April Adventures

Our family will always look back on this past month as one of the craziest we have every experienced (and we have had some crazy times!) and also as one of the times when God showed us that He will meet our every need.

Mikayla started running a high fever on March 24, and Steve started 2 days later. We thought it was just the flu, but when they were still running high fevers after a week, and Mikayla was starting to get very weak, we decided we needed to get to the hospital. We went to a hospital about an hour away, but the pediatrician wouldn't come to the ER to see us (it's complicated), so they sent us to a hotel for the night and told us to return the next morning. That night, Steve passed out when he tried to get up so when we went back to the ER the next morning to be admitted to the little provincial hospital. That day ended up being one of the most difficult that I can remember. It took nearly 4 hours to get them admitted while I ran all over the hospital (with the 2 boys trailing along behind me) getting random forms signed and paying for various pre-charges (during that time they had Steve and Kayla sitting in the waiting room!) until I finally threw a little crying fit in the ER lobby saying that they needed a bed NOW. It was only then that they gave them a bed (I had seen and asked about the many empty ones in the ER), then they had them in their rooms soon after. The only problem was that they had them in 2 different rooms, very far apart so I had to keep running between them to check on the patients, again with the boys trailing after me. To make things more exciting, they won't perform ANY medical procedure until you go to the right dept and buy the equipment for it. So I had to go stand in line to buy some little slips of paper with our name for them to write "orders" on - so whenever they needed to draw blood or do an IV or a urinalysis or ANYTHING, they would write up what I needed to buy first - the needle, the tourniquet, cotton swabs, IV bag, urinalysis cup.... the list was endless. 1 slip per item. Then they would send me (with the boys trailing behind) to various departments to buy the right equipment. Then - no joke - they would run out of slips of paper to write orders on so they would send me back down to stand in line to buy more slips of paper to write on. Not only that, but they don't provide soap, toilet paper, silverware or drinking water so I had to find time to run to the store to buy those things as well. To make matters worse, the medical care was extremely questionable at best so I was scared to leave them alone for fear of what the nurses may do to them while I was gone (they kept wanting to do weird tests, making errors when taking BP, stuff that scared me to leave Mikayla at least alone, and Steve was pretty out of it too... A couple times I actually left Zach by Mikayla and said that he should "guard" her and not let anyone touch her while I was gone then told the nurses that no "procedures" should be performed while I was gone on one of my many errands or to check on Steve.) Needless to say, it was one of the most stressful days ever. One of the things that really got to me was when they would run out of those horrible little order slips for sending me running to buy various things; then they would send me down to stand in line to buy more slips of paper so they could send me running to buy more things. Finally, after 3 trips to buy order slips for about 8 cents a stack (they would only let you buy 1 stack at a time), I told the lady that she was a very nice lady but I really did NOT want to have to come back to stand in that line to buy more order slips from her so if I could please buy 20 stacks of slips, I would appreciate it. She laughed and thought I was joking; I assured her I was not. She gave me a 2nd stack, I told her I was serious and wanted 20 - I would even pay double price (we are talking $3.20 here if I paid double price) if she would give them to me. She wasn't supposed to give out more than one stack at a time; I eventually got 4 stacks out of her - and thankfully that was enough so that I never had to stand in THAT line again. However, there were plenty of other lines I could not so easily escape from. I actually stopped at one point while running to buy a vial for them to put blood in, sat down in the hall, cried for a few mins, then got up and kept going. I actually spent much of the day in tears as I stood in various lines to buy things while I wanted to be with both Kayla and Steve. It was rough. By 8pm, we still had not seen the doctors so were considering evacuating to Manila where we could get better medical care. Then Steve's dr came in and said they thought he had dengue fever and would need a blood transfusion but that they would have a difficult time finding a match down here (something about the Rh factor and the caucasian/asian blood compatibility) so she recommended transferring to Manila - music to my ears, honestly. The Manila part anyway; I was more than ready to leave that hospital. So the decision was made that we would fly out 1st thing in the am, and we were told that we probably wouldn't come home until AFTER the trip to Singapore for my surgery - nearly a month later. So at 9 pm, a local pastor who had heard about our situation and came to help (PTL!) drove Zach and I down to our house about an hour away so I could pack our stuff while his daughter stayed with Steve and Kayla. It was a huge blessing but also quite the adventure as his vehicle was the worst bucket of bolts I had ever ridden in. The trip took nearly 2 hours each way, but I spent every minute on the phone working out the details for our flight the next am since we discovered the plane was full out of Naga (where the hospital is) so we had to fly out of Legaspi 3 hours away (they were able to get 3 confirmed seats on that flight, 2 on standby). I spent 20 mins "packing" (read: throwing piles of random clothes in bags) for our family of 5 to be gone for a month. By the time we made it back to the hospital, it was after midnight. The pastor and his daughter went home, and I headed down to try to pay our bill which I knew would be a challenge since that is normally not possible after "office hours". But I just told them that I had the money in my purse to pay them; they could either take my money now, or I could sign a letter of guarantee that I would take care of it later - it was up to them - but we WERE leaving at 4 am one way or another to catch our flight to Manila. It took 2 hours, but they finally agreed to take my money. I went up to lay down at 2:30 am, couldn't sleep from the pain in my legs (didn't realize I was getting sick yet at that point), got up at 3:30, loaded the car, and we left at 4 am to drive to Legaspi to catch our flight. But first, here are couple of pics I paused briefly to take after they FINALLY moved Steve into Kayla's room late that night. Zach is rubbing his daddy's back and legs (they were very painful), and Ben is "reading" a story to Mikayla. Notice how much longer Steve is than the bed - I had to take the foot board off!

