Praying for Pidi

Pidi arrived at our house barefoot, wearing ratty old shorts and a dirty tee-shirt. I had the doctor's appointment already lined up, so I had to take him in to see the doctor just like that. I don't know what the receptionist, or the other patients in the waiting room thought about the little barefoot man, with the big American woman.

I can only imagine. The doctor is a friend of ours, he attends the church we attend in town, and the Friday night Bible study we attend. He is new in town, like us. And I think he is new to having tribal people as patients, too. But he is a believer, and compassionate. He treated Pidi with respect and care. Pidi is mostly deaf, too, so communicating with him is complicated. His traveling companion, Karding, is used to "talking" to him using a combination of sign and lip-reading. I would speak to Karding in Palawano, Karding would sign to Pidi. The doctor used both Tagalog to talk to Karding, and English with me. It is hard to know how much Pidi understood of all that was going on around him and happening to him.

Before our next appointment, to get a biopsy of the growth on Pidi's foot, and x-rays taken at the local hospital, I was able to get Pidi some clothes. Most of the Palawanos have some "town clothes" -- nicer, newer clothes that they keep hidden away for trips to civilization. But Pidi never goes out of the tribe. Palawanos are small people, and Pidi is extra small for a Palawano, so we found shorts and a shirt to fit him in the children's department. And we bought him a pair of flips. The Palawanos all told us, "Pidi doesn't wear shoes." And on his bad foot, he couldn't. But, in town, it just isn't acceptable to go around barefoot. Pidi liked his new shorts and tee shirt. He was a good sport and gamely put on the one flip, carrying the other one around with him, as he went to get his xrays and biopsy done. The doctor is afraid that the growth is melanoma, and may have already spread to his lymph nodes. If that is the case, Pidi's foot will have to be amputated, something he really doesn't want to happen.

We are praying for Pidi, as we await the results of the biopsy. The results won't be back for one week, or maybe two weeks, so we sent Pidi and his traveling companion back home to the tribe to wait there. I had to smile, as my last view of Pidi was of him walking up the steps of the bus, barefoot, carrying both of his new flips.

(I can't find a picture of Pidi, so here is one of Karding, his traveling companion.)