This is our website which has our updates and pictures of our trip abroad during 2004-2005.
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- Ricoy Update No. 5
- Ricoy Update No. 4
- Ricoy Update No. 3
- Musical Group in Antigua
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- Women Prepare Sacrafices
- Candles in Maya Church
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Tom and Ronit Ricoy
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Ricoy Update No. 6
Thank you, friends, for your e-mails and prayers. After 3 tough weeks in Oaxaca, we’ve made our way to Cancun! Believe it or not, it’s kind of cold – very windy – but the beach is beautiful. (The people we met from Wisconsin are loving the “warm” weather! The people we met from Anaheim, CA are complaining about how “cold” it is!) We are trying to catch up on everything (Tom is taking a class online and was 2 weeks behind, etc) since the last 3 weeks in Oaxaca were very busy (and emotionally and physically draining), but tomorrow is a fun day, and Tom is going to go scuba diving. We’re very thankful to be here, but we’re also thankful we were able to help in Oaxaca.
I’ll catch you up on the last week with Lucy. The end result is that the tests she already had (which needed to be seen by a neurologist) demanded an MRI and that the MRI demanded more tests, and as a result of all that she is now hospitalized. It was a fight at each and every step to get a doctor to see her, but each time a doctor saw her, he/she said it was “urgente” (urgent, emergency) and everything went quickly until we got to the next person and had to fight again. Every day was “hurry up and wait” (from sun-up until after sundown) as we spent hours and hours in doctors’ offices and hospitals and en route in between, but, miraculously, we made progress in days that could have taken months, and we saw God working through it all.
Here’s a summary of our week:
Monday: Morning physical therapy for Lucy. Afternoon appt with neurologist to get the paperwork to go to Mexico City. In the evening, Elpidio (Lucy's dad) ended up in the hospital! They thought he had a blood clot, but it turned out (after an overnight hospital stay and more tests the next day) that he had mistakenly overdosed on a new medicine he had been given for Parkinsons. What a stressful couple of days!
Tuesday: All day bus travel to Mexico City (Tom, me, Lucy, Angelina – Elpidio was still hospitalized and could not go with us). Tom had to carry Lucy on and off the bus and Angelina and I had to help her in the restroom, etc. It was a hard trip for her and physically demanding for those of us who were helping her. When we arrived in Mexico City, Tom’s friends picked us up and took us (since they live on the 4th floor of a building with no elevator) to a fellow church member’s home who graciously housed us. Tom’s friends (whom he had only met twice and had not seen in 4 years), Arturo and Lety and their three boys, were amazing. Tom called and explained the situation and they completely turned their lives upside down to help Lucy and us for two days, driving us all over, making phone calls, and waiting with us. Then to top it all off, they paid for the return trip to Oaxaca. Every time someone said “Gracias,” their gracious response was “No, gracias a Dios.”
Wednesday: 7am to the neurological hospital where the Oaxacan doc had sent us for a 7:30am appointment. Well, it turned out the 7:30am appt was really just an appt to get an appt. We waited most of the morning only to be told that this was a hospital for the uninsured and because Lucy has seguro social, she was not eligible to be there despite the doctor’s official letter, something the Oaxacan doc should have known full-well (and when we called him, he seemed utterly unconcerned that he had sent us on a wild goose chase). We were all very upset that we had made this difficult and expensive trip seemingly for nothing, but I felt strongly that we needed to find a way to get the MRI for which we came. Well, despite our initial upset, it turned out to be very important that we had been sent to Mexico City. Lety and Arturo made phone calls all afternoon and called a doctor friend for help. This friend helped them make contact with another neurologist who agreed to see us after his last patient, as a favor. Doctors work two shifts in Mexico, so our appt was for 8pm, but of course we waited, so after beginning our day with a 7:30am appt, we got out of the last appt around 11pm. This neurologist spent a long time with Lucy and with her studies (though we were missing some important paperwork and studies) and was very concerned that there was a dark spot on her brain. He made very, very clear that this needed IMMEDIATE and ongoing attention and that her parents needed to fight for her to get that attention. The doctor said the MRI was the first and very necessary step, but that there would be a series of tests after that. He gave us a discount when Lety explained Lucy’s situation and helped us find an affordable MRI location.
