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Bon swa from Honduras, Just wanted to get out a quick update while I am still in the land of the mobile. I have been here in Honduras for the last 3 or so weeks. Have been staying with my friends the Carrions here and had been doing quite a bit of visiting and checking out possible ministry opportunities here in the capitol area (Tegucigalpa). Had been seeing old friends from the trip I made last year and meeting lots of new folks. Already have a suitcase full of kids to bring back :0) Been visiting a slum area called Nueva Capital and we have been very warmly received there. So many children without dads. Most of the "housing" there consists of little one room wooden shacks. Most of this whole barrio came into existence right after hurricane Mitch which devastated Honduras a few years back. Thousands of newly homeless moved onto the side of this mountain and erected makeshift shelters to live in. Thus Nueva Capital was born. There is MUCH more to say on this but I will hopefully catch that up later. Last Wednesday Luis and I went to a 6:30AM men's meeting and then we went to a "guarderia." These are basically daycares that keep the children of needy mothers during the day while the mothers try to make some kind of living. Most of the children are fatherless. One of the guarderias we visited could boast only two families of the 100 plus children there that had a dad at home. We have made repeat visits to several of these and I've gotten to know many kids. They are very hungry for attention and extremely affectionate. To sit down in the middle of them invites immediate burial in hugs and kisses. So, back to Wednesday, after the men's meeting, Luis and I went to a guarderia in town. My stomach was beginning to hurt on the way there. It felt like trapped gas. I told Luis we might need to skip my turn at the guitar. The pain was bearable, but still eating away at me. We went in and the kids were awesome. I got a good seat and held some kids while Luis sang and testified. As time went on, the pain grew worse. We finished and I was ready to run home. We got to the house and I'll spare you some gross details and leave it at this, the pain became unbearable. It went on and on. My whole abdomen was a huge cramp. I fought, sweat, prayed, turned my body in every position possible to find relief. There was no relief. The pain finally subsided slightly in the evening. With all the best recommended home remedies of the locals now pumping through my system, I finally drifted into a weary and fitful sleep. The next morning I woke up feeling much better. but before long the pain started again and would not let up. I could barely breathe for the immenseness of this pain in my lower right side. I have never felt anything like it. Again, skipping lots of details, we decided to make an appointment with a doctor. The soonest we could see the guy we needed to see was 8:00 PM. For all of the day I fought for breath and sanity. Seconds went by like hours. I thought I would surely pass out. Then, by 5 in the afternoon, I felt relief. When 8:00 rolled around, I was still feeling better so I canceled the appointment. The next morning I woke up with more discomfort but not agonizing as before. We went for a visit up to Nueva Capital. The pain kicked in again on the way back down from Nueva. I had not eaten for 3 days now, for fear of what havoc it would wreak in my system. By afternoon we were back to unbearable agony. Made a new doctor appointment and stuck with it. We were sitting in the office of a Honduran doctor that one of Cathy's friends had recommended. He did a few tests and asked several questions. Luis interpreted for me. The doctor would do a poke and make a comment in Spanish. Before Luis would translate it, my mind would race futilely to milk some kind of understanding out of his garble and facial expressions. All said and done, the doctor said we needed to proceed directly to the hospital. "Can we just come first thing in the morning?". "No, Ahora" (right now). It appeared that I had an appendix on the virge of rupturing. It was strange that it had not ruptured already. We passed by the house to get a few personal effects. I did not want to have surgery. I did not want to have surgery in Honduras where I was totally unfamiliar with the standards of medical practice. What if they put me to sleep and I never wake up? On the other hand, death would be preferable to continuing in the agony of these attacks. Late Friday night we were on our way to the hospital and immediately into x-ray. The hospital was not up to US standards (or prices), but seemed clean enough. Most of the equipment I saw was pretty old looking, but things were functioning and unlike Haiti, they had electricity the whole time I was there. Symptoms seemed to confirm appendicitis, but x-rays did not. They decided