It’s funny how you can think you’re so busy, and then something big comes along and you realize that you really weren’t as busy as you thought.
A week ago, I would have written a post about how busy and almost overwhelmed I was with foster care and national insurance paperwork, canning, starting a garden, and the birth of a baby goat. It really was very full.
Then one morning I got a call regarding my nine year old son from his school. They told me not to worry, and then described that he had a seizure without any warning, fainted and fallen backwards, and wanted me to take him to the hospital immediately. Three months ago when visiting Mt. Hermon, he had a seizure, the first ever, and when it happened, the on site medical staff told us it’s a known reaction the body sometimes has to cold. He was completely fine after warming up, and there didn’t seem to be a need for further investigation.
I feel too emotionally drained to describe the difficulty in getting him timely medical care, due to his parents – and him – not being Israeli citizens. After four days of phone calls and trying to make doctor appoinments and get authorizations, we finally took him to the hospital for a brain scan.
What we thought would be a day long stay in the hospital, turned into four days and three nights of different tests. After seeing the neurologist, he was diagnosed with epilepy and put on medication, but continued to be monitored in the hospital for consistently low oxygen saturation, a concern that they haven’t yet been able to find a cause for. He’s been checked by the cardiologist, endocrinologist, and pulmonologist. For those who would like to pray for him, his name is Rafael ben Rivka.
It’s been a really positive experience for him, and I’m so grateful for that. The children’s ward hardly has any children there now, so the staff is relaxed and has plenty of time. Not only does he have my husband’s unlimited attention, but there’s all of these warm and friendly staff members who are enjoying him!
It’s also been positive for me. I’ve been literally begging the foster care organization for over four years to deal with the health insurance issues proactively, before we have an emergency situation and are stuck. I’ve had an anxiety about this in the back of my mind all of this time. Now we came to the time I’ve been fearing for all of these years, and I’m so relieved that he’s in a place where he can get the care he needs. It’s a huge weight off my heart.
Due to his lack of an Israeli ID number, the hospital assigned him a random number and therefore none of his medical records showed up. When the social worker casually invited me for a chat in her office when I was visiting, I right away understood that they were suspicious of us. Fortunately, after I explained the situation, they were understanding.
I hope that this will be the thing that shifts the legal situation with him into a better place.
They gave him ‘vacation’ for Shabbos, so right now (late Friday afternoon) he and my husband (who stayed with him the entire time) are back home. I’ll be going back with him tomorrow night for further observation. We have no idea of what to expect in terms of a timeline – I obviously hope it will be just one more day – but for now we’re staying in the moment and appreciating having everyone at home together.
Avivah