Viña worker's son remains serious

SOLOLÁ — Juanito remained in serious condition at the hospital when Chepe and I left there this afternoon.

It was an emotionally exhausting day for Juanito’s parents, Isidro and Isabel, who remained there with him. His condition worsened overnight as he began to pass bloody urine and stool.

At one point, we were told 2-year-old Juanito had died. Later we learned that was not true.

During one-at-a-time visiting hours, Isidro’s father, a brother, a sister-in-law and another relative came to visit them, along with my friend Chepe and I. Juanito was lying on a little table, when I went in, and three medical staff hovered over him. His mother sat crying behind them. Isidro stood to the right of them where he could see.

A young pediatrician of about 30 years directed two other health staff — both men. One was seated, periodically squeezing an air pump to provide oxygen through a tube in Juanito’s mouth. On the other side of a table, two bags hung from a rack — one was an IV for fluids, another was a blood transfusion.

A machine with four squiggly lines showed his vital signs, beeping regularly. At one point, I heard a high-pitched steady squeal, which made me wonder whether Juanito’s heart had stopped. The boy’s mother may have wondered about the noise as well because she got up with an anxious look on her face and walked around the table for a better look.

The doctor gave an order, and the third health care worker walked behind us to unplug something on the other side of the room. The noise stopped. It wasn’t what I thought.
Juanito lay under a lamp, blinking periodically, moving his arms. I thought his color looked good.

Before I left, I heard the doctor ask the boy’s parents, “Are you sure you don’t want to send him to Guatemala City?”

Earlier, they had apparently been told Juanito would probably die today, and they made the painful decision not to send him to a better equipped hospital only to have him die in an ambulance en route. The doctor’s advice seemed to go back and forth today, saying they should send Juanito to the capital, then saying, maybe not because he could die on the way.