Another update on Karen´s mum

Just a quick note to those who haven’t heard yet that Mum is back in hospital. The GP thought it would be good to rule out the possibility of a blood clot on the lungs and sent us to A&E yesterday. They decided to keep her in as she has a lot of liquid in her lungs, low oxygen levels in the blood, and is very tired and short of breath. The emergency doctor said the worst thing at the moment is her heart.

She has been put on the Medical Oncology ward and will have another CAT scan on Monday and a test to see whether she has a blood clot on the lung, although they don’t think this is likely.

My sister Suzanne arrives here tomorrow evening with some documents from Mum’s chest specialist in the UK. Marilynn is due to arrive next Friday, but is wondering whether to change her flight and come earlier. It is difficult to know really.

Love Karen


THanks for your continued prayers and support.

Update on Karen´s Mum

Here´s an update from Karen´s Mum:


My Mum came home form hospital on Friday evening. She has had a bad cough over the last week and the Dr said she would be better off at home as she could catch a bad infection at the hospital. This afternoon she was breathing much better.

It has been very tiring looking after her so far, and initially I really felt I couldn’t cope. It isn’t just the practical side but also the emotional as she keeps saying how bad she feels, which then makes me wonder whether it is the cancer. On the last day in hospital I saw the oncologist, who was not very encouraging. She has looked at Mum’s CAT scan and informed me that there is fluid accumulation and swelling of the lymph glands in the right lung and fluid in the pericardial sac (around the heart). The oncologist’s initial diagnosis is that it looks malignant and Mum’s current state of health would rule out chemotherapy. However, in order to correctly assess the situation, the oncologist needs a complete case history with copies of the scans and x-rays. Specifically she needs to know what type of lung cancer was initially diagnosed and why chemotherapy was ruled out. I have to try and get all this information from the UK.

The oncologist did say she thought it would be better for Mum’s own specialist to see her, but given the other circumstances I don’t know that this will be possible – i.e. that she needs to do physiotherapy to regain mobility after the hip replacement op and that in the UK she was living on her own, which at the moment would be impossible. Also, she is still on oxygen so I would imagine that would make travelling difficult even if her general health would enable her to travel.

She has been through a lot these last five weeks and the Lord has been gracious and has spared her life. My prayer is that His purposes would be fulfilled in her life and that she would be truly aware of His presence.

Thanks again for your continued prayers, Karen.


Thanks guys for keeping Karen in prayer... she has greatly appreciate your support and comments....

Update on Karen´s Mum

I wanted to thank you on behalf of dear Karen, for your prayers and comforting words during this difficult process she is going through with her mum. (see my previous post) She wrote an email yesterday and I thought it would be good to share it with you and solicit your prayers again...thanks!

........" Today the doctor attempted to extract liquid from Mum’s lung to be able to analyse it and diagnose what the swelling in the lungs is. Unfortunately, she was unable to extract any liquid at all and is reluctant to try with a thicker needle. She has requested another chest x-ray to check on the amount of liquid in the lung. There is a danger of an infection returning if the liquid remains there for too long.

They are now hoping to discharge her this week, but she will need to be on oxygen at home and will continue to use the inhalers. Today we encouraged her to walk a bit further (she can’t go too far as she is attached to the oxygen on the wall) and she ventured out into the corridor, turned around and walked back to the chair. She did this twice.

She has now had the catheter removed so we are attempting to retrain her bladder and bowels – she was not incontinent during the day before hospitalisation and only of urine during the night. The staff don’t seem too confident that this is possible as she has been in diapers for five weeks now. This makes it difficult as we are constantly struggling with them to at least try. It would obviously be much better if we could get her retrained in this area before coming home.

Once discharged, Mum will come to my house and a physiotherapist will visit her for rehab. I will have to try and get a GP assigned to her at the local health centre to follow up her progress.

There is also the question of the possibility of the lung cancer having returned. At the moment, Mum is not in any condition to return to the UK and see her specialist there and the waiting list in Madrid for a specialist is very long. I am going to try and get the hospital to assign her a specialist before we leave, although I don’t know whether this is possible. It also means putting Mum in the picture about the cancer possibility whereas at the moment we haven’t told her but are concentrating on getting her mobile enough to come home.

So it is still very much up and down. I don’t know how I am going to cope once she is home, even with the help of a dear friend who has offered to come every morning to help get her up, washed and dressed. It will obviously mean a tremendous change in our lifestyle and for an indetermined period. We can only trust the Lord in all of this and look for His provision. We are all very tired but appreciate all the practical help we are getting from friends and family.

With love,

Karen "

Vistors leave, a bout of tummy bug and a birthday poem

Well the last of my visitors left on Thursday morning. It was a great time. As always, hanging out with firends does good to the soul. Now it´s time to get back into a normal rythmn and catch up on things that were left undone while one enjoys the guests!

This is not a space module or far away planet, but a microscopic view of the winter"vomiting bug" that is sweeping over Europe.

Of course life wouldn't be normal if not affected by the local and foreign germ colonies and our house was no exception! A tummy germ aftected most of our inhabitants ...except for me and son nº 2!!! So that always keeps you on your toes! Especially for No 3 as she missed alot of school with "sever´s disease" last semester which put her behind a bit. This time I wanted to anticipate that and so I went to the school to pick up homework for her. I felt sorry for her because it´s so hard to concentrate when you have been throwing up and you know...the other end too! It always seems unfair to me that you have to do that when you are feeling yuk ...but hey there was no other way to keep up. She was a real trouper though... and we didn´t miss a beat and are still on top!

