The last time I updated this was the evening I was waiting for Kathryn to arrive. She did, and we spent 10 days together, visited old friends, took a trip downtown on the MetroVia, so she could see if it was still as bad as it was last year (it was), we spent 2 days out at Playas at camp, 2 glorious days of rest and relaxing, where I was able to stay on the beach as long as I wanted to, with nobody needing me for anything!! I read, slept, walked and played in the waves - it was wonderful! Then we went to Quito and Otavalo for a few days, and then suddenly the 10 days were all over and she was gone!
And today I booked flights for me to go back to Canada for a time. This is hard for me to write about, but this blog is about the journey I'm on, and this is part of that journey, and those of you who are following my progress need to know about the bends in the road too. While Kathryn was here with me, we got news that my sister-in-law is losing her battle with an aggressive brain tumour, and her time with us here is getting short. And so I'm going home, I need to be with my family now. It's hard to be so far away, with something like this happening, I need my family, and they need me. But at the same time it is hard to leave here, knowing I'll be gone awhile. There are so many thoughts in my head right now - who will do what I've been doing here, who will look after my patients, how will it feel to be in Canada for a few months, how hard will it be to adjust back here when I come back...? But I'm doing what I have learned to do, follow where God leads, and trust Him for all of this. He is faithful, loving, and will be with each of us every step of the way on this dificult road that this family is now walking. He has promised that - "I will never leave you nor forsake you". Never.
"But I trust in your unfailing love" Psalm 13
I am re-reading a book by David Jeremiah - When Your World Falls Apart. It's a good one.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
It's all over, camp season is done, and it's kind of sad. It's a wild and crazy time, these 2 months of camp, people coming, people going, planning, buying huge amounts of food, more planning, groups arriving, groups missing bags, groups leaving....And then there's camp itself - all the kids, games, noise, cooking huge amounts of food, fun, crises both large and small. Serious times, too - devotions, counsellors spending time talking one on one to kids, campfires when kids often make commitments to God and allow Him into their lives, and stand up to tell everyone. Beach time, trying to keep track of all those bodies in the huge waves. And of course, music. We love to sing, and we do it with gusto!
In between those weeks of camp we come back to the city and try to fit in bits of normal life too, whatever normal life here may be! For me that means visits to patients, checking on progress, and going to doctor visits with people, as well as tryng to keep up with email and this blog!!!
So it's been chaotic, but very good. Looking back at it all now from this end of it, it has been a wonderful time, so many kids of all ages spending time at that camp, and being blessed by their time there. And it has been so good to watch the campers from past years now directing and leading and counselling younger kids. They all did a fabulous job, and I'm so proud of them!
The last week was for the older kids, and for me that was the best week, I really enjoyed that time. The whole week went really well, somehow it just all came together and was great. The speaker who came from Quito was excellent, the best we've had, in my humble opinion, he was real, and he geared his messages to his audience. He spoke, and the kids listened, all of them.
Medically, it was a peaceful week, almost nothing but the most minor of problems....until Thursday afternoon. I was at the beach and someone came to get me, a kid back at camp had been doing backflips and landed one badly and injured his arm. Sure enough, it looked pretty broken to me, but we took him into playas and got an x-ray done, and yes, he had broken both bones in his lower arm. Nobody in Playas is able to deal with such a problem, so we splinted it, gave him pain meds, and kept him at camp for the night, and sent him home the next morning. I'll tell the rest of that story another time, it's not over yet!!
When I got back from Playas after getting the x-rays, there was literally a lineup of people with problems - fever, headache, bumps, bruises, sprains - it just all fell apart all at once!
Then Friday at lunchtime, someone told me that Richard, the young guy who suffers from epilepsy, poorly controlled, had been sick since the previous day, not keeping anything down. When I went to see him, he was barely responding to us calling his name. There wasn't much I could do for him, and with his epilepsy I felt he would be better in the city with access to doctors, and we hired a pickup truck to take him back.
