We are now 5 days into our Sabbatical in the US! Noting that the last update was late August makes me reflect on how full and rich the last months have been. In early September, our son Daniel and Nikki had baby John Axel. We got to visit with them for the first time over the weekend.
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| Son Daniel with HIS newborn son, John Axel |
Several weeks ago, a 6 year old local child was admitted who proved to be quite a puzzle for the doctors. He'd been treated in the public system for months, being told he had arthritis, but was going downhill rapidly. All his glands were swollen; he looked like acute mumps. He needed a blood transfusion. Our new pediatrician made a good call, made plans to transfer him to the huge University Hospital in the capital. For a country mom to be brave enough to take the bus to the city over 8 hrs away, and face the unknown takes great love! We have a friend there who is a med student who blessed them by visiting immediately, and thru her we know Edwar has ALL-leukemia- and has begun months of chemotherapy. He needs your prayers. The teamwork it takes to make something like this happen is daunting!
Our yearly visitors from Jacksonville, OR arrived on Oct. 5 with 8 members on the team, including an Orthopedic surgeon. Many were touched physically by Dr. Owens' expertise, some put on hold for a later visit. The other guys helped pay for and place a ceramic floor in our church.
Meanwhile, back at the hospital, nurse Amber, John's cousin, was praying for a delivery so she could use her expertise. The Lord again answered her yearly prayer, but certainly did it with fireworks! I got an alarmed radio call from the hospital saying that we needed to respond STAT to the country midwife's mudhut, as she'd delivered the first of twins and the second wouldn't delivery after more than 8 hours. By God's grace, Amber and I and John were all in the same place getting ready for a team dinner. Also God's grace was evident that the newly onboard pediatrician, Dr. Judy, was still in Honduras for 8 more hours before leaving for a conference! The 3 of us raced for the delivery bag at the hospital and over the bumpy road to the midwive's mud hut, where we found a wee baby lightly wrapped and a young mom that needed a hospital, NOT a birthing bag! Enroute with her and tiny one back to the hospital, we radioed for Dr. Vance and Dr. Judy to meet us in the delivery room. Both Dr. Abby, the ER doc who does anesthesia and a visiting anesthetist, Tom, were also there, so an unusually strong team awaited us. Dr. Judy and Dave took over with Baby #1 to begin addressing his low temp, sugar and heart beat. The rest of us began the race against time to get baby #2 out by Csection, as heartrate was falling. Baby #2 was born shortly at 5# 7 oz. We found when baby #1 was stable enough to weigh that he was only 2# 11 oz. Our visitor Amber directed the stabilization of #2, and within the hour, the 2 warmers were side by side to make serveillance of the 2 easier. The fight for the wee one's life was not over, but in a few days, after an exchange transfusion, he began to perk up. Now over a week and a half later, mom and twins are in the Children's Center, with the intent of growing him til he can make it several hours up in the mountain.
Our several months in the US will be spent mostly in our home in the NW, after these first 2 weeks getting checkups and reconnecting with kids and grands here in Tulsa. We have some forays planned to see all relatives there, and a longer one to see Penny's folks in Sun City, with plans to return to Hospital Loma de Luz before March. Pray for us as we travel, that this will be a time of restoration, and that we will listen to the Lord as to future plans.
