't know why this took an hour. Fortunately, Tabitha had fallen asleep and was calm. Heath had his hand on her back, and he said that when the doctor came in, her heart just started pounding. The poor little girl knows that pain is coming when she sees a doctor. Finally he said it was OK to do the catheter. We all had to hold her down, but as soon as it was done, the urine came right out, and she was immediately out of pain. She calmed down, and wanted to eat and drink. We had to wait awhile longer while Helen got her deposit money back. The total bill was 110 yuan, less than $20. Cheap, but I'll take America's expensive healthcare anytime.
If we ever need medical help again, we will definitely take Kelly's advice and go to the Western clinic. And yet I'm glad for this experience. I am SO thankful for the healthcare we have in the States. I mean, looking around at these poor children and their parents, whose only hope is this dingy, dirty hospital. . . it breaks my heart. We can walk into a doctor's office at home, hand over an insurance card, and have a peaceful, private, safe procedure done, and go home. These children have only this hospital, and their parents don't get to go home in a week to get good care. This is all they have. I will never complain again about sitting in a waiting room too long, or having a crabby nurse check my kids' weights. I dont' know why God allowed this to happen to our little girl, but I think learning firsthand what life could've been for Tabitha is enough. I am SO thankful that we will be taking her home in less than a week, and that she will never have to deal with this kind of situation again.

So, there's the rest of the story. Now, I'm done blogging for awhile! Also, I'll be posting our pictures on snapfish. If you'd like the link, please send me an email and let me know. Thanks again for journeying with us!