Treadmill

Sometimes getting things done in Haiti is like running your hardest on a treadmill.  You waste a lot of time and energy but don't actually move anywhere.  This about sums up my adventure this week in PAP.

Dav has one testicle.  The left one has never come down and we have known since he was an infant that we needed to keep an eye out for an urologist to check him out and possibly have surgery.  2 years was the cut off wait time to see if it would come down on it's own.  This was an important issue since if his other 'goods' doesn't come down it could make him sterile and 40 times more likely to get testicular cancer when he is older.  Dav turned 2 in October and our friends, Dr Jim and Teresa, have been on the lookout for a specialist coming in.  We finally received word a few months ago that an urologist would be coming in this week at King's Hospital in PAP.

I have to admit I was both excited that we could get this done and nervous because it's still surgery.  So Sunday night I packed a night bag incase I needed to stay over night for the surgery.  I was nervous about traveling with Dav and Joseph by myself so our friend, Frantzo, came with me.  I had never heard of or been to this hospital, so I was pretty anxious.  We left later than I would have liked because we had to stop by Patrick's school for a minute.  However, his school wasn't opened so we kept on going.  We arrived in PAP at 9 and got a little sidetracked on Delmas 33.  It was sobering to pass by the intersection where dozens of people had died and dozens more critically injured in the accident last week.  There were still parts of broken motos scattered about and surprisingly the intersection which is ALWAYS blocked up with traffic, was empty.

The directions given to me were vague.  "Go to this street, turn right at the big pyramid in the intersection, drive for a couple of miles and you'll see it on your left.  You can't miss it!"  Surprisely, it was pretty easy to find.  A big white 4 story building in the midst of rubble with the words 'King's Hospital' painted in black.  We walked around asking where to go for several minutes.  I must have explained about a dozen times why we were there.  I was told to go to the pharmacy and pay for him to be seen by a doctor, even though he wasn't sick.  It didn't matter that I was there for a surgery consult.  No one knew the doctor I was looking, the urologist.  I filled out the paperwork on Dav, paid the fee, and prayed that I was in the right place.

Dav was his normal energetic 2 year old self and wanted to talk, sing, touch, play, and move constantly.  And in Haitian waiting rooms, children don't play, sing, talk, touch, or move.  They are required to sit still and be quiet.  Frantzo was a huge blessing to me with having another set of hands and explaining who we were, why we were here, and what we needed.  It was exhausting answering all the curious questions.  Who was I, who was this adorable white baby, is he your husband (in regards to Frantzo)?  At that I laughed.  I showed them Joseph's arm which is pale white and pointed to Frantzo's arm which is dark Haitian and said 'No, do you not see this is white and this is black?'  To which they would laugh.

Finally after waiting 3 hours we saw the first doctor.  She wanted me to speak to her in English and then didn't understand what I said, so I ended up speaking to her in Creole....which I prefer.  During this time Dav decided to poop A LOT.  So I had to change him which stunk up the very small room before she could poke and plod affirming that he only had one testicle.  I was asked again to sit and wait to be seen by another doctor.  After another hour I was called into a nice AC room with a foreign doctor and his translator.  After a few minutes I realized this was the doctor I had been looking for along.  He asked for the ultrasound which I told him Dav had never had one.  He wrote up a prescription and ordered some blood test.  I asked if this could be done here at the hospital today.  Telling him that we had driven almost 4 hours to get here.  He didn't know.

After that we went down the lab for the blood test.  It was horrible, I always hate this part when you have to hold down your child while this stab the child in their finger tips to get blood.  It was an exhausting 10 minutes while they pricked 4 fingers and his earlobe twice to get all the little tubes filled.  Returning to the waiting room I found out that there was no ultrasound technician and I would have to have it done outside the hospital and bring it back.  I almost lost my temper at this point.  The gentleman talking to me was so disrespectful and talking to me like I was Dav's age.  I understood what he was saying, I just wanted to know if there was another way.  A nice charge nurse came and started calling places to see where I could get one done.  She finally found a place on the other side of downtown.  It was already after 2 and we had yet to eat lunch or dinner.  So we called around in Jacmel and found a doctor that could do it.  I just knew by time a beat traffic and arrived it would have been closed.

We ate at Epidor, Haiti McDonalds and headed home.  On Tuesday we went to the doctor in Jacmel to get the ultrasound done.  It was expensive and came with a free 10 minute lecture on that he needed to have surgery to have this fixed.  However we got pictures and a letter.  I was headed to PAP on Wednesday now, hoping for a surgery date.

Wednesday finally came after a long night with Joseph.  We left later than I would have liked because I hit snooze too often.  We arrived at the hospital a little after 9 AM.  I paid the entrance fee and then waited.  Waited.  Waited.  Waited.  It seems that ALL of the doctors were busy and wouldn't be available until the afternoon.  Finally at almost 2 PM I saw the doctor.  We recognized me and I showed him the ultrasound and what the doctor said.

He explained to me that the testicle was too far up to be brought down.  Depending on where it was he would have to have it removed for the high risk of cancer.  However, he was too young to be operated on and I needed to wait another 6 months to a year before getting another ultrasound done.  I needed to see if there was any changes.  Nevertheless it wasn't a rush to get the surgery done and the longer I could wait the better.  He was nice, drew me a picture and explained everything to me, answering all my questions.  Honestly I was pissed.  I had run around with my head chopped off trying to get all the paperwork in order only to be told he was too young to have surgery anyways.  I left discouraged and confused.

I stopped by our friends' Dr. Jim and Teresa at the clinic in Christianville.  I told Teresa about what the doctor said and she was confused and encouraged me to talk to Dr. Jim.  At this point I got very confused and frustrated.  Dr. Jim looked at me like I had another head and basically said that everything I had been told wasn't true.  Dav needed to have the surgery done as soon as possible.  They would help me find another urologist.

Three days I worked to try to get Dav his needed surgery.  And now I'm just going to be Haitian and disregard what the doctor says wait for another to come.  We want to do the right thing with Dav and if not having surgery is that, than that's fine with us.  But every doctor, besides the urologist, says Dav needs to have this surgery.  I'm discouraged to have done all that work, 2 trips to PAP, all that money on test, and nothing to show for.  I pray that another urologist will come soon and be able to help me.

Thank you guys for your prayers.