University Hospital in Newark
November 11th - 14th, 2016
TUESDAY: I woke up and my throat hurt super bad. I figured it would go away if I drank a bunch of water so that's what I did. Since it was raining hard, we got a ride to district meeting. For part of the district meeting we each got our own room to go to and pray for 15 min. That was super neat! My head and throats started hurting a lot longer but I didn't think much of it, it was just a normal sore throats that would go away. We then had a meeting with Ramon and bishop came. I felt bad because I didn't talk much during the lesson cause I felt so nasty. The sisters went to Walmart and got me some cold medicine and cough drops so that was super nice! My voice was like gone and I sounded terrible! We went home and I got some rest.... well I tried... I got up and puked a few times and couldn't get much sleep at all.
WEDNESDAY: I got a little sleep over the night and I woke up and my whole body ached. I figured I had the flu. It's terrible being sick without a momma to take care of you. I layed in bed for a while until I felt good enough to get out of bed and did all the dishes as always. We had an appointment with Ramon and because I wasn't feeling well, José Luis Vasquez ordered us an uber so I didn't have to ride 30 min over to the appointment on my bike! We had a good lesson but I started to feel like junk again. My comp told me to just keep going and go to the church for family home evening so I did. Half way through I felt so bad I had to go out and lay on the couch in the hall. After family home evening José Luis Vasquez gave me a blessing and I felt a little more comfort. After, we got a ride home and we were walking José Chamba home I stopped half way and I puked my guts out in a trash can on the sidewalk.
THURSDAY: I slept pretty bad again but it was little better than the night before. I still felt like poop so I layed in bed. Over the past 2 days when I would lay in bed my comp would too haha i wish I had that opportunity to take advantage of my comp being sick! When he was sick for a day I just studied like crazy and I loved it! We then did weekly planning and it went good. We then made lunch and I made some instant mashed potatoes and they were bomb! For dinner a member gave us pizza. After that we rode out to Jose Cuartas house and set the baptism plans. It was sad because we tried to get his family to come to church and it was sad seeing him bear testimony to his family who were members and they just didn't care much. It made me feel so blessed to be in the family I'm in!!
FRIDAY and SATURDAY.....Well FRIDAY I started out good. We woke up and went to Irmas for breakfast. I felt like 90% better and I was able to ride my bike and stuff. After Irmas my comp said he wanted to go to Payless since he had a 20% off card that ended the next day. We got there and I found a pair I liked for like $24 and figured I would get some while we were there. He forgot his wallet though so we went home and got his wallet. We came back and got the shoes and then came home and did some language study. We then went to Glenda Amadors house and she made us a good hot ham and cheese sandwich. It was kinda spicy too. We then rode over to Winstons and Maria's and we taught them and had some crackers and popcorn and I felt like I got some food stuck in the back of my throat... we just decided to ride over to Ramon's and it still hurt and I was starting to be a little surprised the feeling had not gone away... we then went to Jose Cuartas and tried to eat some bread and water but I felt like that just made the feeling worse. My comp stopped to get pizza and I couldn't eat since my throat hurt so bad. I tried drinking some water but it hurt so bad to try and swallow. My comp was getting worried so he made me call the mission nurse. She told me I needed to go to urgent care. So we called the senior missionaries and by this time it was 8:00 PM. They came and got me and my companion but there were no more urgent cares open (this was a blessing in disguise) so they made the decision to take me to the ER... I didn't feel like it was necessary especially since I hate making people spend money. But they said I needed to. So we went. I got my number to wait and instead of waiting a few hours like most of the people in the waiting room they called me right away. (Another of many blessings) I came into what they called the asthma room and sat there for like an hour and they checked my pulse and gave my some breathing treatments. I then went and got x rays and by this time it was about midnight. I waited for a while again and then they decided I needed a cat scan... (biggest blessing ever) I didn't know why but I just went with it. After the cat scan they gave me an EKG. That's where they check how my heart is doing. During the whole night I saw all sorts of messed up people come in. That's why I kept getting bumped back because it was people who got shot or beat half to death or car wrecks. Just all sorts of crazy stuff happens here in Newark! So after waiting for a while a man came to me and got me my own room. He sat me down and started asking questions about what was happening. He then said "well we have a very serious problem on our hands, a problem that has killed lots of people at this hospital" by this time I was pretty scared... he then said "you are going to need to call you parents and tell them that they are going to need to fly out here asap. We will probably have to do surgery on you very soon. This isn't something to mess around with. It appears that you have a hole in your esophagus probably caused from when you were puking hard the other day. You now have air in you neck and chest so that means anything from you throat can get into your chest and to your heart. This has killed people in 3 hours here. We need to do 1 more test to see if you for sure have a hole and where it is. But you will probably have to be here for a couple days at least. I was pretty shaken up after hearing how my sore throats is actually something super serious. I was pretty scared but knew I was in the Lords hands and no matter what happens would be what he wanted. My companion and Elder Gerkhie then gave me a blessing. I was able to calm down a little and feel at peace that everything would be ok. A couple hours later they brought me into a room where they made me drink this liquid that they could see through the x ray and it was super nasty!! I drank it fine and they said we are surprised to say that as of right now we can not see any leaking from your esophagus. This happened at about 8 am on Saturday morning. I was praying all day and night that I could be healed to the point where I wouldn't need surgery if it be the will of God. After they told me they couldn't find any holes I just cried because I knew the blessing and my prays and many others had been answered. The power of god is infinite! They also stuck a camera down my nose and like a foot down my throat to see if they could find anything and he said I couldn't find anything but we still want to keep you here for another day just to make sure no infections happen. We want to make sure that you get all healed up. They said the air in my chest would just be absorbed by my body. So pretty much I just lay on bed with an iv in me and watched all sorts of crazy injuries get rolled in. I only got 1 hour of sleep over the night time so that was pretty tough. They also told me that I couldn't eat or drink until I leave. So as of right now I'm so thirsty! I know that they are pumping me up with water and stuff so I'll be fine. At like 7 Saturday evening I got transferred to a different room with a real bed! So after I got moved over there a couple hours later I look over and I just see this guy laying in bed peeing straight up in the air... yeah I was confused too...
SUNDAY: I got like 1 hour of sleep last night... I thought I was going to go home Sunday morning in time for the baptism but they still kept me there. I was sad because we had 2 baptisms... I lay in bed all day and wasn't able to eat or drink until lunch when they let me drink! At around 1 I was thinking that Ramon and Jose Chamba were being baptized! I was excited to baptize Jose but I'm just glad he was still baptized!! I got to eat dinner for the first time in days! The food was actually decent. Some meat with gravy and mashed potatoes! The hospital is not a super fun place to be though! I just wanted to get out! I felt so much better!! I finally got out of the hospital on Monday morning at like 11 AM!
I know that all the prayers were answered and I'm so grateful for the power of blessings! I know that without the blessings and prayers things wouldn't have ended the way they did! I'm so glad to have my Heavenly Father and Mother to watch out for me!! I know they were there to help me as I was nervous and not knowing what would happen! Thank you for all those who were praying for me. I love you all! Also my favorite scripture Joshua 1:9 fit perfect for this week!
Elder Gerkhie (Senior Missionary Couple - Sister Gerkhie is not in the picture)
After 4 days and 3 nights, I'm ready to go home!!
mason.davis@myldsmail.net
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