Ok, so we arrived safely in Legaspi. At this point, I was just running on pure adrenaline since I hadn't slept at all in 48 hours. Dropped everyone at some friends' house where Steve and Kayla crashed then the husband accompanied me to the airport to work out the tickets and get checked in. Then we discovered - no joke - that there had been some error in the reservations, and we had nothing. NOTHING. At this point I fell apart big time. We had checked them out of the hospital up there to transfer them to Manila, now what were we supposed to do? Check them into another provincial hospital down in Legaspi??? After nearly 2 hours of crying and pleading and praying, the airline people managed to get us 3 seats in business class for the short flight to Manila - this was 15 mins before the flight took off, after everyone else had already boarded. So we said quick goodbyes to the boys - very tearful ones since they couldn't understand why they were staying behind, and I was already an emotional basket case with no time to explain - then put Steve and Kayla in wheelchairs and on the plane as it closed its doors. We thank God that He got us on that flight. The boys stayed in Legaspi with friends, and I figured we would figure out later how to get them to Manila.
Once we got to Manila, things got 100% easier. Our coworkers there were all ready to receive us, picked us up at the airport, brought us directly to the hospital, helped us get checked in to rooms side-by-side. Someone even brought me a Chilis hamburger! That was Tuesday lunch - I hadn't eaten a meal or even a substantial snack since Sunday supper. It was such a relief to have such amazing support. We also found out that Steve and Mikayla seemed to be on the upswing of whatever the disease was (after lots of testing, ended up being mono or a tropical virus similar to mono). The IV fluids seemed to be helping them recover faster.

