About Hermina

I wrote in my previous blog about Hermina, who fell from the second story window, because I was so pleased of the miracle that she wasn't hurt. But, time has proven my summary of the situation was premature. A week ago, I fed Hermina. She clearly didn't want to eat, but I knew the food was good for her so I encouraged every mouthful. By the end of her bowl of pudding she was throwing up all over herself as she lay in her bed.

"It's okay," I encouraged her while she vomited, though she's non-verbal. Now I thought I understood why they had asked me to feed Hermina. She had been vomiting most of her meals, and nobody was eager to try to feed her. I told my friends at "Children to Love International" to pray, and we did. This morning I asked to help and someone handed me a bowwl and took me to Hermina's room. At the first mouthful, before she even swallowed, she began heaving. I told the staff workers, and a nurse told me not to give her more.

Somehow the director who runs the orphanage decided to send her to the hospital, and the staff asked me if I would help. I was eager to assist.

An ambulance arrived after one hour and I hopped in whit a staff member I hadn't see so often before. She was younng and pretty and had changed out of her white uniform and into hger mornal clothes for our visit to the hospital.

Hermina cannot speak, and it is uncertain if she understands us when we speak. When the doctors tried to insert a catheter, she had no idea what was going on. She screamed and fought. the pretty staff worker and i held Hermina down as she tried to fight off the doctors ... how horrible it was ...

Though she is sixtreen years old, she is about the size of teh average nine year old. The doctors gave up on the idea of the catheter and told us to go to another hospital; one for children. There they seccessfully inserted the catheter and did an ultra sound of her stomach. They found nothing and sent us to a third hospital where they took X-rays of her head and spine. After about five mintes of looking at the x-rays, they told us there was no problem and that we should go home. Thankfully the catheter was providing some immediate success. her stomach was no longer swollen, but an understanding as to why Hermina couldn't walk or urinate was yet to be obtained, as well as an explaination for her constant vomiting.

I grew to like the worker from the orphanage that I had accompanied more and more as we spent the day together. One doctor explained things to me in English so that I could understand. One man who pushed the gurneys asked me for my phone number; maybe we could become better aquainted outside the hospital? I tried to pretend that I couldn't understand he was hitting on me ... but int he end I just told him ... "No," or to be more exact, "Nu."

So we returned to the orphanage with no explaination for Hermina's medical problems. While the orphanage worker went inside the orphanage, I stayed with Hermina. She had tried to open the bag attached to her catheter, and had punctured it slightly. I asked the ambulance driver to take her out of the ambulance so that I could empty the now full 1-liter bag of waste beside the road. I did.

Hermina went back to the hospital again, but I didn't go with her. I hope they will find the cause of her problems.