A plastic shower curtain was hung down the middle of the room, and it fluttered in the breeze of the AC. It divided the area into two rooms; two rooms for doctors to see patients in. I stepped into the room on the right with a Thai woman who had perfect eyeliner and a low-cut black shirt. Her skin was smooth and her hair was glossy, and as she sat down, she had a natural warmth about her that made me feel at ease, even though I was her interpreter and thought I’d be the one making her feel comfortable.
“What have you come in for today?” the doctor sitting next to me on the couch asked. I translated the question, making eye contact with the woman.
“I’ve been having headaches, and it’s been hard to sleep,” she said with a smile that made it look like she was in no pain and had gotten a perfect 8 hours.
The doctor asked a few more questions, and the woman responded. I spoke in English as she spoke in Thai, simultaneously translating her words.
“I work in the bars, and I usually try to fall asleep around 3 or 4 PM but I can’t fall asleep. I get a headache that starts at 6 PM and usually gets pretty bad by 10. Usually, I can’t fall asleep because my head hurts so much.” She continued to explain, and the doctor examined her ears and her eyes.
The doctor asked more questions. The woman answered.
She drank 7-8 shots of tequila with soda every night. If she didn’t drink, her headaches got worse. If she didn’t drink, she didn’t get as many men to come talk to her in the bar; she didn't get customers who paid for other services as well. Drinking was a part of her job. But if she drank too much, her headaches would get worse.
The doctor told her she was experiencing what was called chronic migraines, and asked if she had ever considered working another job. I paused before interpreting the question.
When I asked her, she laughed softly.
“No.”
The reality was, she hadn’t graduated high school. No other job would hire her or pay nearly as much as she made in the bars. She was in her 30s and beautiful, so she had had enough time to get good at her job but wasn’t old enough yet to be undesirable. She was the main supporter for her family and had great honor and authority in doing so, and she was looking for a quick fix for the migraines. Aside from her nightly torments, there seemed to be no clear reason for her as to why she would ever leave her work.
We sat with her on one side of the shower curtain divider as the doctor explained - and I translated - that eventually, she would have to change her lifestyle if it began to affect her health this much. I saw the words fall on deaf ears. Instead of encouraging her to find a new job, it was locking her into a box of desperation where she began to see that the job she thought would bring her freedom and honor was really destroying her. But she couldn’t do anything in her power to stop it. She had chosen this work because she thought it would be the answer to her problems. Instead, she felt that there was no way out, even if deep down, she wanted to be free.
I looked into her eyes as I spoke the doctor's words to her and saw her hope fade that a daily dose of migraine medication would be the solution for her problems. She knew she needed something stronger, but she didn't know what it was.
We did. We prayed for her, and I held her perfectly manicured hands. She probably thought, it couldn’t hurt to pray to one more god about my problems.
Even though in the moment, we couldn’t tell her much about the Great Physician, I prayed she would remember that the people who helped her used the name of Jesus. I prayed that the next time she needed help, she would call on the name of Jesus, and that the Lord would reveal Himself to her.
We gave her medicine, and she left to go back to the bar.