Fri Apr 17 🏥

 A long night with only a precious hour or 2 of sleep. Gentry was a full time job, Miserable and wanted nothing to do with the oxygen mask.. he also has almost completely quit eating! But they said he is getting glucose in his IV fluid and not to push the bottle because he is so weak. 

Medical conditions in this country can be extra frustrating and stressful 😣 I finally asked them how often they check vitals. “Every 4 hours”, was the reply! Quite a bit different from the hospitals back home where you can just glance at the monitor and see how the patient is faring! And only oxygen and fluids All night while waiting on bloodwork to return from the lab and determine what medicine to administer. 

When it got light out, I went out to charge my phones in the car. 

Quick note here, while out waiting for my phones to charge, I was quite burdened and overwhelmed with the situation at hand. I asked God what verse he had for me today? Opening my Bible app, the verse of the day, Jeremiah 29:12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. What a comfort! What an encouragement🤍

 Stopped by North End for a little breakfast and coffees. Being Fri, the parking lot and the main floor of the hosp was mostly empty! I had never seen this normally teeming place, So quiet! Fri and Sat are this country’s weekend, so only on call Drs etc. At North End, I had a friendly chat with the employees. They commented, that usually they are so busy they cannot chat with their customers like this!

Diagnoses is Influenza A.

So they want Lonnie and I to wear a mask when leaving the room now and Gentry is not to leave the room, which he’s not in any condition for that anyway..

When his pediatrician came by, she was optimistic about the situation. Said his X-ray was clear! The oxygen is needed because of the mucus that has collected in his nasal passages and throat. Nebulizar treatments with physical therapy after to help loosen things up and get him to cough it out. Nasal spray every hour that he’s awake to help the drainage there. Fever reducer is still needed a couple times a day.

We had a very good nurse today. She seemed to love her job and be a natural with this 6 mo old. While waiting for a temperature reading, she was all sudden singing “Baby Shark” and then “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” In English! Perfectly on tune! What a beautiful surprise💗 come to think of it, she knew pretty good English, so was not too difficult to communicate about the situation in front of us. She spent extra time with Gentry just playing and gently getting him to do what she needed him to💝 This momma heart rejoiced. Prayers are being answered.

So Dr says not to push the bottle but nurse says if you are to be able to go home tomorrow, Gentry will be needing to be able to take in enough fluids to keep from getting dehydrated again! She wanted me to try every 1-2 hrs. At 1st it was just 1 swallow. We started making 1 oz. bottles and got him to take 1/2 an oz a couple times and now by this evening, a few 1 oz bottles

We did a couple calls with the girls at the guesthouse and this evening, Lonnie went to shower and put Annslie to bed.

Thurs Apr 16 Dhaka 🏥 🤒

 We finally made the decision it is time to get help for Gentry’s medical condition.

After lunch, we packed and got the house ready to leave. Traveling was Very good!

 Oh and by the way. As we were leaving, we saw Akash working on our generator part in his dokan. Generator should be good as new again😅🙃

4 hrs later, at the guesthouse. Brian and Kaylee showed up soon with sweet tea and Carmelito bars💛. Doyle’s had just left this morning after a stay here, so there was not time for the maid to come in and clean. So we did a quick bathrooms and floors job and made the beds. Showered, got Annslie to bed for the night, gave the girls instructions, and left for the hosp.

We got to the E.D. round 11:00.

Your boy needs to be admitted. Oxygen saturation 87, temp 101, high heart rate, rattly breathing, 

They gave breathing treatment and chest x-ray then ushered us up to our private room on 5th floor. Here they started IV fluids and oxygen.

Wed Apr 15

 Power out the middle part of the day

The repair man was here rebuilding a part on the generator 

We decided it felt cooler to be outside where there was a breeze even if the temp was hotter

Dipti cooked Bangla rice, curry, dhal, and shobji for lunch

After school, I had a tub and bucket of water on the front porch for Annslie to get wet in. Jaira and Miss Christina found it a good opportunity for a water fight 💦 … Gentry and I were benefactors also🙃

In the evening, after singing with Annslie for awhile, I went into the bedroom with Gentry. It was stuffy in there and completely forgetting we were running on generator I turned the AC on 🤦🏼‍♀️

So much for the generator repair job😱

Our repair man thinks we need to get a new generator, says he’s been workin on this one for about 20 yrs😅 .. It’s just getting tired..

Tues Apr 14

 More power outages. 

 The generator cannot be coaxed on anymore. The repair man is here today tho 

It’s hot, the baby is sick and miserable

Thankyou for your prayers 💫 

Electricity is restored and somehow the courage picks up also.

The busy toddler goes down for a nap.

We go up to the classroom to help sing at the end of music class

The chicken and pork mangsho(meat) is washed and in the fridge and freezer.

Lonnie goes out to mingle with the villagers

After Christina’s supper of sausage n rice casserole and fried apples we walk over to the mela that Tulshi told us about. The religious part was held at the school grounds and all the food and gift booths were behind. If we hadn’t just eaten supper we would’ve gladly bought more from the food vendors. As it was, we didn’t actually buy much, an icy cone(don’t think it can hardly be termed an ice cream cone😉) and as we stood waiting for some bags of popcorn, acquaintances from Chakrakhali S.S. just ahead of us bought for us. And one of our neighbors running a meeshti(deep fried sweets) stand just gave us a taste, as we didn’t want to buy a whole kilo. We did come away with hand held palm frond fans and a toy for the Bud 👶🏼 and lots of hellos to neighbors and friends.

