The lemonade stand

Most of us don't opt to spend our birthday, never mind Yuletide, in the hospital. Events conspired to compel Bill to do so.

Being a give-her-lemons-make-lemonade sort, I try to see the good in all circumstances, including this one. I tried to explain this to the girls at our favorite hangout, who gathered round to hear why Bill wasn't with me and how I felt about it,

"Optimist, you know what means?"

They looked at one another, totally stumped.

"Um, think positive?" I hinted.

They all brightened and nodded. This one they'd heard from their Aussie patrons, boss, or boyfriends.

"Yeh yeh yeh!" they all chorused. "Think positive! OP-tee-miss!"

So that's what I remain, writing on the iPad beside Bill's bed, as he sleeps and stabilizes.

The first good in the hospital circumstance was that Bill at last conceded that six weeks of traveler's diarrhea was not the norm. This after three courses of Imodium and electrolytes; charcoal tablets generously provided by our barkeep friend Paul; and a trip to an alleyway medical clinic all proved fruitless. At the clinic, he received two shots in the bum and five different medicines, two of which he oughtn't have had in the first place, for which Dr. Umum was delighted to charge us an outrageous sum. Dokter Umum, I now understand, is Indonesian for "Dr. Generic," just as "Dokter Gigi" means "Dr. Tooth." Such honorifics don't necessarily mean you are dealing with professionals.

Do NOT go to one of these places for anything more
serious than a hangnail. Go straight to the hospital.

After that decision to go to the hospital, many other good things followed. For one thing, the food was the best we have had so far in Kuta--and we received a lovely little tea tray between meals, complete with doily and Christmas fruit cake.

In addition, several lovely Indonesian medical personnel, people who don't know him from Adam, ended up laughingly wishing Bill a happy birthday.

                                 


When today's date appears on your plastic ID bracelet, hospital employees figure that either someone made an administrative error or it's your special day! At one point, we sang an impromptu "Happy Birthday" around his hospital bed. By then well medicated, he grinned blearily.

The only thing missing was the blazing birthday cake.  But our endlessly upbeat and compassionate driver, Gandek, not only came to visit Bill and cheer him up, he also promised to make a cake and have his wife and son accompany him to the bedside festivities.

Bill's ailment had forced us to cancel so many road trips with Gandek at the last minute that I felt certain, each time, that he must be cursing our names and would never speak to us again. This has to be dismaying for a guy who schedules his day and his livelihood around long drives up into the hills of Bali. Gandek never complained. In rapid-fire text messages filled with wildly stuttering consonants, I could almost see him grinning, "Yepppp! Hehehe! OK, Sue. I'm easyyy!" Elizabeth Gilbert may have had her rural shaman, but we've got Gandek.

We've also come to know many other Indonesians during our stay here, from hotel staff to servers, all of whom expressed concern, offered prayers, and asked to be remembered to Bill.  "He'll remember me," giggled Lilis, our server at the German restaurant. "I'm the one he complain to about pizza sauce!" Indeed, Germans can't make pizza sauce worth a damn.

That so many people came into contact with Bill and remembered him fondly, despite occasional fits of ill temper over his bowels, is a tribute to the good hearts of the Balinese people. It was a Balinese It's a Wonderful Life.

And then there was Doctor Leonard, a no-nonsense fellow who didn't always convey good news, but laid it all on the table more thoroughly and clearly than any Western doctor ever has, with only a tad of judgmental head shaking. We must watch the liver, the heart, the cholesterol, the blood pressure. And we really must take our prescribed medications, even if we would rather not. I wish I had a tape recording of this guy, to play every night while Bill sleeps. At least we have his picture.

(L to R) Intern, me, day nurse, Dr. Leonard, Bill, day nurse

Never mind transcendental meditation and Balinese massage. All this has been reason enough to come to Bali.