The last time I
blogged I was feeling pretty frustrated and helpless. I haven't posted
anything in the past couple weeks because not a lot has changed and I figure
you don't need to hear my whining. My kiddo has now missed three weeks of
school. We went to a new doctor when the initial blood work came back and
was not conclusive but the symptoms stayed. The original doc said he
thinks she is depressed, missing home. Well, of course she's missing
home. I am, too. But missing home doesn't give you a pretty steady
fever for more than three days and a monthly recurrence of the same fever,
usually coupled with vomiting or nausea. We went to the big international
hospital here, Apollo, and met with a
senior doc in the Infectious Disease department. Savannah was repulsed by
the department name. "Oh my gosh, what do they think I have???"
Let me tell you a
little about this visit... This hospital is big, like one of the bigger
hospitals in our Houston medical center, to help my Texas friends relate.
And it's filled with different desks and sub-departments because we're in India
and that's how we do it over here. We like to make things as confusing as
possible. I had a hunch this was going to be pretty complicated for my
American-self and asked Gideon if he could join us in advance. Savannah
wasn't feeling better. She was closing out the second full week of being
sick, and I was sick at this point, too. I just had congestion and sinus
issues, but enough that I was feeling pretty lousy and thought it best to have
an "Indian representative" to help with language barriers and cranky
American issues. Sometimes I make pretty good decisions and this was one of
them. Thank GOD Gideon was with us. Although Apollo is an
internationally recognized hospital, and even has a department JUST FOR
foreigners, there was lots of Tamil going on and lots of "go here, fill
this, do that, not this, pay here, see him, go there." Had Gideon
not been with us at the start, I can assure you I would have started crying (or
gone to Indian jail for assault and battery) about 10 minutes in and he would
have wound up there in the end. Anyway, Saint Gideon helped us through
the myriad of desks and departments to finally meet the good doctor. We
were too late, after all the desk hopping, to meet the one he wanted to see,
but we were meeting second in charge. I'll take it. But first we
met with a doctor's assistant. Super nice guy, listened to everything we
had to say about Savannah's symptoms and asked quite a few questions we didn't
already cover. He told us it sounds like Typhoid based on her pattern of
fever and vomiting and could be easily treated, not to worry. To properly
diagnose we will get a culture and watch it grow for about a week.
Savannah was on high alert at that point: What kind of culture??
He answered simply, "A blood test. A prick. Nothing to
worry." My poor kid. She really did get a lot of my better
qualities, but the anxiety over blood tests and needles is not one of
them. I told her relax, we were still going to talk to the main doctor
and maybe he could tell something from the other tests. There was no
calming her down. Sigh. So the assistant laughed a bit, ok, a lot,
and sent us to see the main guy with his set of notes. What was the first
thing out of Savannah's mouth? "I am not getting a blood
test." Nice. Deep Mom sigh. I smile, tell him I'm sorry,
and he smiles. Nice man. He reads through the notes and has another
discussion, similar to the one we just had. He's thorough and it's
good. He suspects maybe mononucleosis or even something
thyroid-related. There's more talk of blood test. He knows she is
not wanting it, and says to avoid it for now, we can check her temperature at
several times a day for four days and then come back to have it done if there's
a pattern. She was shaking her head through the entire conversation,
"No, no blood test." I had to be the mean mom. I had to
be the mom who is looking out for her best interests, and in this case, looking
out for her health. I put on the "don't mess with me" voice and
face, and told her we are NOT waiting four more days to get this done. I
reminded her she had already missed two full weeks of school, I had missed
several nights of work, we needed to be able to go home with her healthy
in a month, and that we have Gideon with us and we are already here, in the
city, and we are getting it done. TODAY. She was not happy. She
argued. She yelled. She acted like a toddler. She embarrassed
me utterly and completely. I had a wave of regret when I remembered
doing something similar when I needed a tooth-filling when I was about 12 years
old. (I called Mom later the same day and apologized. She
laughed and said, "That's why your dad took you in!") But I
stood my ground. She wanted a friend from church to come give her some
moral support. I told her she had Gideon and me. She yelled a
little more, refused a little more, and then gave up. She knew it was
happening and then went into survival mode. She was cranky and angry and
giving me teen-eyes. It didn't matter. She got it done. And I
was thankful. I refilled her tank and thanked Gideon for his time and
support with Costa coffee. She survived. And so did I.
