Wait, What? Hemisphere Confusion, Or Australia—A Story of Deliverance!

Ships sailed in and out of the harbor while waves crashed on the jetty below me. The water rose and covered all the little melodramas being played out by orange-clawed crabs vying for the best footholds. They scuttered around trying to push each other off, some washing away in the surf. All these palm-sized sea critters adrift in the swirling, pounding waters but for the protection of the rock. That intro leads me to a story I’ve been wanting to tell about a very unfortunate aspect of the Australia port call (I kept uncomfortable details to a minimum). The evening Chris was required to report back to ship or risk being listed AWOL I suddenly had to use the restroom constantly and was having a situation with a lot of pain and blood. I was scared out of my mind but tried to put on a brave face for Chris seeing as there was nothing he could do unless I was literally dying. Actually, I wasn’t sure I WASN’T literally dying, but restrictions on port calls are a big deal. I took a quick assessment: I had no phone in my room, a shared bathroom down the hall, constant severe pain, almost zero bladder control and no contact info for any other Americans who were there visiting their husbands. Anyway, so Chris left and I was terrified. I asked him to specifically pray I’d be healed. As the door shut behind him I prayed Psalm 22:11—“Lord, be not far from me, for trouble is near and there is none to help.” followed by: “Lord, I know your m.o. in my life isn’t usually to work miraculous healings, but I am all alone, my flight leaves in 24 hours, and I have to check out in the morning and leave this nice shared hostel bathroom, so I don’t really see any way for me to catch my flight but for you to heal me. So….good luck.”I took two ibuprofen and somehow fell asleep, and the next morning felt a little less like someone was wringing my insides like a rag. I had rooibos tea and lots of water and less pain as the day progressed. I found a pharmacy with an information desk. The pharmacist said, “Oh, it sounds like you have a urinary tract infection. You need to go the hospital or doctor right now or it can spread into a kidney infection and you’ll get a fever and shakes.” I was like, “Yeah, I had those last night, but my flight leaves in a few hours and I have to get to the airport.” And he said, “I can’t give you antibiotics without a prescription, but drink this to help balance the acidity in your bladder. It’ll help the pain.” So I drank a lot of that, miraculously made it to the airport (As in I got to the train station and just asked some security guard, “How do i get to the airport?” And he pointed to a bus station and told me which bus to get on, so I walked over there and asked someone where the bus was and when it left, and the lady I asked happened to be the driver for the bus I needed, and was the only bus in the station, AND was leaving in five minutes, AND! my train ticket worked for the bus!)A friend had some bladder infection antibiotics once I got checked in at the airport, so I took them and a sleeping pill and slept most of the 11 hour flight back. Then I took the train toward home and went straight to the navy hospital, where no one was in line and I got seen right away (which doesn’t even happen when I have an appt), and the nurse said, “It really worries me that you saw so much blood. That’s an indicator of a kidney infection and is very bad. Have you felt feverish and weak? (yes)” “Ok,” she said, “I understand why you took your friend’s antibiotics, but the problem is it could temporarily clear your system so we won’t be able to prescribe you the antibiotics you need. Well…let’s do a sample anyway.”So we did, and it somehow came back positive for an infection, which is good because I could get the antibiotics. Then she said, “This is weird, there’s no trace of blood at all.” I said, “Hey! that’s fantastic! But even before I took an antibiotic, the blood was almost completely gone. Is that something that can clear up on its own?” And she said, “Absolutely not. You have to have a full round of antibiotics.” And I wanted to jump up and shout, “DELIVERED!!!!!!!” but I didn’t quite feel well enough. 🙂 True story!