This is a big Birthday month in my house... 3 to be exact... The first is my dh on the 25th.

The nice thing was that on the very day the kids had no school and so we were able to go out to eat lunch all together after a nice long lie in!

It´s always a challenge to find a suitable present for my honey, and even more so when finances are tight. I wanted to do something special and decided on some prose.... Would you like to see it? Is that a yes I hear??? Okay... here it comes....

What you are to me….

You are like the sunshine in my garden
The morning dew on fields of green

Like the fragrance of freshly cut grass
You bring out the best in me

You are the moonlight in my darkest night
Forcing my fears to take their flight

You are the peacefulness that reigns at dawn
Shedding rays of colour on my way
The calming breeze on a summer’s day

You are the constant, steadfast rocks
Amidst the roaring seas of change

Oh handsome and brave stallion
How I love to ride with thee

How could I not love thee?




By AjB
Birthday 2008

So that´s what I have been up to during my absence. I continue to hold on to the Lord in the midst of present trials. Some prayers take years to get answered.... I am learning the art of holding on and not being like a spoilt child who doesn´t get want she wants when she wants. I am learning to draw nearer, nearer than before... to continue to believe and hope and to look for God in unexpected places.

Sever´s Disease, Visitors and a Wedding

What do all these things have in common? My life these past three weeks!!!

What is Sever´s Disease?

It started two weeks ago with visits to the doc for Nº 3's heel that was getting worse rather than better. She had been using crutches for over a month! After several visits to the pediatrician, 2 visits to the hospital and 3 different diagnosis.. we now fianlly found the real problem. She has Sever´s Disease.

It sounds bad, but in laymans terms it is called the growing disease. The bones grow at a faster rate than the surrounding muscles, tendons etc thus causing tension and lots of pain. It seems that this tends to happen to active children, but not always. It´s like acne I guess..some get it and some don't but we all pass through puberty ! The heel bone is the first bone to finish growing and often is one that causes most issues, although it can happen in the knees too. The good news is that it isn´t serious, the bad news is there is nothing they can do except to give anti-inflammatories and time!!!! Like until she is 15!!!!!!

It was thought at one point she had a calcuim build up of sorts that was rubbing against the bone. This would have needed to be removed surgically. So emotionally, we have gone up and down... plus all the time running around to docs and hospitals and waiting for hours has been very draining.

Visitors

Due to the wedding we were excited about having family and friends visit on their way to the wedding which was taking place in Sevilla. This implied of course cleaning up and preparing for them so that their stay would be as enjoyable as possible.

A WEDDING!

My dearest Sister-in-law was getting married ! Yahoo! We are all so excited that this long awaited event had finally arrived! All dressed up to the hilt and enjoying a wonderful celebration of their vows under the beautiful Seville Sun in the heart of Andalucia, Southern Spain! Fotos to come!

Something you didn't know about me!

I wanted to do a "tag" thing out there to all my friends in blogville... I don´t really know how to do that ... I guess it´s just a matter that if you are up to the challenge you can write a post answering this question!

Sometimes you can know someone for a long time and still be caught by surprise on discovering something you didn´t know about them. While I was visiting Bunnygirl's blog http://razors-edge-of-insanity.blogspot.com/ blog I was amazed to discover that she had a close encounter with death at the age of 7 ! This reminded me that I too had a close encounter with death at the age of 4 under completely different circumstances. This in turn surprised, my cousin who immediately wanted to know more about this experience...

So hence, the decision to write about a post about my encounter and encourage you to think about sharing something about yourself that most people don´t know about you...I think it could be fun! I am always amazed by the fact that there is so much more to everyone than meets the eye. Like God, we should be quicker to look at the heart and not on the surface.......

To begin my story, I must go back to when I was born. (oh no you cry...this is going to be a loooooooooooooooooong story!! take heart... it's not going to be that bad!!!! But it is necessary to bring understanding later!!!

Just 6 weeks after giving birth to me, my mother came down with a very mysterious illness that rendered her paralyzed from the neck down. Due to her obvious handicaps, my brother(4yrs at the the time) and I were given over to relatives to be taken care of. As I was such a difficult and inconsolable baby, my Auntie and Uncle couldn't´t handle me and handed me back to be taken care of by my older sister (who was 13yrs old and remained home with my Dad) and my Grandma.

As you can imagine it was a very difficult time for all concerned. My Dad was working 2 jobs and my sister was thrown into the role of motherhood and it´s consequent responsibilities together with my gran. All the time each one having to deal with the fear for my mother´s life, who at this point had been sent to a hospital in England for special care and tests. In the light of these circumstances, it is not hard to understand that I developed a symbiotic relationship to my sister in the absence of my mother.

It´s a long story, but one filled with hope, because the Lord began a work of healing in my mother and within that same year she came back home, began to walk and experienced complete healing. It was also during this time that my parents committed their lives to the Lord.

When I was 5 years old, my sister now at the tender age of 17yrs, left home to go to university and I suddenly became very ill. I can recall the feeling that a single sheet on me weighed as if it were a 1000 tons. Naturally I couldn't´t attend school and I remember crying because I missed the school Christmas party! I don´t know how long I was ill, but I do remember that my parents were so worried that I was in danger that they sent for a doctor to come to the house. (in those days that was only done in very dire circumstances!) Apparently the doctor could not find any physical reason for my sickness. My mum though, was convinced that I was pinning for my sister.

It was only years later that both my sister and I understood this to be true. Obviously the Lord touched both my body and my soul, because I recovered and am here today to tell the story!!! I am a walking example that God can heal those inner wounds!

What is it about you that I don´t know?