The last afternoon, Saturday, of our trip out to the forest, at precisely 3pm, a sharp pain moved into my back and stayed. It brought along its friend nausea that came in very effective waves every half hour, or whenever I tried to stand up. We simply assumed that I had eaten something that my body didn’t like and once it was all out I would feel better. However, once there was nothing left in me to come out and the pain was still there it was time for a new theory. Everyone was so loving and wanted to help. Nina, the pastor’s wife offered to cook me all kinds of good things. Noele, one of the Malagasy guys who came to work with us and normally leads the campfire singing told Tessa that I was like his little sister and he was very sad that I was sick and that night, while I was in the tent and everyone else was around the fire, he told them that they couldn’t sing that night because I was sick. The next morning I could sadly only wave to my new friends from the car on the way home. However, 2hrs into the drive the pain subsided and disappeared and Noele told Tessa that he could tell I was feeling better because I was talking again. After that it only came back for about an hr or so in the afternoon and then a twinge here and there for the next day or two. I was well, case closed, I started to eat again and get things in order for my trip home.
Not so fast. Midmorning Tuesday it came back much stronger than before and I had to go to the clinic there in Tulear where I was given a shot for the nausea and a shot for the pain (which really really hurt going in, by the way). I went back for some tests in the afternoon and the doctor told that I had an infection of some sort and sent me away with two antibiotics and pain medication. This was the afternoon that I realized that Malagasy people are much better at handling pain then I will ever be as I ended up taking the pain meds he gave me plus some strong stuff we had sitting around. That night Tessa and I slept for brackets of 3hrs and then woke up for whichever dose of whatever it was time for. Our operating theory by this time had evolved into kidney stones or a kidney infection or both.
Wednesday morning when the nausea came back we realized that I was dehydrated and we needed another way to keep the medicine down. The decision was made quickly to fly to the capitol where I could get better healthcare. By that evening, through the efforts of many, I was in a hospital bed in a clinic run by the Seven Day Adventist Church and shaking hands with Dr. Laura, a kind, middle aged, Argentine man. The next day I got to take a little outing to another clinic for more tests, all the while hugging a much needed bucket that by the end of the week I was rather attached to.
The resulting diagnosis from Dr. Laura was a kidney stone and an infection and the next two days were spent with an IV in my arm while I drank water like a fish. Once my body was all hydrated up I was taken off the IV and we tried oral pain medications and antibiotics again. All went swimmingly and Tessa and I were able to move from the clinic to the home of a beautifully hospitable missionary family in Tana that had been helping us all week. With the aid of antibiotics, anti-nausea meds, pain meds, a warm bed, and tons of tempting food I spent the next two nights working out travel plans and getting my body ready for the trek home. The decision was to get home before anything else major might happen instead of waiting in Madagascar until I was fully well and pain free, not knowing when that might be. Under Dr. Laura’s advising we changed my money saving 5 countries in 2 days route home to a direct 22 hour trip through South Africa with mom and dad waiting for me in Atlanta.
This brings us to Sunday night with a departure time of 3pm scheduled for Monday. I was feeling great, eating well and only had to deal with the pain for a few minutes here and there and when I was in between doses of the pain meds, when the first would wear off before the next had fully taken effect. I had an army of friends lifting me up as I traveled and enough of all the medications to get me home. Monday morning I woke up into for a 7am dose of pain medication without any pain to medicate. I went ahead and took the next dose, thinking the pain would come before it fully took effect, but it didn’t. By my 3 o’clock take off from Madagascar I had run errands, hugged Tessa goodbye, and cut the dosage of my pain meds in half! Then there as an easy transfer in Johannesburg and a 16hr flight to the States, during which time I stopped taking the pain pills completely and felt no pain.
Mom and dad pick me up and drove me home. Im here now, very jet lagged, and needing to unpack. I have an appointment with a doctor later this week to make sure all is still well with my insides and that’s that.
Now, having told the story I will say that my attitude was rarely close to what it should have been. I am a mean, over dramatic patient and everyone, especially Tessa had to have lots of grace with me. I took good health as a given and wanted to know why God hadn’t made me all better yet. Through some pointed words from Tessa, several songs, and some well timed memory verses from Corinthians the Lord gently reminded me that I was created to glorify Him, not to have perfect health at all times and if He could be glorified by me being sick and in pain then that is what I should want. I was reminded that my God withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11) and saw how faithful He was and how unchangingly good He was. Through the past 10 days He provided for me to get good medical care a world away from home, provided for good communication with mom and dad, and flooded me with grace in the hospitality of the family in Tana among so many other things. My idea of a good thing - feeling better - paled in comparison to these graces, to being surrounded by loving prayers and encouragement from the body of Christ, to learning a little more about living this life in a condition of surrender, to seeing the Lord provide for me, and to being able to testify to His provision. Great is His faithfulness.
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