A Day of Unplanned Adventures

"In their hearts humans plan their course but the Lord establishes their steps." (Proverbs 16:9)

We started our day with a plan - go with Barbara and driver Ronald to do some Sanyu shopping, be back when the mobile eye clinic came to do exams on the remaining staff who weren't here to have them done a couple of weeks ago and spend some time helping and playing with the children...but things didn't quite go as planned. 

We were to head out at 9am to get the shopping done. However, the Sanyu pickup truck had a dead battery. Oh well, just a 45 minute delay while Ronald changed the battery and we were off.  Road construction meant we had to take a rather lengthy detour but we finally made it to our first stop and Barbara negotiated a good deal on our purchases. Off to the next stop. No glitches.  

Stop number 3 was totally unintentional when the engine died while we were in heavy traffic.  So Ronald, who has been suffering from a very painful hip for a week opened his door, got out and began pushing the truck. Once he got it coasting, he jumped in and turned the ignition. It gives a whole new meaning to trying to jump-start the engine. No success but we were able to coast across a couple of lanes of traffic to get pulled off in the entrance to a hotel.  We were close enough to a mall that we 3 girls could walk to complete the shopping while Ronald went to get some water for the over-heated engine.  We were able to limp back to Sanyu with no further difficulties. 

Now sometime between stop 1 and stop 2 I received a text from Jackson, the coordinator of the eye clinic to say the doctor had been delayed at the hospital and the clinic at Sanyu, which was to start in about 45 minutes, would have to be postponed until tomorrow. This was especially disappointing as several staff had made arrangements to be there on their day off.  Oh well. Some things are out of our control. 

Before leaving in the morning we had asked Ronald about the condition of his hip. He revealed that there had been little improvement but he had been directed to a clinic, however the treatment they suggested was very costly. We wanted to help provide some relief so we both felt we should try to help cover the cost of treatment today. As we watched him through the morning, it was clear he was miserable with pain. 

Upon our return to Sanyu we looked more closely at the costly treatment and felt it was a very questionable plan since no conventional treatment had yet been attempted. 

We agreed to cover the cost of an X-Ray and as he was about to head to the hospital on a boda, we asked if he'd like us to go with him. He didn't hesitate to say "yes". So Ronald got on a boda and we walked the short distance to the hospital.  He was already in the X-ray department when we arrived (he had been given the slip last week but hadn't been able to get the X-ray done).  We sat with him as he waited his turn and then we waited until he was given the result (including the film which he was given to keep). 

Then off we went to the out-patient department. Ronald seemed to know we were to go to Room 5 so as soon as the previous patient left that room we all walked in to see the doctor. Ronald spoke to him in Luganda and we were given a slip to take to Wicket 1 to "activate his number". Oops, wrong wicket. Please proceed to Wicket 11.  Then it was back to see the doctor in Room 5. This time Ronald waited willingly outside and we spoke with the doctor in English. 

Since the X-ray was normal, Dr. Deus  decided to treat him with pain reliever, muscle relaxant and anti-inflammatory. This seemed much more reasonable to us. Off we went to Wicket 9 to have the prescriptions entered into the system.  Then it was back to Wicket 11 to fill 2 out of 3 prescriptions. 

We returned to Ronald in the waiting area to tell him everything had been taken care of. We just needed to fill one more prescription at a local pharmacy and we'd meet him back at Sanyu. 

So Ronald got on a boda and we walked back to Sanyu with medications and X-ray in hand. 

So now we have one more thing to add to our list of new experiences - navigating a little piece of the Ugandan medical system. All in all, it went pretty smoothly and quickly and everyone we encountered was very professional. 

Although our day didn't quite go as planned, it is our hope and prayer that in the end Ronald will get relief from the pain we've watched him suffer from for the past week. 

I wonder what tomorrow will bring...