week2–a Goblin yet again, 2nd experience blog–
experience blog #2
content warning: puking, hospital, medical stuff, Jesus.
I feel I have not been keeping track of the days. Being sick twice will do that to you, I guess. I spoke too soon, in regard to my other blogpost, I was indeed a goblin again.
My hours at the hospital were interesting. I remember Jon sitting across from us, calling Emergency SOS. For a moment, in my sickly state and delusion, I truly thought Jon was Jesus. Anyway, when we went to the clinic (or hospital? still not sure), we were quite literally hopping couch from couch, office from office, doing our best to keep our shit together while being examined by a rotating round of people, nurses, doctors, and specialists. First, there was Ian, he was kind of like our advocate I think, he kind of guided us around and knew what was happening, so naturally we followed him. Ian was with us for most of the night. Then there was the three nurses, it seemed one was in charge and the other two were anxiously training. They put some devices on my fingers, listened for my breath, took my temperature, touched my stomach a bunch, and then I puked in the corner.
Later on, we got ultrasounds done in one of the upper levels… that was interesting. No pregnancies but a full bladder and an inflamed gut. A few other things happened, blood tests, samples (of which I shall not name here), an IV, and a few naps, but it all happened relatively quickly (I think).
The hospital itself was full of Jesus imagery. There was one mural in particular that depicted an ongoing surgery and Jesus is guiding the surgeon’s hand. Quite a visceral image, especially if you’re seeing it after/before being operated on.
In the lab, there was a shelf with a small statue of Jesus and other knick-knacks, I believe it had a rest for kneeling so that one could pray, (I could be wrong about this though). There was a lot of other stuff, but I can’t quite remember. My time at the hospital was mostly me being cold (because they leave all the doors open) and trying not to puke on the floor because they didn’t let me puke in the garbage cans.
All of the staff communicated through whatsapp, I think. Everyone was on their phone quite a lot and I think some had multiple phones. The lab was locked when I had my samples ready and so I stood there for quite a while—holding and concealing my precious samples in my hands—as Ian was on the phone with someone, trying to get the lab tech in.
The religion on display at the hospital was very interesting to me. I’ve never seen it so blatant. Perhaps the only other time would be at an old folk’s home, but for some reason that seems much more homely to me than this.
Thanks to Jon and San Daniel especially for taking care of us, (Daniel held my hand as I was being poked with needles). Thanks to everyone else for thinking of me as I went through one of the gnarliest 24 hours of my life. Hopefully I will not become a sick little goblin again during this trip, I have puked enough for the next 10 months!
4 replies on “week2–a Goblin yet again; 2nd experience blog–”
yeeesh. Story relieved.
Jesus was perhaps with us in all the various cold corners of that place. I wonder now about those training nurses. What is med school here is like? Not to create a major difference between to Western medical systems but how subtle changes in practices alter the health systems… in some way or another.. glad to have survived an experience and not found out to much while being there.
I am sorry you were sick but this is excellent writing
Hi Jasmine,
This image of Jesus with a scalpel is absolutely wild. I can’t help but feel like this is a particularly Peruvian piece of art. A spur of the moment rewriting of the bible for just a little extra comfort in the pre-operation waiting room. While morbid, I imagine there are a lot of people for whom this would really be helpful. Even in the hospital you really can’t escape the postmodern culture that Jon is always talking about. Thanks for sharing! We’re all glad that you’re better.
Gabriel
Now that I read your blog again, all that comes back to me. I’m so sorry you had to go through all that. It truly was an experience that I hope you never have to repeat (and I feel bad that I couldn’t do more for you). Returning to the image, and to Gabo’s comment, someone told me the story of that painting. It seems that a surgeon was going to perform a delicate operation that he did not feel comfortable doing. He prayed and asked Jesus to guide him. While he was in the operating room someone took a photograph of him – of course, the original version is not painted – and when the image was developed, a Christ holding hands appeared. I think it happened in Brazil or Argentina. No matter how you look at it, yes, this story is very Latin American.