May 11, 2008

  • The Color Yellow

    The color yellow has a whole new connotation for me these days.  In the past, whenever I thought of the color yellow, I immediately thought of the sun…or maybe a flower….but not so now.  Believe it or not, whenever I think of the color yellow these days, I think of urine.  Pretty weird, you say?  Well, let me tell you the story…..

     

    Steven is a 36 year old married man with children.  Sorry I don’t know how many, but I can tell you he has an 18-month old daughter. (The little girl was very afraid of Sal and I because we were white-skinned and would hide under her mom’s chetange whenever we would come around. It was very cute!)  Well, Steven was admitted to the clinic one night very sick with a high fever.  He had a dazed look and appeared dehydrated.  He was previously treated for malaria at another center just days before.  An HIV test surprisingly was negative. A malaria test was also negative, but expected to be so since he had already been treated.   IVs and broad spectrum antibiotics and fever control were the order of the day. About the second day here with fevers still up and down and I mean spiking high like 104 degrees, I walked into his room making my rounds, greeting patients and families and praying.  When I entered his room, I noticed his urinal sitting on the floor with what should have been urine in it, but I had to ask. You see what was in his urinal was black!!  Not tea-colored, not dark amber, not blood-tinged, not bloody…..just black!  What Steven had was “Black Water Fever”, a very serious form of malaria. His urinalysis was abnormal with protein and ketones and bilirubin.  Quinine was started immediately and a urinary antibiotic was started a couple days later after receiving the drug for the first time from the district.  (Coincidence??)   Despite the new treatment regimes, things were not looking hopeful, so Sal went in to talk with Steven and his family about the probable outcome as medically seen.  He wanted to give them the option of taking Steven home to die or staying at the clinic with a high probability of the same result.  Oh, in other words asking “where do you want to die?”  Pastor Julius had accompanied Sal in to talk with the family and they all prayed together before Sal left.  Pastor Julius continued to stay with the family to pray and offer support.  Steven and his family discussed it and they decided he would go home.  They would spend another night at the clinic and go home in the morning.  His brother was at his beside all night.  I just happened to go over to the clinic because Sal had been called out in the middle of the night to pick up a woman in labor.  I knew he had arrived because of the squeal of the brakes on the Land Rover and I had gone over to help.  I sat down in the main reception area to wait on him and I saw Steven’s brother bringing out his urinal to take to the bathroom to empty it.  I literally had to chase him into the men’s room because my Tonga was not that great and neither was his English. I had to make sure the urine was Steven’s because it was clear yellow!!!  Testing his urine showed all normal results!!!!  Remember, just a couple hours previous, it was black….no change despite all our efforts…..until we had given up and prayed!!!!  When Sal came in and got the lady settled, I showed him the urine and the test.  He looked at me awe-struck,  with tears in his eyes and said, “It’s a miracle!”  He proceeded to go to Steven and the family and tell them we had all just witnessed a miracle!!  He gave God all the glory!!  The family did take Steven home the next day and will continue the course of medicines, but I know we will see Steven again for his follow-up appointment.  I know the outcome we expected was changed that night!