Update on Malachi

Last Sunday night Joshua woke us up to tell us that Malachi had thrown up. Unforntunately Malachi has a difficult time telling when he has to throw up so it always ends up on him, his bed, or the furniture. I have been cleaning up a lot of throw up lately :). The next day he was feeling sick all day, and continued throwing up. Slept all day on the couch. This pattern went on for 2 days but after the 3rd he was showing some improvement and was able to get off the couch and play. He never had a fever so we never really treated him for anything. Of course we were concerned but there was not too much we could do in Kotido. Wednesday morning he threw up again, so I was feeling discouraged to say the least.

Meanwhile my symptoms had been coming back and had been following me for over a week at the point of Malachi's sickness. Wednesday morning I woke up and started having chest pain which quite frankly scared me. Cody and I decided that the most cost effective way to get to Kampala was just for Malachi, Eliana and I to go. We were miracously, and barely able to catch the MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) Wednesday morning flight. While on the extremely rough plane ride I was feeling sick and optimistic that just maybe we would find more answers. We were able to see a doctor that late afternoon where they ran more tests on Malachi and did some on myself.

We got the results yesterday afternoon, and unforntunatly we found out a whole lot of nothing on Malachi. We did rule out some more things which is helpful but I am starting to feel really discouraged. We did find out based on an antibody test that Malachi has never had malaria. That concerns me a little bit on several different levels.

The good news is that they found out what is wrong with me. I have a systematic yeast infection which by the way can cause pain in your sternum, hence the chest pain. I recieved some meds, so hopefully I will feel better soon. Apparently my immune system is not doing so well probably because of stress and living in Kotido.

So we continue the waiting game with Malachi. Remember we are planning on taking him to Nairobi, Kenya in Feb. but with him getting sick it makes things difficult, not to mention he is loosing weight. His stool sample did reveal that he is not absorbing fat but once again we don't know why. The other good news is that his anemia is looking better. Still not great but there were some improvements.

All of this means that whatever Malachi has could be nothing, or it could be something :) Helpful huh? That is what I get to hear all the time.

I know you are all praying for us already, but specifically pray for answers, pray for healing. pray for strength for our family. This is draining in all facets.