Fast forward a week to
wait on results............... Was there anything fast about the past
week? Not really. It has been exhausting. She hasn't felt
better and I am stressed. We did get some results on the same day. Hey!
Did I tell you India does pretty much ROCK on getting lab results back super
fast? I should brag about it, because I don't think I brag about much
over here. So, yep, some results came same day, AND, bonus! they are
available online. Not that I can read them, other than what's in the
"normal range" as provided (again, pretty fancy stuff going on over
here providing this detail online!) and what was not in the norm. So she
was on the border with thyroid. She was negative for blood parasites
(sounds gross, glad it was negative). She was normal for some other
stuff. Then we got back a borderline positive for some monocytes
something or other and a borderline positive for Typhus. OK so we are
making progress. She has SOMETHING. Is it wrong for me to feel a
little relieved that she does HAVE something and look forward to having her
treated?? I was relieved, honestly. So we went to see the head of
the Infectious Disease department, another new doctor, at his clinic Tuesday
evening, armed with results and hope. Oh, and Gideon. This guy
was awesome. Even better than the last assistant and doctor we saw.
Great questions, thorough, great bedside manner. One small issue...
One lab result was missing. A major one. What?? How so?
I printed everything!! Turned out the printout was there, but the results were
blank. My Google diploma of medicine didn't cover what to look for if it
came back and was blank. I just thought the dash meant nothing came
back. Sigh. Sooooo the doctor said based on everything was able to
review at the time, still inconclusive. But he would get those other
results Wednesday morning and call Gideon. Hopefully with a prescription and a
plan. He also suggested we will get a scan of her belly to see if there
is an enlarged spleen or kidney that might be causing the issue.
As of last night we
have a prescription and a diagnosis. We
have a strong antibiotic to treat a "light case of Typhoid" and a
plan to have her scan done in the next day or two as a precaution. She
has taken one full round of meds since yesterday evening. I have done
REALLY WELL since my last blog and stayed off the Googler and have not looked
up all the suggestions and possibilities of illnesses. But I did mention
the typhoid possibility to a couple coworkers and they filled me with fear of
the dietary restrictions and possible hospital admission for IV fluids and meds
that would follow if the diagnois came back as such. Fortunately, we aren’t quite there. My
daughter would have to NOT eat all the "good American food" she has
been craving if she has a full-blown case of Typhoid, according to these
guys... who, by the way, have all had Typhoid at some time or another.
Apparently (again, I haven't checked myself!) this is caused only by a bacteria
in the water here - go figure - and although we got a vaccine before we left,
there are four or five strains and we were only about 70% protected and
only against one strain. Anyway, the doctor said we will see how antibiotics
help and talk about dietary restrictions later, only if necessary.
WHEW! I can make her get her blood drawn, but I can't make her NOT eat
when we go home next month. That is a battle I know I would lose.
My girl likes to eat. Wonder where she gets that from? haha
So that's the latest
health update. I am still praying (and appreciate your prayers!) that she
gets better quickly. We need to get her back to school and caught up on
her school-work. We need to get her feeling better because she is tired
of being sick and I am tired of her being sick and we are tired of each
other. She has had a few days that she felt OK, with no fever or
vomiting, and we did venture out. But for the most part, she's been home
bound and going stir crazy.
So I know this has
been long... But I have more to tell you. Do I keep going? I
will. You go take a break. Stretch your legs or whatever you need
to do and come back later. I'll still be here.
Two Thursdays
ago we got some very sad news. Savannah is very close with our
friends from church, Pastor Shawn and his wife, Sheralyn and their kids,
Mcartney (11), Leroy (6) and Prasansha (4). This is where she spends most
of her weekends and she LOVES LOVES LOVES those babies. And they adore her
as much as she loves them. Shawn and Sher adopted all three kiddos -
Mcartney in the US when she was a baby, Leroy here in India when he was a baby,
and Pransansha just shortly after Savannah & I began attending Word of
Life. Pransansha's biological father attends the Word of Life Nepali
church (they are from Nepal) at our same building and was a single dad.
