happy at home

PRAYER REQUEST
---UPDATE BELOW---

My hubby and my nine year old sister are both in the hospital, four doors apart.

Darcie is having her appendix out at five, just like Madeline. They think it may have ruptured yesterday. She is in a great deal of pain, and is terrified, as this is her first stint in the hospital/surgery.

We still aren't 100% sure what is wrong with Matt. We know he has colitis, which we suspect was brought on by salmonella poisoning. Out of our group of thirty in Jamaica, nearly half became sick at some point, and five are in the hospital now. We have narrowed it down to the jerk chicken that was served at the farewell reception at the beach. We are waiting on one final test to confirm that it is salmonella poisoning, but feel pretty sure that is what ails him.

I covet your prayers for our family.

I have many posts rolling around in my head, but they will have to wait for another day!

Darcie's surgery ended up being twice as long as had been expected. It was supposed to be a laparoscopy, but once they started, realized the rupture was very severe, and had to make a large incision. They found her internal organs covered up with infection, as well as a lot of fluid around her reproductive organs. Thankfully, we have a family friend that is an OB/GYN and he ended up assisting with that aspect of the surgery. Darcie is recovering now and will have to stay at the hospital for at least a week. Mom is beating herself up for not taking her to the hospital sooner, though our pediatrician assures us that there was no reason she would have. All the symptoms Darcie had were similar to a common virus, and she had seemed to be getting better. In fact, the Dr. said that when she started feeling better was probably when the appendix ruptured. We are all a little shaken up by how dangerous this ended up being...and she isn't out of the woods yet.

As for Matt, he still has a fever of 103 degrees, even after being in the hospital on morphine and two kinds of antibiotics since last night. They have identified the pain on his right side as being from the colitis and salmonella poisoning (his upper and lower intestines are infected). He is also having pain on his left side and that is what they are having trouble pin-pointing. They also have not ruled out the possibility that he has Crohn's Disease. So, he won't be going home in the morning, or probably even tomorrow, for that matter.

Even in the midst of difficulty, however, there are always beautiful gifts that leave me feeling humbled and so, so grateful. The support of our friends and the care and compassion they show us is truly astounding. My phone has rang off the hook today (not to mention blog comments, facebook messages, and emails) from friends all over, offering kind words, gifts of food, willingness to help with the boys, and visits by many at the hospital. The joy that comes from living in community is so heightened during times like these and I am so thankful. I am sure this will warrant a post of it's own at a later time. For now though, my sister-in-law and brother are at the door, spending the night here with the boys, so I can go be with Matt, and to relieve Mom.