Thursday: Lety called the MRI office early the next morning and (again miraculously as the wait was usually much longer) we were able to schedule an 11am MRI. During the MRI, we were told we would be unable to get the results until Monday and that we would then have to schedule an appt with a neurologist to have it read. We were very concerned about this and asked if there were any way to fast track it, but we were told no. After the MRI, Adriana, the young woman who worked at the desk, told us to come back at 1:30pm for results! Someone hand-carried the MRI to be developed and called a neurologist in to read it. When we opened the envelope, there were two letters: one was the results, the other was a personal letter for Lucy from Adriana. It quoted Psalm 100 and explained (in Spanish), “Lucy, I don’t know you, but God moved in my heart to write this to you” and she continued with a beautiful and encouraging note for Lucy which made us all cry. This neurologist’s reading suggested neurocisticercosis. We were actually encouraged by this result since we were told this is treatable – though it was necessary that the treatment be swift since the neurocisticercosis is very advanced; it seemed preferable to multiple sclerosis (the first neurologist’s suggested diagnosis) or a brain tumor (something they needed to test for). (The next day’s appointment got us worried again, though.) We hurried to the bus station and just made the 2:30pm bus for Oaxaca, so we got back late Thursday night.
Friday: We were at the Seguro Social at 8am Friday morning to try to get an appt for Lucy, this time with tests and letters marked “urgente.” As always, it was a fight at every step. The neurologist was not in until the afternoon, but another doctor was in. At first the secretary told us the doctor was too busy to talk with us, but I pushed and told her about the tests, etc, so the doctor agreed to see us. When the doc looked at the tests, she actually thanked me for helping them and wrote a letter for the neurologist, again stating “urgente” and told us to come back at 2pm (the neurologist arrived at 3pm and she wanted us to be first). So we took a few hours to run over to Office Depot and buy everything needed to organize their medical records (their lack of organization was causing real problems and it turned out to be a Godsend that I did this before the afternoon appt as the doctor was then able to see things that caused him to take Lucy’s problem very seriously). We came back and the neurologist (initially looking at the “urgente” etter but not at the tests) told us to go see the appointment desk and they would fit us in on Monday. We went and fought with a lady who wanted us to wait until February! Finally we went back to the neurologist himself, who reluctantly agreed to see us when he had time if we waited, so we waited. We got in at about 4:30pm. Once the doctor actually looked at the MRI and at her other tests (including very important tests that Angelina hadn’t found in time to take to Mexico City and ones they didn’t think were important to bring but which I had organized for them and brought anyway) he said she had to be admitted IMMEDIATELY, noting discrepancies and changes between old and new tests. He said she needed to start treatment for the neurocisticercosis, but that the different studies are contradictory and that something more is also going on that has to be immediately addressed. So Lucy was hospitalized and we were there with her until around 7pm. Angelina stayed with her all night.
Saturday: The next day I relieved Angelina and stayed with Lucy, reading to her and helping her during her epileptic convulsions (which are not actually convulsions; her whole body becomes rigid and she cannot move). I got very angry at one nurse (who has no business in the field!) who came in to give Lucy her medicine and got impatient that Lucy couldn’t take her medicine at that exact moment. This nurse had the gall to tell Lucy that if she didn’t cooperate (which she couldn’t do in the middle of a convulsion!) she would stay have to stay in the hospital for months and months and that she’d better start cooperating if she ever wanted out, which of course scared Lucy but didn’t change anything since it was out of her control. It is because these kinds of nurses that Lucy is afraid to be alone in the hospital and that someone needs to stay with her 24-7. Saturday afternoon we had the railings put in which, along with the ramps we made, will help her get around the house when she goes home. Then we left that evening and arrived in Cancun after midnight.
Sunday: Lucy still in the hospital. We’d gotten to Cancun, but they put us on the 4 th floor with no elevator despite my explanations about my knees. Tom’s accident injuries were really bothering him after having carried Lucy on and off buses and up and down many flights of stairs, so I just stayed hostage in the hotel room (at least it was a nice room) until we finally got them to move us. (The restaurant, beach, pool, etc is still down a flight of stairs, though! Not exactly handicapped accessible.)
Monday: Lucy had her major tests begin on Monday, to follow up from the MRI we had had to go to Mexico City for. We do not yet know the results of these tests but hope to have some info soon. We really need to pray for the doctor’s wisdom and attention so that they will properly diagnose and treat Lucy. Meanwhile in Cancun, Tom spent all day (as he also did on Sunday) catching up on schoolwork (for his online class) and I caught up on e-mails and other business.