His family had not been supportive and helpful with him working and trying to
provide for her. He met the Acheson family and after a while asked them
to adopt her. They had been praying for another child and know this was
God's answer, especially because Shawn joked he didn't want another one in
diapers. Win/Win. But Pransansha was battling cancer, which is part
of the reason her Nepali family was not supportive and helpful - she was too
much work. She had been rejected over and over, so the Acheson family
took her in and became her family just seven months ago. She spoke no
English when she joined them, but within about three months of living with
them, she was really good. And now she's terrific. Her biological
father is still part of her life, but he is Papa and Shawn is Daddy. She
lives, of course, with Shawn and Sher and they are finalizing paperwork, but
everything in India is slow. A couple months ago she had her last chemo
and was cleared - cancer free. Her hair has grown back and she's just a
doll. Joyful, sweet, hilarious and loving. Savannah was there the
weekend before (as usual) and Pransansha was coughing a lot and vomited a time
or two. Sav took care of her so Sher could get some rest... Pransansha
was OK most of Sunday, just laid down during dinner and was low energy.
Sher said that Monday they went to the mall and she was fine, played at the
play land and full of spirit. Tuesday night she was not feeling well and
Sher noticed her belly swelling. She made an appointment for a scan at
the cancer hospital for Wednesday. Shawn left for Nepal on Wednesday late
morning with our Nepali pastor to go help plant churches up there. The
scan results came back to Sheralyn and they were not good. Pransansha's
cancer is back. And it's aggressive. She's been through several
rounds of chemo and a surgery one which took a kidney just one year ago.
The doctor told Sher the fact that it came back within a year, and so
aggressively, gives her only a 10% chance of beating it. And chemo would
be very, very hard on her little body and organs. The tumors in her tummy
are pressing on her left lung, which has already collapsed under the
pressure. She is in a lot of pain. Sher and Shawn have decided they
will not treat it and put her through further pain for such slim chances.
The doctors gave her only a few days. They put her in the care of a
hospital owned and run by a Christian family, one of a doctor from our church. They
took care of her, made her as comfortable as possible. Shawn came back
from Nepal and made it in late that first Friday night.
Savannah and I have spent a lot of time with them in the last two weeks.
I know Savannah's heart and I knew as soon as I spoke to Sher that we would be
going, regardless of how she was feeling (yes, she was sick some of the
times). Last Wednesday they did a scan of Pransansha's tummy and it
showed the tumors had stopped growing. It was amazing news! Pransansha
has left the hospital to be comfortable at home. They were able to give
her pain patches to help with that transition, but Tuesday and Wednesday it
seems the pain is coming back. The doctor is looking into what else can
be done for her pain. Poor baby girl. We will ask your help
to please pray for the Acheson family. They are SUCH a huge blessing
for Savannah and me. We would not be surviving here without them.
Savannah is their "foster kid" and even Dynamo has made his way over
there for a weekend visit. We love them and pray for Pransansha's comfort
and peace. We pray for no more pain. We pray for a miracle from God
to completely eradicate the tumors – cancer be gone! And we know it can happen. Should God's
will be to take her to His Kingdom, we pray for strength and comfort and love
for the family. We pray for her brother and sister who love her so
much. We pray for her biological father, who loved her enough to want her
to have a family who could and would love her and give her the life he could
not. We pray for Shawn and Sheralyn, who opened their hearts and their
home, bringing love and joy to Princess Pransansha. We pray for the kids
in our church who love her smile and laugh and for understanding for
them. I pray for Savannah who also opened her heart and made a great connection
with this sweet little girl. So many prayers, but mostly God's love and
comfort to all in this very sad situation.
And with that, I'll be done. Sorry for the long stories, but know we
appreciate your warm thoughts, prayers and love shown to us. When times
are hard, as they have been during the second half of this year, I am so
thankful for your kind words and notes that keep me motivated and feeling loved.
We are will be home about this time next month to spend the holidays with our
family and loved ones. We are looking forward to it, and I am hoping the
next four weeks will be a healthy four weeks! Love to you all!
