A Week of Medicine

I have been thinking a lot this week about where we live. I have traveled the world and have seen first hand the sadness and heartbreak of sickness and death in other countries. I remember the blind boy, the kid with no knee caps, and the funeral procession filled with wailing and crying relatives in Malawi, Africa. And the babies affected with orange hair and huge bellies from malnutrition, the boy with mental retardation, and the fish bone foot puncture of my friend in Papua New Guinea. Whatever happened to these people medically, they dealt with themselves. There weren't doctors offices on every corner. They couldn't call 911. And so I have reminiscing about what this week would have looked like there...

Actually it starts 3 weeks ago... We were all pretty sick. It was some sort of lung/cough thing. Everyone got it some worse than others. We took Lochlan in because he had a 103+ fever for 4 days, with the cough and runny nose. He finished his course of antibiotics and kept on having a runny nose. Then on Thursday, while we were running several errands, he started to look very flushed and was breathing really rapidly while not being able to cough effectively. He really didn't look good. So I called our doctor's office and made an appointment. Within a half an hour, they were checking him out. 2 doctors looked at him and were just as concerned as we were. His heart rate was racing at 195, his fever was 104.5 and he was still having a hard time getting a breath. They tested his oxygen level and it was still doing fine, so they gave his a breathing treatment (nebulizer) and watched him a little more then sent us home with a prescription for Prednisone when he started to calm down.

While we were in there, I started to smile at the doctors. When you have small children you have to go in for well baby checks every 3 months or so. This alone is amazing as most 3rd world countries don't even have that in many areas! We have been in about every 3 weeks for the well child checks, random fevers, a weird bump on Kaiah's clavicle (thought it might be bone cancer), diabetes stuff, a ripped off finger tip, and now this! I said, "I am willing to bet you all have labeled me one of those hypochondriac moms!" They laughed and reassured me that I wasn't and said I was a good mom for bringing them in.

Earlier this week I had oral surgery to stop the recession going on in my gums from the braces I wore in college. I was on Vicodin and have had to be very careful that I don't mess up the graft they did and tear out the sutures. I guess if it would have gone on like this for a few more years, I would have been at a big risk of having the affected teeth fall out.

This week we have also had several diabetes things come up. We are corresponding with product companies, the diabetic educator and Kaiah's endocrinologist to come up with a plan for her to switch to a pump instead of shots every day. Those three are doing all the planning work and education for us so we can be well informed going into the big transition. Our insurance is paying for a lot of it.

Then on Thursday an ambulance and fire truck raced up our cul-de-sac and were at our neighbor's house (the one who has Type 1 Diabetes). His sugar had been falling fast and his wife couldn't get him to drink his juice. She called 911 because she wanted them to have them there to get an IV in him if she couldn't get him to eat. They eventually got it up (it had gotten down to 28!) and he ended up being OK. But I have to admit the incident made me very sad.

Cliff and I flashed forward to when Kaiah is on her own and may not be living with anyone. Who will check her sugar in the night if she needs it? Will she wake up if she needs to? When she's in a similar situation who will be her advocate and call 911? Well, we decided that we will have to marry her off at age 19, then that would solve many of those issues. :) Or she could get one of those diabetes-sniffing dogs and tell all the neighbors if the dog barks a lot to call 911... :)

So theoretically, if we didn't have all of this "help" available to us this week, we might possibly have ended up with a daughter in diabetic crisis, a baby with severe breathing problems, and a mom with a toothless mouth. And even if we did have access to this health care and didn't have insurance then we would be out several thousands of dollars I'm sure.

Anyhoo. All of these incidents this week have us lead to remember how good we have it. Or do we? We can call on our human knowledge and get medical help at the drop of a hat. I think a lot of times this can lead us to think that we are fixing things on our own instead of relying on the Lord. Don't worry. I'm not going to up and join that church in Clackamas that believes in faith healing and no medical care! But I will praise God that He has protected us (and our neighbors) this week from all sorts of health scares. And I will praise Him if he chooses to do things differently in the future. Because He is Good no matter what He allows in our lives.

We have many friends on the missionary field in third world countries right now with little kids. God is taking care of them too. He is sovereign and nothing can happen apart from His knowledge or will.