I am writing from Zlatna Niva, Bulgaria. The boys and I are staying at Zach and Verity's (my brother and sister in-law) home for a week. William has been sick for a couple days and yesterday he was feeling so ill that he decided to go the doctor. We know one doctor here in Bulgaria who works in a town called Shumen; which is a little over an hour away from where we live. The doctor doesn't speak any English but I knew enough Bulgarian to be able to communicate with her. She checked William's breathing and then sent us to a lab on the other side of town to get an X-ray and blood work done. After about 20 minutes of looking for an 'orange building' we found it. We took the X-ray back to the doctor's office and after she looked at it she said that William had Bronchial Pneumonia. She told us that he would have to be hospitalized. We tried to see if their was any way to treat it at home (since we live so far away, and I can't drive over here) but she said that the medications he needed were only available at the hospital.
Once we left the doctor's office we drove back home and I packed a bag for William. In Bulgaria the hospital doesn't provided personal items so you have to bring your own plate, fork, toilet paper, towel, food, water, etc. We found someone to watch the house for a couple days, and then headed to Zach's house. Zach only lives about 15 minutes from the hospital so I left the boys with Verity and Zach drove William and me to the hospital.
The first thing I noticed about the hospital was that it was clean. This is unusual for Bulgaria. When we arrived they took William's passport info and then after looking at his X-ray they gave him an EKG test. I don't know why they did this but they did. The equipment they were using looked really old too. After that they took his blood about 4 times and then inserted a port. He was allowed to go to his room after that. He was very sleepy and kept complaining about his head hurting him. It was at that point I took his temperature and it was 103.6 F. The doctor's were very concerned about his fever and immediately sent me to the pharmacy to buy him some fever meds and a thermometer. (Over here you also have to supply your own thermometer) They gave him two shots and put him on an IV. I spoke to the doctors for a little while and did some translating for William before heading back to Zlatna Niva. Once I got home, I cried. I don't know if it was because I was sad, sleepy, nervous, or all three; but afterwards I felt much better.
This morning I headed back to the hospital to take William some lunch and supper. His fever is down to 99.7 now and he seems to be doing a little better. I did google one of the meds he is taking and it is banned in 50 countries; after reading that I decided I wouldn't look up any of the other ones.
We are in God's hands and I know that he will take care of us. Please pray that the hospital bill will not be very expense as we have our visa fees due shortly. We covet your prayers.
Love,
Hannah LeFevre
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