However, then I got a call from my friend who was watching the boys to say that she had some bad news - Zach had a temp of 104 now and was fairly lethargic. So at that point the priority became getting the boys up to us ASAP. After a lot of scrambling, we got them and a Filipina lady who would escort them to Manila on the flight the next morning. Zach did ok through the night but maintained the high temps, just like Mikayla and Steve had. The next morning at the airport, Ben started running a fever as well and threw up. So when the boys arrived in Manila, they brought them straight to the hospital as well. We ran blood work on them, and it looked like they had the same virus as Steve and Kayla. Here is a pic of them after they came back from the lab with some new cars that a friend brought them (did I say how amazing everyone was who helped care for us in Manila?) Poor boys look so pathetic.
We didn't check the boys in immediately - mostly because it would have been so difficult to care for people spread out in 4 rooms. So the boys crashed with us in the hospital (like the pediatrician recommended) so we could monitor them. Thankfully, the hospital staff looked the other way. Here is a pic of the 3 of them in the 1 room. Mikayla was definitely feeling better by this point on the IV. The boys were pretty sick. As you can see, I was able to take more pics on this leg of the journey because 1. people were there to help me and 2. I didn't have to run all over the hospital buying random equipment. They have bought into a novel concept and just charge you for everything at the end of your hospital stay. :)
At this point, Steve had his IV out and was feeling better but still very weak. But at least he was able to put in some snuggle time with the boys. Both of them were really out of it with very high fevers. We couldn't get them to drink anything (they were too out of it), and Zach was throwing up the few sips we did get into him. It looked like we would need to admit them the next morning to get them hydrated and on the road to recovery.
I love this pic - it was right after Mikayla got her IV out. She snuck into her daddy's room to surprise him and climb up in bed with him. She was more than a little happy to be on the upswing.
The next morning, Steve and Mikayla checked out and the boys checked into their rooms. As Steve put it, "All this really means is that we switch beds." :) Thankfully, Mikayla was able to go stay with friends - she got passed around to several homes and had a blast. We didn't end up seeing her for 5 days or so! She was still tired and weak but thrilled to be out of the hospital. Meanwhile, we started the boys on IVs (that was fun) so they could start getting better. Ben was actually a day behind Zach so he wasn't as sick, but we were hoping that we could "nip it in the bud" since Steve and Kayla both started getting so much better after they started on IVs. This picture is taken before Mikayla left. She is feeding Ben some mashed potatoes.
Both boys - actually all 3 of the kids - ended up having their 1st IV go bad and having to get it re-started. It was tough, but they were little troopers.
The boys both did better when they were together - they hated being separated. So once they were feeling a little better, they spent a lot of time like this, watching TV or reading books together.
Right before Mikayla left, these flowers were delivered to the hospital for her from her grandparents! She loved them. Then after she left, Steve set them up in my room - oops, I guess I am giving away the end of the story! :)
There were several ladies with our company in Manila who worked very hard to take care of our family during this difficult time. They brought food and special treats in, played with and read to the boys, and took great care of all us. We felt incredibly loved and supported. It was wonderful. Here is a pic of Aunt Judy reading a story to Ben.
We also felt very loved and supported by our friends and family in the States. Our parents called often, and we received several care packages from our church family. God was so good to provide so many people to encourage us in the midst of the chaos. He truly did meet our every need. The night after the boys checked in, I finally starting running a fever too. I had been feeling lousy all week but had attributed it to stress and fatigue. But the virus finally caught up to me as well, and I was flat on my back. The doctor also heard something with my heart that concerned him so I was admitted so they could monitor me and run tests. It ended up being mitral valve prolapse - no big deal actually, just something to be aware of really. After 5 days in the hospital, I was ready to check out and head to our guest facilities to rest. Ben checked out the day before me, Zach the same day I did. The boys had both gotten an upper respiratory infection on top of the virus, and I got an acute sinus infection. The antibiotics helped all of us, and the boys also had to go on steroids and a nebulizer for their coughs. However, after another 5 days of rest in Manila, we were able to proceed with our plans to go to Singapore for my surgery. We are so thankful that we didn't have to try to reschedule!
So on Monday the 14th, some friends drove the kids north of Manila to stay with some other friends for 11 days while Steve and I flew the same day to Singapore for my wrist surgery. (I will try to post some pics of their time there in a few days.) The surgery went well, and the dr was very optimistic about the outcome (it is an unusual surgery, and the success rate is not as high as we would like). Two of the top hand surgeons in Singapore (a place known for its quality medical care) performed the surgery. They found a tear in the ligament as well as a hole in the cartilage. Through 3 small incisions on the top of my wrist, they were able to repair the damage arthroscopically (sp?). Then they made a 6 inch incision on the side of my arm, cut the bone in a "z" shape, removing parts of bone on the top and bottom, then piecing it all together to shorten the ulna bone. They then put a plate and 6 screws in to hold it all together while it heals. It has been just over 2 weeks since the surgery, and the pain is much better now. I am able to type for short times (I alternate between typing with 2 hands and 1, depending on my pain level at that time) but can't really do much else with my hand yet. After 6 weeks, we will have an xray taken here and mail it to the dr. Depending on how that looks (how well the bone is fusing back together), we will either do the same thing after 3-4 months or go see her in person at that time. Right now I am wearing a removable cast to my elbow and need to limit my use of my right hand to light tasks like eating, writing or typing. After 6 weeks, if the bones look ok, then I should be able to remove the cast and do a little more; but I will still need to avoid any heavy tasks until I get the doctors' clearance after 3-4 months. At this point, the major thing to pray about is that the bone will fuse together properly (if it doesn't, then we will need to do a bone graft to repair it - happens in a small % of cases). Then after 1 year, I will need to return to have the plate and screws removed. On a funny side note, in the meantime, I set of the metal detectors at airports and need a letter to prove I have a metal implant. :)
Here is a picture of what the inside of my arm looks like (found it on the internet, looks almost identical to mine).

Here are some pictures of Steve removing the 16 stitches in the 4 incisions. I was a little gun shy of going for more medical care here in the province, and I knew that Steve would take extra care and time with them - and that we could control the sterilizing of the tools. Infection in this area and climate is a real threat. Anyway, Steve did a great job with it - he has been absolutely amazing through this whole time. I am so thankful for the incredible husband that God has blessed me with.
Ok, this post took me a whole lot longer than normal since I have to keep taking breaks to rest my hand. I am still in a fair amount of pain, but it is getting better all the time; and the doctor was very optimistic that this surgery will drastically reduce if not eliminate the amount of pain I have to deal with from here on out. Please pray with us that the bone fuses back together on schedule!
We are so thankful to be home after an absolutely crazy month, and we praise God for the way that He took care of each of us every step of the way. We also want to thank the MANY people who helped us through this difficult time - in Legaspi and Manila and Aritao (the kids while we were in Singapore) and Singapore. You blessed us in ways that words cannot express. Also need to thank all of you who were praying for us and encouraging us through emails, phone calls, and packages. We praise God for you all.