Hospital for Sister J, Former Students, Eating

We pass by this every time we leave our friends at the Hanlin Hotel to go home.  I snapped a picture of it today.  I knew it didn't look right, but never really paid a lot of attention to it until today. 

Monday morning started out with a lot of stress for me.  We had things set up for the Sister J from Lithuania to come into Jinan for some tests at the hospital, so that we could find out what problems she still had after the birth and death of her baby.  She had been dealing with problems from the preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome, and her husband’s family had no more money to spend on getting her the medical help she needed.  We set up through the Church to get her some help.

I had been emailing back and forth with her, WeChat-ing back and forth with her husband and one minute it was yes, we are coming on Monday, and the next it was no, we aren’t.  I had someone from the branch, who speaks Chinese, call him, and explain how the help from the Church would work.  It is hard to admit that you need help, but he loves her, and wants what is best for her in the end.

As time went on, and I hadn’t heard anything from them, I gave up, with my heart breaking, and was in the process of letting some of the key people know that they weren’t coming.  Just as I was about to send the message out to the second person, I get an excited call from Kayce to say that they called her and wanted to know which bus to take to get to her.  We also had Aaron, who speaks Chinese, ready to help, and they were able to get it all figured out.  I hurriedly told all the others that they were here, and that I would see them this afternoon, when I had finished classes and grabbed some lunch.

After lunch, David and I were getting ready to leave, when I felt a strong need for a Priesthood blessing.  I was nervous and pretty keyed up.  So was David.  That blessing calmed both of us down, and I know it helped everything go smoother, and in the way that it should.

After we arrived at Kayce’s apartment, we had a few minutes to visit with them.  Sister J gave me a big hug.  I know she was nervous.  We walked over to the hospital together at 2 p.m. and met at Dr. Tricia’s office.  Our first objective was to get the records from the other two hospitals.  Dr. Tricia explained everything to Sister J’s husband, H, and sent him off to the two hospitals to get the records. 

We waited in Dr. Tricia’s office for quite some time.  At about 4:30 p.m., we got a phone call from H that the printer at the first hospital was down, and it would take about a half hour to repair it.  That meant that he would not be able to get to the other hospital in time to get the records before the office closed.  As it turned out, it really didn’t make a difference if we had the records Monday or Tuesday, the doctor that she needed to see first, was not going to be available until Wednesday. 

The decision was made to take Sister J and H to a hotel for the two nights before she could be admitted to the hospital for the tests.  The Hanlin Hotel is really close, but it is rather expensive.  Dr. Tricia knew of another hotel that was close to the hospital and would cost less, so we decided to go there.  After the walk there, we found out that the hotel could not take someone with a foreign passport.  Rules are set up for those that can take them and those that can’t.  With no other option that presented itself right away, we decided that the Hanlin was the best option, even with the cost, because of how close to the hospital it was.  After getting them settled in for the night, David and I went home exhausted.

Sister J and H spent the next day seeing the sights of Jinan.  We decided to have a dinner with the rest of the Jinan group that could on Tuesday, so they could get to know Sister J and H.  Sister J doesn’t care for much of the traditional Chinese food, so having some American style food made her really happy.  It was a fun evening.

Wednesday is my day off of classes, so I arrived at the hospital at 8 a.m. to be with Sister J and H.  We met at Dr. Tricia’s office, and from there, we were taken down to the nephrology department to start a tour of discovery to find out Sister J’s problems.  She was admitted to the hospital, but there were no beds that were in the rooms available, so she had to have a bed that was just out in the hall.  I felt really bad for her, but there was nothing to do for it.  It is the Chinese way “because they have a lot of people.”  Needless to say, she didn’t get a lot of sleep there, and she has to ask to use one of the bathrooms in the rooms.

After we got them settled, and they started on the tests, Dr. Tricia and I left to go to her office and visit.  She found out that she had a “working” lunch with some of the others in her department, so we had lunch in the big conference room with them.  After the others finished their lunch, Dr. Tricia and I had a chance to visit.  We talked until it was time for me to leave and go to my Chinese painting class. 

