I've been out of the habbit of posting on my blog this last week because my friend Katie came to visit. Katie was my second visitor from home, my mom being the first. Seeing my mom off at the airport in Bangkok and seeing Katie off at the airport in Chiang Rai were the only two times I've felt a dire need to go back home. It's been a good 6 months since I left home now.
I wish I had taken a picture of the activity room the day Katie came to help supervise and maintain order. On that day, there were 50 kids in the room the size of my bedroom, screaming, fighting, pointing scissors at each other's eyes and demanding to be carried in the 95 degree heat. Katie was a trooper and didn't complain a single time in those two hours. Not even for the half hour clean up that went after
On Thursday, Aing's head felt like a lightbulb that had been lit for hours. Nikaela and Lorna tried telling staff members that he should probably go to the hospital, but everyone seemed convinced he'd be fine if he just ate some lunch. An hour later, we found a thermometer and took his temperature. Not the most accurate read, because he wouldn't let me put the thing in his mouth, so I read it from his armpit, but it came to a fever of 105 degrees F. This freaked me out. I remember hearing at some point from someone that a fever of 106 equals brain damage or death. The previous suggestion of just feeding him lunch seemed a little bit....it seemed like there was obviously more that needed to be done. With enough harassing and nagging, we got two staff members to take him to the hospital.
The thing is with Aing, is that while we've never heard that he has HIV/AIDS, we speculate that he does. His mother died of it and his body occasionally blisters with lesions.
I came and sat with them in the waiting room while Aing lay down on my lap. Noticing the lesions on his legs had become larger and more dispersed, and feeling his body heat against my arms, I started blowing light air onto his head. I was scared that he might throw up, pass out or die any second.
Aing lifted up his hand and looked at his fingers. His eyebrows knit like he was deeply concerned and he looked at me said, "Jamie, look." then he lifted the nail right off of his index finger.
He was checked into the hospital that night and for the rest of the weekend. A saline drip was put into his veins and his fever went down significantly.
He came back to the site today smiling and laughing. Though sometimes, I can't imagine what he must be thinking. He's four years old and there's no way he can understand what's happening or why he's the way he is. When I finally do go home a few months from now, he'll be one of those kids I'll think back to and wonder how the rest of his life will pan out.