What's going on with Cody

Sigh....what a long day. Actually what a long week. More like 9 days. I will try to inform you as best as I can in my sleep deprived state. Last Wednesday Cody started to feel sick, but his malaria test came back negative. Cody still suspected it was malaria because his symptoms were similar to when he had it before. He decided to take some natural remedies to see if that helped and he thought it was. He would feel okay for a while and then would be feeling sick again. Saturday morning he woke up feeling pretty good so we thought it was all over. We suspected that maybe it was the flu as it had gone around our house. Sunday he took a turn for the worst, and I took him again to get malaria tested. It was plus III which means nothing to most of you, but it basically means the malaria parasites were numerous in his blood. He was also testing positive for typhoid. We were able to get him on meds and fluids right away. After a day and half things were not getting better and in fact he was really miserable and was not doing well. Couldn't keep anything down. Things didn't get progressively better so I decided that we would take him to the nearest hospital about 2 hours away. Once there they did some more testing to find out a whole lot of nothing. For me it was hard to see him in the state he was in. He was very confused, slept all day, and was in a lot of pain. One night he was having hallucinations. It was physically and emotionally demanding for me because here you take care of the patient and provide food for yourself. I was up with him all night making sure he didn't pull out his IV or fall out of his bed. I would also have to unhook him from his IV so he could use the bathroom, or vomit. I got 2 hours of sleep and 4 the night before. Again after finding nothing wrong, my heart ached. Really? After the doctor told me there was nothing abnormal I decided I wanted to take him off the quinine treatment, as it is really harsh and many of his symptoms sounded like a severe reaction to the drug. (i.e. chest pain, loss of hearing, deliruim, vomiting, diarrhea etc). When malaria is so severe doctors think that quinine is the best. I am not so sure for Cody. By this morning (Thursday) he was not vomiting, and I did get more sleep, but his fever returned, bring alarm to me. Why a fever? They were also giving him antibiotic for the typhoid so he shouldn't be having fever (not to mention the test for typhoid was not negative). At that point I decided that I wanted to take him to Kampala for further testing and to be at a more advanced facility. When morning broke, I started making arrangements to getting him to Kampala as quickly as I could. I knew driving was not an option. I called MAF (mission aviation fellowship) for an emergency flight and they were there within 3 hours. It was amazing. The emotion I felt when I saw the plane land on the dirt strip was indescribable. For Cody it felt like the longest plane ride but it was only 1 and a half hours seeming minute compared to the 12 hour drive. Once at the hospital in Kampala more tests revealed nothing was wrong (malaria and typhoid were both gone), but I knew otherwise. This is not my husband. He has been sick for 9 days. Hasn't eaten anything in 7. Hasn't had a legitimate conversation with me since Saturday. Why is his hand numb? Why is he swelling so? Why the fever? Why does he sleep all day? They ran more tests. The newest results are that he is having kidney problems similar to kidney failure. This is due to malaria and then the drugs on top of that. The doctors do not think it is severe enough to put him on dialysis but they are keeping an eye on it so that if it were to get worse they can take appropriate actions.

How am I doing? I am relieved to have a diagnosis, but now I pray he gets better because the pattern so far has not been in our favor. God has been so good to us in this whole process and I am so thankful for all that he has done. Thankful that we were able to bring him to Kampala.

It has also been a true blessing to see the body of Christ come together to help us in this ordeal. The prayers, the support. Misty is staying back with the boys and I have Janaya and Eliana with me. The Williams have been helping in lots of ways. Family and friends back home doing everything they can. It reminds me of the church in Acts. Truly a blessing. I will also add that I am tired. Taking care of Cody has been draining as it is like taking care of a dementia patient, but being in Kampala should lower the burden.

Now we wait for him to get better. Thanks for everyone's prayers. They have really meant a lot to us. We feel really loved and supported. I will try to keep updating the blog so you know the progress.

Michaela