Tuesday: This morning we went to a timeshare presentation in order to get free scuba diving. I am amazed at how much money people throw away. (We got 5 nights all-inclusive Cancun hotel for $299 per person and upgraded another $99. If you come down here, look for the deals so you don’t throw your money away. We see people spending several times what we spent and they’re not getting much more – just wasting money that could be used for people like Lucy. The last time I was in Cancun, we stayed at an RV campground for $10 per person, but we enjoyed the same beaches, etc as these people who throw their money away.) Tom finished all his make-up school work and is now working on this week’s assignments.
Tomorrow Tom will go scuba diving and I will hang out on the boat, and tomorrow night is our last night in the hotel. The next day we’ll leave Mexico.
We have learned a lot this past week, especially from Lucy and the people around her. In Mexico City, we were really inspired by Arturo and Lety’s amazing attitude. Tom and I agree that they are an example for us and that we want our home and our lives to be available to help others as they do. We also saw little miracle after little miracle, that added up to something very big and important. And we were also reminded that faith and works go together. We needed to pray and have faith, but we also needed to ACT and to fight to make things happen. It’s not good enough to say, “Isn’t that sad?” and to go on with our lives without DOING anything.
In terms of the financial report, Tom put the specifics in Excel and we can send it to anyone who would like it. The summary is this: Our Oaxaca Team/U.P. donated $950. Costs so far have reached $1,596.73 (so $646.73 in the hole.) O bviously, they are going to have more costs in the coming weeks and months as well, so I would say we need to raise at least $1,500 more. So far, there are 5 people have responded to e-mails with offers to help (3 of those people's donations total $350 and we do not yet know the others' amounts), and Tom and I can cover some, but not all, of the difference. There are still a couple of days to donate through U.P. and after that donations can be made through Tecate Mission. (Tom has the Tecate donation information if anyone needs it.) Thank you to the 5 friends who have offered to help with some of the Perez family’s immediate medical expenses and to all of you who are praying for the Perez family. Lucy and her family have a tough road ahead of them.
God is teaching us a lot. We continue to wrestle with what is the right balance with our time and financial resources, for one thing. It’s wonderful to be able to enjoy this week in Cancun and to dream of a nice home (I spend free time drawing and designing the house we hope to build in the future) and I do not think we need to feel guilty about that. At the same time, it’s hard to spend a penny on what is really a luxury when real need is so evident, and it’s hard not to resent the choices we see others make. I really struggled with that when I came back from my year in Guatemala, and I can’t say we’ve got it figured out yet. We both feel like we really need some non-volunteer time this year, especially given some of our own health needs, but we also want to continue to be open to be used when and where God leads. It was very rewarding to be available to meet a need this last week. So that’s one of many issues we are thinking and praying about right now as we are in this very transitional life stage.
We’ll keep you posted! Please keep us posted about everything that is going on in your lives and hearts back home! We miss you!
Sincerely,
Ronit and Tom Ricoy
I’ll catch you up on the last week with Lucy. The end result is that the tests she already had (which needed to be seen by a neurologist) demanded an MRI and that the MRI demanded more tests, and as a result of all that she is now hospitalized. It was a fight at each and every step to get a doctor to see her, but each time a doctor saw her, he/she said it was “urgente” (urgent, emergency) and everything went quickly until we got to the next person and had to fight again. Every day was “hurry up and wait” (from sun-up until after sundown) as we spent hours and hours in doctors’ offices and hospitals and en route in between, but, miraculously, we made progress in days that could have taken months, and we saw God working through it all.
Here’s a summary of our week:
Monday: Morning physical therapy for Lucy. Afternoon appt with neurologist to get the paperwork to go to Mexico City. In the evening, Elpidio (Lucy's dad) ended up in the hospital! They thought he had a blood clot, but it turned out (after an overnight hospital stay and more tests the next day) that he had mistakenly overdosed on a new medicine he had been given for Parkinsons. What a stressful couple of days!
Tuesday: All day bus travel to Mexico City (Tom, me, Lucy, Angelina – Elpidio was still hospitalized and could not go with us). Tom had to carry Lucy on and off the bus and Angelina and I had to help her in the restroom, etc. It was a hard trip for her and physically demanding for those of us who were helping her. When we arrived in Mexico City, Tom’s friends picked us up and took us (since they live on the 4th floor of a building with no elevator) to a fellow church member’s home who graciously housed us. Tom’s friends (whom he had only met twice and had not seen in 4 years), Arturo and Lety and their three boys, were amazing. Tom called and explained the situation and they completely turned their lives upside down to help Lucy and us for two days, driving us all over, making phone calls, and waiting with us. Then to top it all off, they paid for the return trip to Oaxaca. Every time someone said “Gracias,” their gracious response was “No, gracias a Dios.”
