DECLAN WOULDN'T KEEP HIS MOUTH CLOSED.
Following his golden yawn on the plane young Wayan Declan spent the rest of the day meeting and greeting our Bali friends very quietly but still managed to keep us on our toes as it was very evident that his rumbling stomach had not yet finished wracking his little body. Quietly, except that is, for the times he was allowed only water to drink while the rest of us enjoyed our fancy - and we rubbed it in a bit to his increasing dismay.
I was a bit surprised at how quickly he accepted the offer of a front place in the queue to get a massage. Mistri knew he was not too chipper and worked quietly and even more gently than she usually does. He came up smiling.
In the web pages there will be a photo here.
At dinner we scratched the Flying Piano in favour of the much closer La Monde, just around the corner from the hotel in Jl Padma Utara.
(‘Jl' is short for ‘Jalan', meaning street or road.)
(‘Gg' is short for ‘Gang', a narrow lane or alley.)
Even his enforced diet of plain rice was not a panacea and Declan endured through a troubled night. Next morning it was clear to all that medical attention was needed and a taxi was called to transport boy, mother and grandfather to Bali International Medical Clinic (BIMC), now also an accredited hospital. From personal experience I have praised the staff at this place before and on this occasion I felt that they were even more caring, attentive and gentle with the young boy.
In the web pages there will be a photo here.
We had barely settled him into the bed in the emergency ward when the good lad provided material from all orifices for their laboratory to analyse. After a brief clean up of him and his surrounds a blood test followed the tests of less pleasant materials.
Immediate concerns were for dehydration and ‘Pedialyte' drinks began at a steady but constant rate. It was not long before the test results came back and indicated no serious infection that we feared but it was also not long before the Pedialyte went the way of all his other recent intakes. Within minutes a specialist team arrived to begin an intravenous drip which was started before the doctor had finished his discussion with boy and mother on the other side of the bed.
Slick and painless.
Painless?
Well Declan didn't flinch as much as his mother did and I didn't feel a thing.
So went the rest of the day, through four bags of fluid on the drip followed by a larger bag of glucose which, we were all relieved to hear, it was not necessary to finish as long as he kept his mouth shut! Keep his mouth shut he did and as night was falling we got the all clear to go down and pay the bill and collect further medication from their 24 hour dispensary.
BIMC - A good place to go to when you need it but a great place to leave when you don't need it any more.
Into a cab and off to ‘home' again was a relief that soon enough turned to problems again. As we stepped out of the taxi back at the hotel Declan erupted again. Back into the cab and back to BIMC again. I don't think the driver was too enthusiastic about the boy getting back into the cab and I didn't blame him given what he had just seen. But, since he hadn't been paid yet he had little choice.
A condensed version of the previous analysis still indicated no serious problems and the trouble was put down to a bumpy ride in a stuffy cab. With a bit more medication collected and paid for another cab was summoned and careful instructions given to the driver that the boy was sick - a theatrical imitation of vomiting all over the inside of the cab strengthened the idea - and off we set again at a very gentle pace with a couple of windows down. Success this time and a few dry biscuits with Pedialyte followed by a quick shower and I think he was relieved to settle in bed.
Instead of spending this day in the hospital the scheduled program was to have included a visit to the old boat builder on the beach at Jimbaran Bay. In 2006, when business for all of Bali was bad, he made a model Jukung for Declan. It was a piece of magic, not only for him but his mother also and top of their agenda was to meet the old guy at his shack on the beach. With the day spent in BIMC this obviously did not happen and the visit had to be re-scheduled for a later time, like the hospital visit to Monica.
There's a photo of the old guy and the model he made for Declan at http://www.filosbali.net/2006/Friends.htm and the story of our first contact with him is at http://www.filosbali.net/JimbaranBoatBdr.htm .
The end of the holiday was beginning to look like more of a rush than the beginning.