Special Prayer for a Sister in the Church

Last Wednesday, I (Lacy) went with Pati and Uriel to Hermosillo for Pati to see a specialist about her head. She has been having constant migraines, some of which keep her in bed for days at a time, and the pain has become so common in her day that her husband has been taking off work to help with the children … a bad mistake since work fell sharply the following week, which has left them financially struggling.

Pati is on the “Popular Insurance,” an insurance issued to those who cannot pay much for policies. This insurance pays partly for medicines and medical checkups, but rarely for specialized procedures. The doctors in the villages have prescribed her sleeping medication more than pain killers for this reason, and Pati’s pain is increasingly worse.

For this reason, I went with her family to Hermosillo to help Uriel watch the three children while he visited his family and she went to an appointment with a hospital specialist. Hermosillo is 6 hours from our village, and the ride there was pleasant, but the time in the hospital was not. The hospitals in Mexico are very disorganized, and it took us almost an hour just to find each window where we needed to sign in (there were three). Thus, we were late for her appointment, and had to beg the doctor to see her. He ordered lab tests, a CAT scan, and medications to relieve a possible clot in one of her veins in her head. It took us nearly two hours to find the medication and make appointments for the tests, because in a rush, the doctor wrote on her paperwork that she was a 57 year old man. (Pati is 32). The doctor refused the change the paperwosk because, in his words, it wasn’t his problem anymore. The nurse refused to change the paperwork because it wasn’t her mistake. The receptionist refused the change the paperwork because she couldn’t be held responsible for changing orders from a doctor. We finally asked to see the director of the hospital, and his assistant changed the age and sex of her paperwork. As silly as this sounds, this is a typical occurrence in Mexico. Things are very disorganized.

That night, Pati shared with me her concerns that she may have an aneurysm, tumor, or blockage in an artery, and her fear, not of dying, but of leaving her children motherless. We prayed together, and read the Bible together, and I encouraged her in her faith.

Pati went the following week to Huatabampo, the main city government for our villages, and petitioned for financial assistance, which was granted to her. The entire procedure lab tests, the CAT scan, doctor fees, and travel expenses will cost between $500 - $600, a number that is astronomically out of reach for her family (comparatively, they make about $5,000 [American dollars] a year). The Huatabampo government paid for ¾ of these procedures (praise the Lord!) by sending her to different, closer, hospitals for lab tests and the CAT scan. She will still have to pay to see the doctor, but $1,500 pesos is a number achievable through offerings and donations from other churches here in the villages.

Pati has also started selling shoes and embroidered napkins to raise money. We have not felt a peace from the Lord about paying for her medical bills, but each time she has had to go to the hospital, the Lord has placed on our hearts to take her, footing the gas (or sometimes a portion of the gas) to get there.

Pati’s next appointment in Hermosillo is April 30. I will be taking her and the children again, and possibly her husband will come too, if he doesn’t have work. Please pray for Pati. I have shared with her how great a healer and physician our God is, and she has faith that God can heal her. Right now, her largest battle is the fear that Satan is relentlessly throwing in her face: that she will leave her children without a mother. Please pray for our sister’s peace and for the peace of her family. The children do not yet understand the gravity of the situation, and being all under 9 years old, they have pushed her patience to the limit. Please also pray that I will be given wisdom to serve her. While we are away from our families, Pati and Uriel have become a surrogate family to us, and we love them dearly.