Maya, Here We Come!: Visit to the School in Ba Ria Vung Tau and Aidan's Health Scare

As many of you know we sponsored the building of a small school last year in Maya's birth province of Ba Ria Vung Tau. I dedicated the school to my mom and wanted the family to see the finished school. So Tung, who is with the local Vietnamese partner that oversaw the building of school, arranged a visit for us. Aidan said he was feeling better and able to travel but was still sniffling.

We were picked up in a private taxi by Tung and made our way to Xuyen Moc district north of Vung Tau City, normally about a 2.5 hour drive, but was a 4 hour trip due to an accident. On the way , Aidan started feeling worse, had chills and developed a bit of a fever. Our first stop was lunch in Xuyen Moc with the school principal and local school district officials at a local restaurant. They put out a wonderful spread of chicken, fish, soup, rice and vegetables..all delicious. Aidan wasn't feeling well so he lay down during lunch. We then did a quick shopping trip for gifts for the kids and hurried to the school. There we were treated to very cute and well choreographed dances by the children (about 3 to 5 years old). Then we gave a short speech, gave out the treats for the kids, took some photos and headed out toward Vung Tau because Aidan was still not feeling well and running a fever.

On the way to Vung Tau city, Aidan mentioned that he had a dull pain in his right side (which he now told us he had had for several hours) and thought he might have appendicitis! We googled the early symptoms of appendicitis and thought he might be right... so we told our driver we had to go direct to the Vung Tau city hospital to get Aidan checked out. At the Vung Tau hospital, the emergency doctor did not think that Aidan had appendicitis but recommended an ultrasound. however, the Vung Tau hospital did not have an ultrasound machine so he said we should go to Ba Ria or Saigon. We decided on the latter as we wanted to be at a better hospital in case Aidan got worse. It was a 2.5 hour trip to Saigon and when we got to the hospital recommended by the Vung Tau doctor, they rejected Aidan saying they could not treat children! It was also very crowded and chaotic, and did not look like it would provide high quality care.

Then we learned that there was an international hospital in Saigon and we went there. What a difference ! No crowds and Aidan was seen immediately. Within 1 hour he had an ultrasound and blood test and was examined by two doctors who said he did not have appendicitis but a high fever due to a throat infection and stomach pains likely due to a "digestive disorder". By this time, Aidan's abdominal pain had subsided and we were all breathing a sigh of relief! We were very lucky that Tung was with us and able to translate as even at the international hospital they did not speak much English. Aidan got some Tylenol and antibiotics and is feeling better now, so we were relieved! What a scare!

Here are some photos from our visit to the school.