Maddie’s still been feeling wiped out from the virus, taking 1-2 naps a day, a low grade fever returned this evening 🤒 

Mon Apr 13

 Every morning that the power has stayed on all night and we are able to get around in the morning and make breakfast with electricity is something to be thankful for these days✨ 

The Bud woke fever free! But by noon it was back.. The next stage of this virus is chest congestion and sinus drainage.. and we hadn’t got him completely over his last respiratory illness😩 we’re doing warm onion poultices and fever reducer around the clock..

Our night guard Shunil, has been having ongoing sickness also. He coughs and coughs! So much that he can hardly visit for the coughing and it has made his voice raspy. For reference, Shunil is the same age as Wade, Jon C., and Merle from our cong. And has worked for CSI for about 20 years💙

Sun Apr 12 🌴 Hindu Onusthan/Ceremony

 More power outages, a battery backup that’s not been lasting long, and then a generator that’s giving fits now too! 

The youngest 2 running fevers 

Breakfast table statistics researched:

Nashville: square miles- 526

                    Population- 712,581

                        Density- 1,498 people per square mile

Khulna City: square miles-58.14

                       Population - 998,460

                        Density - 17,170 people per square mile

Lonnie figured that’s 2 1/2 sq. ft. per person, but thankfully they build up, so there’s room for roads, etc 🙃

Dipti brought her husband’s photo ID, needing some copies. She wanted to know how many years older he is than her!🙃He is 49 and she is 41 according to the birth dates on their ID cards.

Tulshi was out til 2:00 this morning with the current 5 day Hindu festival going on. When I asked him about it, he says they will be holding a ceremony next to us this evening. Where a man will climb and cut the fruit of the beetle nut palm tree. 

So this afternoon, he let us know it would be happening at 5:00 and we joined the crowd just down the road to watch the ceremony. The special tree 🌴 was right beside the road. There were food and drink booths around, a couple people selling balloons, 

Gathered under the tree, was a group of orange shirted fellows and 4 young, brawny men with no shirts. To one side was all the Hindu worship jinish(stuff). Incense burning, etc, etc.

We bought a couple bags of popcorn salted with a spicy salt😋 to munch on while we stood there in the hot sun and observed the ceremony. The drummers keeping up a steady beat.🪘 we said “hi” to those we knew in the crowd.. Sunday School girls and boys, Dipti’s niece, neighbors,…

The 4 shirtless men sat cross legged under the tree with their eyes closed for quite a span of time… an elder, strategically dabbed a dark red smear on the small of their backs and each bicep, and maybe on their chest also 💭, there was a time of hugging with emotion.. they were laughing and then were they crying and then laughing again!?!. Then the orange shirted group gathered at the base of the tree, with hands raised to the heavens they chanted. Then the 1st shirtless fellow climbed the tree, navigating thru the spiny palm fronds, up to the top where he started gathering up the topmost middle fronds together to create a sort of post to hang on to. The next man climbed up and joined him, then the 3rd man worked his way up thru fronds and took up his post in the top of the tree. It looked like a good way to get hurt up there and we hoped we didn’t observe anything tragic! And then the 4th man nearly jumps up that tree, quite an animated feller! 

Next in the ceremony was the distribution of the fruit of the tree. Clumps of beetle nuts hang all the way around and these men start tearing strings of beetle nuts off the clumps and throwing to the crowd below. The observers all trying to get their hands on a string or 2. The animated 4th feller up there was bouncing to the beat of the drum as he ripped beetle nut strings.

The descent of these men, was probably the most fascinating. Putting a clump of beetle nuts on their head or shoulders They took turns riding a palm frond down to the tree trunk and when they got to the outstretched hands of the orange shirted men below, they would fall backwards into them, making their final descent to the ground via the hands that caught them😱 the 3rd fellow at the top of the tree, we all sudden noticed, had put a blind fold on!?! And made his descent that way!😳 the last man at the top of the tree was making a spiny wreath out of a new little palm frond to wear on his descent. Their backs shiny with perspiration and quivering from exertion…one of our bystanders commented, “spiritual power”.

the crowd started to disperse and we took our leave also as Lonnie had a milk program patient waiting at our gate. Annslie wanted one of the little spicy cups of chick peas yet. According to one of our neighbor girls, there would be a prayer yet, and then the beetle nuts that were caught, would be eaten.

Sat. Apr 11

 The Bud’s turn for the fever virus 🤒 

We have some legal documents that need to get to Dhaka ASAP and Doyle’s are going tomorrow. So after breakfast, we headed to Gopalgonj. With the rain we’ve been having, the detour around the bridge project has been deemed too risky once again. So, the extra 20-30 min out, creeping thru the village on a narrow path with bricks 🧱 sticking up a rakish angles in some places, which are Lonnie’s nightmare. He’s guessing we’ll end up getting a flat tire from them yet.

At Doyle’s we got out and chatted a bit, used the washroom, .. they were having a week like ours, battling the fevers.. then back to Khulna City to get our weekly shopping done.

Stopping 1st for a late lunch at Dominos. Was it ever good to go there again😋 the pizza is So yummy and the atmosphere modern and upbeat.

Day-7, Shwapno, and the fruit and veggie market.

Maddie registered a fever again this evening and spent the night on the couch🤒