Wednesday: 7am to the neurological hospital where the Oaxacan doc had sent us for a 7:30am appointment. Well, it turned out the 7:30am appt was really just an appt to get an appt. We waited most of the morning only to be told that this was a hospital for the uninsured and because Lucy has seguro social, she was not eligible to be there despite the doctor’s official letter, something the Oaxacan doc should have known full-well (and when we called him, he seemed utterly unconcerned that he had sent us on a wild goose chase). We were all very upset that we had made this difficult and expensive trip seemingly for nothing, but I felt strongly that we needed to find a way to get the MRI for which we came. Well, despite our initial upset, it turned out to be very important that we had been sent to Mexico City. Lety and Arturo made phone calls all afternoon and called a doctor friend for help. This friend helped them make contact with another neurologist who agreed to see us after his last patient, as a favor. Doctors work two shifts in Mexico, so our appt was for 8pm, but of course we waited, so after beginning our day with a 7:30am appt, we got out of the last appt around 11pm. This neurologist spent a long time with Lucy and with her studies (though we were missing some important paperwork and studies) and was very concerned that there was a dark spot on her brain. He made very, very clear that this needed IMMEDIATE and ongoing attention and that her parents needed to fight for her to get that attention. The doctor said the MRI was the first and very necessary step, but that there would be a series of tests after that. He gave us a discount when Lety explained Lucy’s situation and helped us find an affordable MRI location.
Thursday: Lety called the MRI office early the next morning and (again miraculously as the wait was usually much longer) we were able to schedule an 11am MRI. During the MRI, we were told we would be unable to get the results until Monday and that we would then have to schedule an appt with a neurologist to have it read. We were very concerned about this and asked if there were any way to fast track it, but we were told no. After the MRI, Adriana, the young woman who worked at the desk, told us to come back at 1:30pm for results! Someone hand-carried the MRI to be developed and called a neurologist in to read it. When we opened the envelope, there were two letters: one was the results, the other was a personal letter for Lucy from Adriana. It quoted Psalm 100 and explained (in Spanish), “Lucy, I don’t know you, but God moved in my heart to write this to you” and she continued with a beautiful and encouraging note for Lucy which made us all cry. This neurologist’s reading suggested neurocisticercosis. We were actually encouraged by this result since we were told this is treatable – though it was necessary that the treatment be swift since the neurocisticercosis is very advanced; it seemed preferable to multiple sclerosis (the first neurologist’s suggested diagnosis) or a brain tumor (something they needed to test for). (The next day’s appointment got us worried again, though.) We hurried to the bus station and just made the 2:30pm bus for Oaxaca, so we got back late Thursday night.
Friday: We were at the Seguro Social at 8am Friday morning to try to get an appt for Lucy, this time with tests and letters marked “urgente.” As always, it was a fight at every step. The neurologist was not in until the afternoon, but another doctor was in. At first the secretary told us the doctor was too busy to talk with us, but I pushed and told her about the tests, etc, so the doctor agreed to see us. When the doc looked at the tests, she actually thanked me for helping them and wrote a letter for the neurologist, again stating “urgente” and told us to come back at 2pm (the neurologist arrived at 3pm and she wanted us to be first). So we took a few hours to run over to Office Depot and buy everything needed to organize their medical records (their lack of organization was causing real problems and it turned out to be a Godsend that I did this before the afternoon appt as the doctor was then able to see things that caused him to take Lucy’s problem very seriously). We came back and the neurologist (initially looking at the “urgente” etter but not at the tests) told us to go see the appointment desk and they would fit us in on Monday. We went and fought with a lady who wanted us to wait until February! Finally we went back to the neurologist himself, who reluctantly agreed to see us when he had time if we waited, so we waited. We got in at about 4:30pm. Once the doctor actually looked at the MRI and at her other tests (including very important tests that Angelina hadn’t found in time to take to Mexico City and ones they didn’t think were important to bring but which I had organized for them and brought anyway) he said she had to be admitted IMMEDIATELY, noting discrepancies and changes between old and new tests. He said she needed to start treatment for the neurocisticercosis, but that the different studies are contradictory and that something more is also going on that has to be immediately addressed. So Lucy was hospitalized and we were there with her until around 7pm. Angelina stayed with her all night.
