We've been a bit sick around our house. Sore throats, headache, coughing. Nothing major but enough to make a few of us feel miserable. At the end of the week last week Greta started running a temp and started to complain about her ear hurting. So, decided to call the clinic and get her an appointment. Our clinic has had some changes lately. One of those changes is that when the doctors are full for the day they have a couple doctors that are "on call" and it is a "walk-in" clinic. You just go in and it is a first come, first serve basis. I loaded up Greta, Buche and Burka and into the clinic we went to try out this new "walk-in" system. There were many other mom's that did that same thing that morning I guess. Greta was feeling sick to her stomach, so "puke" bucket in hand we walked into to a FULL waiting room.
We walked in and waited. And then we waited. And then we waited some more. Greta was feeling miserable. But, she was able to sleep most of the "wait".
She was finally called into see the doctor. She indeed had an ear infection and after a few hours spend in the clinic with other sick people she was prescribed an antibiotic that would help her get better. But, to get the antibiotic I needed to load her and the boys up, drive to our pharmacy and wait again while the prescription was filled. This wait was much quicker than the clinic wait, but I had two little boys that were very anxious to be free and play like little boys do and a little girl that just wanted to crawl in her bed and sleep.
Finally, we made it out of the pharmacy, medicine in hand. I loaded my kiddos up and drove home.
Although I feel like I was kind to the staff at the clinic and everyone at the pharmacy it wasn't until we were driving home that I had a heart check. I was really frustrated with the changes at our clinic. My thoughts were, "Do these people know that we pay TONS of money out for medical insurance every year! And, this appointment is still going to cost me money! And, Greta is feeling really crummy right now while we wait. And... can they not see that I have twin toddlers with me. It is not an easy fate to control twin toddler boys in a waiting room for hours!"
But, on the car ride home my thoughts changed to this. "Rachael, you saw medical care in Ethiopia! You have listened to the hearts of people in Ethiopia that had family members die because of the lack of medical care. Simple medical care and prescriptions that you might have to wait for a bit to get... speaking a few hours.
And then I was reminded of this blog post from Levi at BringLove.In He told the story about how Beletu, the head "house mother" at Bring Love In needed medical care. As I pondered how much money medical care costs my family, needing medical care cost Belelu much more. Her family, her husband and her son. Again, I was reminded my "wait" in the clinic was nothing to complain about. My frustration to drive my 15 minute drive to my clinic and then 5 minute drive to the pharmacy was NOTHING compared to her 11 hour bus ride to get to the doctor from her village.
We got home. I tucked sweet Greta into her bed.
Burka and Buche filled their tummies with Injera and Shiro Wot.
And, I asked for forgiveness from my God for my bad attitude. It is my prayer that God will continue to remind me of all I have to be thankful for when my heart and mind forget.
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