But..... on Saturday when we got home, I discovered that he was still very sick, his mother hadn't taken him to a doctor, and he was worse than he had been. I went to see him, and off we went to Emergency, my second trip there in less than 3 weeks - they're getting to know me there! He was stabilized and stayed in until Monday, he's better, but not himself, and we're still working on him, he's getting tests done and I think we may have found us a good neurologist.
So it's always something, and you never know what that something is going to be!! I was very happy to have a doctor from Nova Scotia around this week, he came with a group to work on the new house at camp, and I was able to have a couple of sessions with him, to ask many questions, and gets lots of useful knowledge, and on Saturday we went together to visit a couple of households where I needed some real medical input. What a huge help that was, and don't I wish I had a doctor around here more!!!
As I write this, Kathryn, my daughter is en route here for a visit, for 10 days. We're both looking forward to some time together, it's been awhile. Might even get some rest time in there too.
link to camp photos: http://picasaweb.google.ca/heathermoore21/Camp2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCNvat9iAm-6a8QE&feat=directlink
In between those weeks of camp we come back to the city and try to fit in bits of normal life too, whatever normal life here may be! For me that means visits to patients, checking on progress, and going to doctor visits with people, as well as tryng to keep up with email and this blog!!!
So it's been chaotic, but very good. Looking back at it all now from this end of it, it has been a wonderful time, so many kids of all ages spending time at that camp, and being blessed by their time there. And it has been so good to watch the campers from past years now directing and leading and counselling younger kids. They all did a fabulous job, and I'm so proud of them!
The last week was for the older kids, and for me that was the best week, I really enjoyed that time. The whole week went really well, somehow it just all came together and was great. The speaker who came from Quito was excellent, the best we've had, in my humble opinion, he was real, and he geared his messages to his audience. He spoke, and the kids listened, all of them.
Medically, it was a peaceful week, almost nothing but the most minor of problems....until Thursday afternoon. I was at the beach and someone came to get me, a kid back at camp had been doing backflips and landed one badly and injured his arm. Sure enough, it looked pretty broken to me, but we took him into playas and got an x-ray done, and yes, he had broken both bones in his lower arm. Nobody in Playas is able to deal with such a problem, so we splinted it, gave him pain meds, and kept him at camp for the night, and sent him home the next morning. I'll tell the rest of that story another time, it's not over yet!!
When I got back from Playas after getting the x-rays, there was literally a lineup of people with problems - fever, headache, bumps, bruises, sprains - it just all fell apart all at once!
Then Friday at lunchtime, someone told me that Richard, the young guy who suffers from epilepsy, poorly controlled, had been sick since the previous day, not keeping anything down. When I went to see him, he was barely responding to us calling his name. There wasn't much I could do for him, and with his epilepsy I felt he would be better in the city with access to doctors, and we hired a pickup truck to take him back.
But..... on Saturday when we got home, I discovered that he was still very sick, his mother hadn't taken him to a doctor, and he was worse than he had been. I went to see him, and off we went to Emergency, my second trip there in less than 3 weeks - they're getting to know me there! He was stabilized and stayed in until Monday, he's better, but not himself, and we're still working on him, he's getting tests done and I think we may have found us a good neurologist.
So it's always something, and you never know what that something is going to be!! I was very happy to have a doctor from Nova Scotia around this week, he came with a group to work on the new house at camp, and I was able to have a couple of sessions with him, to ask many questions, and gets lots of useful knowledge, and on Saturday we went together to visit a couple of households where I needed some real medical input. What a huge help that was, and don't I wish I had a doctor around here more!!!
As I write this, Kathryn, my daughter is en route here for a visit, for 10 days. We're both looking forward to some time together, it's been awhile. Might even get some rest time in there too.
link to camp photos: http://picasaweb.google.ca/heathermoore21/Camp2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCNvat9iAm-6a8QE&feat=directlink
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