to wait a little longer on the surgery. More tests. Urine, blood. I worked so hard to get them that urine sample and they lost it. Had to go through it all again. Laying in the hospital bed about 1:00 in the morning the pain kicked in again. Luis had graciously chosen to stay the night there in the room with me. I woke him up to get a doctor. That horrendous pain was again eating me alive. He called a confused nurse. She had been instructed not to give me anything for the pain. If my appendix were on the verge of rupture, I would need to be able to tell them. I writhed in my bed until laying prostrate became maddening. I slid down onto the floor with my IV needle still in my hand. My back felt the coldness of the wall through the huge opening in the bak of my gown. Again breathing was agonizing. I wanted to break something. Maybe throw a chair or something to make them hear the pain that was raging in my side!!! The nurse, seeing my state finally decided to call the doctor at home. Finally approval came for some pain relief. They injected a large amount of something into my veins and soon thereafter the pain was blocked. I laid back in the bed, exhausted, a bit dazed, after this raging war that I seemed to be losing against some unseen monster. The medicine did not make me feel good, it only made me not feel the pain. Eventually sleep came. The next morning, soon after the medicine had worn off, we were at it again. Again I was on the floor. The doctor was called to approve more relief. More of that strange juice in the needle. Back into bed and feeling like breathing again. The doctor came in and they did a CAT scan. It was an expensive test in an otherwise not too expensive medical system. But, we needed to find out something more concrete. After all of that, the appendix was ruled out and kidney stones became the number one suspect. The stones were not visible in any of the x-rays or sonograms but the symptoms were clearly pointing that way. Also the tests helped to at least eliminate a few other possibilities. I was now given much sympathy and pain killer was now to be automatically injected every 6 hours. Sunday early noon I was sent home to drink LOTS of water and take some little pain pills every 8 hours for pain. The stones should pass within a few more days. Just in case the pain became too great, I was given a special note from the doctor that could be presented at any emergency room and I would be immediately injected. Sunday night, about midnight, back to the emergency room. Another injection. Monday about noon, back to the emergency room again for another injection. The pain medicine he had prescribed was dealing with the pain as effectively as gummy bears. We were referred to a specialist in urology. He was over an hour late showing up at his office, but when he did, he had an air of authority to him. He talked with a confidence. Seemed to know his stuff. He was brutal in the exams but seemed he was on the trail of the problem. At the end he produced a way too big syringe and told me to roll over. He had found the sorest spot of my back and it was there he intended to plunge that needle. "This is the needle that will cure you" he said. Anything is better than more of the pain and daily trips to the emergency room. The shot he gave me was only a local anesthetic to deaden the nerves that had been maddening me over the last few days. He pulled out all of my tests from my hospital stay. He poured over the notes, sonograms, etc. Then, like Sherlock Holmes, proclaimed he had solved the case. The stones were already gone. They had passed possibly even before my symptoms had begun Wed. The pain was from residual damage done by the stones when they had passed. He gave me a new prescription for pain and an antibiotic. Monday night was my first night's sleep without a shot in four days. Today, Tuesday, I am still feeling much improved. No pain attacks since visiting this doctor. My appetite is coming back. My will to live :0) So, now in this glorious gap of non-agonizing time, I write this little update. Also I will be kicking off a new and healthier diet, starting last Wednesday. I am supposed to go back for a checkup Thursday. The pain pills will run out Thursday morning and hopefully not be needed again. I surely want to thank the many folks who were praying for me while I was in the whale's belly. I've learned a lot over the last week but I think I've written enough already. I do ask everyone to keep praying till we know for sure this is over. Keep Manno and Haiti in your prayers. Haiti is like a whole country with kidney stones. Sadly, just last week one of our extended Happy House family members went to be with the Lord. Madarynx, who I have written about before, died abruptly after 3 days of fever. She was only 14. So, here I stop. Again I covet your prayers. Take care and Bon Dieu beni nou! fre Ed |