Thursday, I went to the hospital in the afternoon to hear the results of some of the tests.  Since I knew how to communicate with Sister J best, I sat in while they explained everything to Dr. Tricia, and then she would explain them to me.  I wrote everything down in the notes on my phone, so I could show that to Sister J.  She understands English better when she can read it, rather than hear it.  I have learned so much about the HELLP syndrome and the havoc that it can wreak on a woman, that it makes me scared for those who get it.  It has been fatal in a little more than 20% of the cases, from what I have read.  Sister J is lucky in that respect.  It did some damage to her liver, but according to the results compared to the records from before, her liver is healing itself! 

Some of her other problems are starting to clear, but some will take longer.  In the meantime, Friday we had Sister J and H to our place for supper and talked for a while.  Sister J started yawning pretty good, so they decided to go home.  On Saturday evening, we got together with Aaron, his Chinese friend, Patty, Deneice, Sister J, and H, so that we could go eat at a pizza buffet restaurant.  Sister J loves pizza and there are no pizza places in their city.  It was really good-tasting pizza, and we all had a great time enjoying the food and the company.  It was better than some pizzas in the US!! 

Big Pizza Buffet!  Good food!  They did charge us a 20 RMB cover fee.  If you didn't destroy the place, you got it back when you left.  I assumed they had some wild parties there in the past.

Sister J and H came to have Church with us Sunday.  She was so excited to be able to partake of the Sacrament and then just be with us.  You could see the joy on her face.  This week in Jinan has been a great benefit to her and her husband in so many ways.  We have had fun getting to know them, too. 

Part of our Sunday dinner.  I made the pies.

The other part.  We had tacos today!  They were able to find tortillas in one of the stores!

One funny little story, when we came Tuesday to eat with the others at the Kinghorn’s room, I noticed that Sister J was wearing some very pretty earrings.  I exclaimed how pretty they were, and H started laughing and getting embarrassed.  He was so pleased that I had noticed this gift he had bought her that day.  We went up to Kayce’s room because we were a little early to go to the Kinghorn’s, and Kayce noticed them also.  Once again, H was just so pleased that someone had noticed and was very happy about.  Same thing happened when we went to the Kinghorn’s.  I loved his reaction to how we noticed those pretty earrings.

I was contacted by one of my former students from four years ago on Wednesday.  Faith has been so very busy with classes and her internship at the hospital, that we hadn’t had time to meet this whole year.  She is finally finished with her exams and has some free time from the hospital, so she contacted me.  We had planned to meet Thursday evening for dinner, but my business at the hospital took a lot longer than I thought it would, so we changed it to Friday at lunch. 

Faith and I.  She was a monitor (like class president) for her class.  

We met at the clock tower and I was astounded by how mature and beautiful she looked!  She had also brought another student from that class, named Zoe.  Zoe had slimmed down from four years ago, but didn’t grow any taller.  We had a nice lunch and then went outside to have pictures taken.

Just as we were finishing the pictures and saying good-bye, along comes another student from that same class!  Prince (his English name because he wanted to be someone that was noble), had just come over to the campus to relive memories from the first year and had in my class.  We had to take more pictures and catch up on what was going on with him. 

David, Zina, Faith and Zoe.

Prince and Zina. 

This is Zoe and Zina from four years ago.

Zoe plans to go into pediatrics.  She loves children, she says, and wants to be able to help them.  Prince will go into urology, so we talked to him about David’s cancer and some of the things he had been through these last few years.  They will all stay in Jinan at Shandong University and learn their specialties here.  Faith is the only one from their class who will be leaving the group.  She has been accepted at a prestigious university in Beijing to enter an internal medicine program, specializing in cardo-vascular.  I am so proud of all three of these students.  They have worked hard and will be a great asset to their country!