Saturday: The next day I relieved Angelina and stayed with Lucy, reading to her and helping her during her epileptic convulsions (which are not actually convulsions; her whole body becomes rigid and she cannot move). I got very angry at one nurse (who has no business in the field!) who came in to give Lucy her medicine and got impatient that Lucy couldn’t take her medicine at that exact moment. This nurse had the gall to tell Lucy that if she didn’t cooperate (which she couldn’t do in the middle of a convulsion!) she would stay have to stay in the hospital for months and months and that she’d better start cooperating if she ever wanted out, which of course scared Lucy but didn’t change anything since it was out of her control. It is because these kinds of nurses that Lucy is afraid to be alone in the hospital and that someone needs to stay with her 24-7. Saturday afternoon we had the railings put in which, along with the ramps we made, will help her get around the house when she goes home. Then we left that evening and arrived in Cancun after midnight.
Sunday: Lucy still in the hospital. We’d gotten to Cancun, but they put us on the 4 th floor with no elevator despite my explanations about my knees. Tom’s accident injuries were really bothering him after having carried Lucy on and off buses and up and down many flights of stairs, so I just stayed hostage in the hotel room (at least it was a nice room) until we finally got them to move us. (The restaurant, beach, pool, etc is still down a flight of stairs, though! Not exactly handicapped accessible.)
Monday: Lucy had her major tests begin on Monday, to follow up from the MRI we had had to go to Mexico City for. We do not yet know the results of these tests but hope to have some info soon. We really need to pray for the doctor’s wisdom and attention so that they will properly diagnose and treat Lucy. Meanwhile in Cancun, Tom spent all day (as he also did on Sunday) catching up on schoolwork (for his online class) and I caught up on e-mails and other business.
Tuesday: This morning we went to a timeshare presentation in order to get free scuba diving. I am amazed at how much money people throw away. (We got 5 nights all-inclusive Cancun hotel for $299 per person and upgraded another $99. If you come down here, look for the deals so you don’t throw your money away. We see people spending several times what we spent and they’re not getting much more – just wasting money that could be used for people like Lucy. The last time I was in Cancun, we stayed at an RV campground for $10 per person, but we enjoyed the same beaches, etc as these people who throw their money away.) Tom finished all his make-up school work and is now working on this week’s assignments.
Tomorrow Tom will go scuba diving and I will hang out on the boat, and tomorrow night is our last night in the hotel. The next day we’ll leave Mexico.
We have learned a lot this past week, especially from Lucy and the people around her. In Mexico City, we were really inspired by Arturo and Lety’s amazing attitude. Tom and I agree that they are an example for us and that we want our home and our lives to be available to help others as they do. We also saw little miracle after little miracle, that added up to something very big and important. And we were also reminded that faith and works go together. We needed to pray and have faith, but we also needed to ACT and to fight to make things happen. It’s not good enough to say, “Isn’t that sad?” and to go on with our lives without DOING anything.
In terms of the financial report, Tom put the specifics in Excel and we can send it to anyone who would like it. The summary is this: Our Oaxaca Team/U.P. donated $950. Costs so far have reached $1,596.73 (so $646.73 in the hole.) O bviously, they are going to have more costs in the coming weeks and months as well, so I would say we need to raise at least $1,500 more. So far, there are 5 people have responded to e-mails with offers to help (3 of those people's donations total $350 and we do not yet know the others' amounts), and Tom and I can cover some, but not all, of the difference. There are still a couple of days to donate through U.P. and after that donations can be made through Tecate Mission. (Tom has the Tecate donation information if anyone needs it.) Thank you to the 5 friends who have offered to help with some of the Perez family’s immediate medical expenses and to all of you who are praying for the Perez family. Lucy and her family have a tough road ahead of them.
God is teaching us a lot. We continue to wrestle with what is the right balance with our time and financial resources, for one thing. It’s wonderful to be able to enjoy this week in Cancun and to dream of a nice home (I spend free time drawing and designing the house we hope to build in the future) and I do not think we need to feel guilty about that. At the same time, it’s hard to spend a penny on what is really a luxury when real need is so evident, and it’s hard not to resent the choices we see others make. I really struggled with that when I came back from my year in Guatemala, and I can’t say we’ve got it figured out yet. We both feel like we really need some non-volunteer time this year, especially given some of our own health needs, but we also want to continue to be open to be used when and where God leads. It was very rewarding to be available to meet a need this last week. So that’s one of many issues we are thinking and praying about right now as we are in this very transitional life stage.
We’ll keep you posted! Please keep us posted about everything that is going on in your lives and hearts back home! We miss you!
Sincerely,
Ronit and Tom Ricoy
¶
10:20 PM
