Do you believe in Djinn?

Last Thursday, I stopped by a friends house for a quick visit, and he informed me his 19 year old nephew was in the hospital and asked me to come and look him over.

No problem. I get a lot of this.

The nephew had fallen from a three story building, hitting a few things on the way down, and gotten pretty banged up. Most of the stuff was not alarming and well taken care of... scrapes and cuts and bruises. (I think I also clinically diagnosed a Basilar Skull Fracture, with Raccoon Eyes, what a call, I got pictures). He also broke his heel bone, which will probably take a couple of months to heal up.

But the main thing was a broken jawbone. The XRay was impressive, with several breaks. The answer seemed obvious to me: he needs his jaw wired shut.

Enter the negotiations. Turns out the accident had happened eight days ago, and the family was refusing to have the operation, because they couldn't afford it. (In India, you pay for your medical care with cash up front, or else the Doctor won't do it. Makes sense, otherwise the Doctor wouldn't get paid). The family of the patient and the Doctor had been negotiating for eight days while the patient survived on sugar water in an IV drip. Well, that's no good.

As I looked over the patient, he just seemed a little odd. He followed commands (not being allowed/able to speak with the broken jawbone), but just was not interacting normally. Mostly he just stared off into space, and didn't look at anyone (including the pretty nurse, now that is odd in a teenage boy).

But the next while was taken up in animated discussion of operations and costs and second opinions and so on. When my friend and I finally left, it was time for me to get on to my next appointment.

I saw my friend next day alone in his office, and mentioned that his nephew seemed a little odd, and did his brain get hurt in the accident? My friend replied, "No, that is the way he is since he was 12 years old, let me tell you a story..." .... ....

But then a customer came in, and he refused to engage me in conversation about his nephew.

When I finally got him alone for a bit of time, he told me that his nephew, when he was 12 years old, was in the country side, and had walked into a field to empty his bladder. He unknowingly voided on Djinn (a Muslim Spirit being, sometimes evil, but sometimes neutral or even good). Therefore the Djinn had cursed him. The curse was thus: once or twice a month, for 2 or 3 days at a time, the boy would stop functioning. He would just sit and stare straight ahead without speaking. He could eat and drink during these times, but otherwise would just sit for hours and stare straight ahead. The boys mother (my friends sister) had a special prayer book from which she would chant a prayer, and then "blow" them (literally) over her son. This usually worked. Various Doctors they had consulted had not helped.

In between the "spells" (for lack of a better word) he seemed normal, finishing high school and now doing computer based cloth designing.

And he asked me: "Do you believe in Djinn?"

I love this job. We talked awhile.

Next day, my friend asked me to see his nephew in his home (they had refused to have the operation, and the patient had been transferred home, complete with a massive round-the-head bandage to supposedly hold his jawbone in place while it healed. And he asked me if I could help with the "spells".

But next day, when I got there, there was a crowd there, and my friend did not want me to talk about that at that time.

I don't think it would have been good to do any excorsision anyways (yes, Lowell cannot spell). Based on what Jesus had to say about the evil spirit who wanders around and then returns to the house to find it empty, and brings seven of his friends along, it would seem that this young man had a pretty empty house, and filling it with righteousness would be a first step, so that when the Djinn eventually gets dispelled, it can't come back in.

So instead, I left them a copy of Psalm 1, and Psalm 42/43 (Hope in God!), and recommended he meditate on this for awhile. I also recommended the patriarch of the family approve of it, before they started reading it. But he just said OK, with only a brief scanning. They were all gathered around reading aloud when I left.

So anyways, that is what I did during lunch today. How about you?

I don't proofread these things before I hit "Publish Post". Maybe I should. I wander if any of this makes any sense.