Dan forgot to bring enough of one kind of his pain medicine for his damaged nerve. Uh oh! The pills he ran out of are the kind you have to ease on and off slowly...not quit abruptly. Challenging situation: Sunday, when most stores close down in PNG, and a holiday weekend, and no pill for tonight.
After trying several phone numbers in the telephone book, we found a private hospital that had a related drug to the one Dan was missing...he had taken that particular one before. However, he wasn't sure of the amount he should take...so we went to the hospital, filled out a patient card, and waited to see a doctor.
I felt a little conspicuous. There we were, two big white people, who seemed in fine health, waiting with at least 3-4 PNG families with very sick babies and small children. I felt like we should let all the sick people go ahead of us...it was a long wait as it was. But, I knew our turn to see the doctor would be very quick (just asking how a dosage for a particular medicine), so we simply took our turn.
Both Dan and I thought, separately, that we wished we could take some pictures so you could see what this experience was like, but ruled it out as "tacky." The interesting thing about the doctor was that he had no computer or books or anything...just a small desk in a small room. The other interesting thing was a compelling painted portrait of a PNG woman hanging on the wall in the waiting area. (I have no idea who she is in relation to the hospital, but I'd be interested to find out. I bet there's a story around that painting somewhere.)
When we got home, I felt like crying. There was no reason because Dan got his medicine and we were treated with kindness... but it's sad to see hurting people...and stressful to be in a hospital in another culture. However, the end of the story is that God is good. He provided for Dan's need, we were helped by several kind people, and I saw a beautiful painting.
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