Sickness and A Gash ...

I am happy to report that I am very well, but I am sorry to report that my 3 "patients" have needed some TLC in the past 12 hours. Monday evening after supper my Dad did not feel well, and by 10:00 he was bringing up his supper, had chills and was very weak. Then a few hours later, my Mother did the same. By 1:30 we all retired, hoping to get some sleep.

This morning Dad woke up feeling a bit better, but achey and weak. He was not able to keep his toast and vitamins down, so he will stick to liquids for most of the day. Mother is still in bed (it's 2:00 pm) and seems very wiped out, and had a headache when she briefly woke up this morning. Knowing that these are all symptoms for malaria, Emma thought it would be best for them to get tested, so she walked up to the secondary school and brought the nurse down to the house with her. The nurse took some blood and Emma walked the samples to Choma Hospital.

It seemed like Dad was doing better than Mother, so the initial test results surprised us when they came back saying Mother did not have malaria but Dad did! So, my Dad was pretty sure they were wrong! Given offered to take him for a second test. Meanwhile, while we were deciding what to do, Matthew comes in with a gash above his left eye! He was feeding Jasper's (Given's son) rabbits and when he removed the heavy rusted mesh cover, he cut his head. It was one of those "iffy" wounds. If he was back home, I would have said he probably needed stitches, but here, I just wasn't sure I wanted to have him get any, and I thought he might just have to settle with an "African scar". So we decided Given would take Dad to get a second test, and Matthew went along. While they were there, the doctor looked at Matt's wound and decided it needed 3 stitches. Matt's last tetanus shot was 9 years ago (which we thought was fine since it was within 10 years), but the doctor said here in Zambia they prefer every 5 years, so he also got a tetanus shot. He will go back to the doctor on Friday and get the stitches out next week.

So then the pharmacist came out and said Dad's test was negative! So....now we are thinking we might want Mother to get a second test, cause maybe the first results got switched. Emma watched them do the 2 tests, but she could not see which was which. It's interesting....a simple piece of paper that I wrote their names and ages on, and then a glass slide with the blood sample taped to the paper with a piece of masking tape labeled with their name....it sure had the possibility of getting mixed up! We will probably wait till tomorrow and see how she is, and then get her re-tested. Since we are all taking the doxycycline for Malaria prevention, that should help any symptoms to be minimal. Hopefully, that initial test was completely wrong and neither have it, but we will wait and see. If she does have malaria, she will take some medication that should speed up the healing process.

So, keep praying for strength for both Dad and Mother. We have been blessed with great health up to now, and we are confident that the Lord will continue to pour out his grace upon us and strengthen us in every way.

Thanks for your prayers....nurse Beth :)