Zimbabwe Vacation #3

Day 3

Today, April 17th was another great day. We woke up early as we usually do with Gracie. But is was great to be in a nice cool tent with sounds of nature all around us. We took our time this morning as we decided not to plan any activities until after our wonderful 8:30am breakfast. Before breakfast we explored the beautiful scenery, and watched as scores of birds and mist gently lifted off the top of the river. Here at Antelope Park there is a long list of activities to choose from. Anything from a safari drive, carriage rides, walking with lions, riding elephants, feeding lions, and so on and so forth. Unfortunately, with our kids being so small there were only several things that they were aloud to do, or that they would enjoy. The one thing that we all agreed the kids would love was the carriage ride through the bush. So after breakfast our group decided to do a horse drawn carriage ride through the game park. The carriage ride was great. Beau and Abbi just loved being pulled by horses, not to mention all the big game animals that we were able to see. We saw one herd of giraffes (at least 5-10) that walked right in front of our carriage. This was tremendously exciting for me, but you can imagine the look on Abbi and Beau's face as the giant beasts crossed our path. In the middle of the 2 hour carriage ride we stopped for snacks at an unusually large tree where a large tree house awaited us. Paul and I took turns carrying Beau and Abbi up the multitude of precariously placed, yet sturdy tree steps for an excellent view of the vast African wilderness. We thoroughly enjoyed our carriage adventure, and had another great meal waiting for us afterward.

Probably the highlight of our short trip so far, has been Shea and I's lion walk. Today we were fortunate to have two of our friends from Karanda, Anna and Nicci meet us for part of our trip. Thankfully for us, they graciously asked the 4 of us if they could watch our kids why we enjoyed one of the more adult adventures here at the park. Shea and I always hate being away from the kids(Oh...who am I kidding...any chance for a small break and trustworthy babysitting is always a welcome chance to spend some time together). So we quickly and gladly accepted and decided that we would partake in Antelope Parks famous “lion walk”. According to the park they were the first safari outfit to ever provide such and opportunity with the un-tamable “king of the jungle”, and still one of the few places in the world where you can actually walk with lions. We've heard wonderful things about this experience, and I immediately jumped at the chance. Shea took a little more coaxing(I wonder why....she has actually taken car of 2 lion attack victims in the hospital both of which were supposedly pet lions), but eventually she agreed.....so we signed up. The walk was an amazing experience. Antelope Park has one of Africa's largest lion conservation programs. The steps of the program our actually quite involved, and I don't want to bore you with the details. But the goal is simple. They want young lions to grow up self sufficient to where they can eventually be released into the wild and survive on there own. The lion walk usually takes place with lions between the ages of 15 to 18 months. The primary purpose is for the guides to see how these younger lions react to other animals and situations in the wild, and to see if they are ready to progress in the program. Today we were with 3 lions. Two males and one female. They were probably 75% of the size of a full grown lion, but still very intimidating creatures. And as we learned lions can never be tamed. No matter how used to humans they are, they can turn on people within seconds for no apparent reason. Supposedly the owner learned that lesson the hard way, when one of his female lions attacked him and took his arm.(a fine thank-you for giving the lion such a nice habitat). So needless to say, we were excited but cautious about the whole experience. The walk started at the edge of the bush where these 3 lions awaited us in a large cage. They were released from the cage right in front of us, and the walk began. We had 3 guides and one other couple with us. The lions were in charge of were we went, we were just lucky to be so close, and able to watch there every move. They started the walk by spotting several zebra about ¼ of a mile away. They all 3 worked together to stalk there potential pray as we walked anxiously right behind them. Unfortunately for us, the zebras caught wind of the situation and quickly retreated, but it was still awesome watching them as they worked together to try and take down some food. We also watched them play, climb trees, and roll around in front of us. We have some great pictures to prove it. The walk lasted about 1-2 hours, and was and great experience. Even by the end Shea kind of warmed up to the idea of the lions. Although she has one encounter when one of the male lions approached her and made strong eye contact (they call it the lions “natty eyes”). So she quickly slammed her stick(as we were told to do), and said “no” and the lion slowly turned and went the other direction. The goal is to always make them feel like you are the dominant animal whenever they get closed to acting up (like my little wife is really dominant over a 200-300 lb male lion). But thankfully it worked very well. The trainers did a great job, and I don't think we had any other “near death” experiences. Overall it was a wonderful time, and something Shea nor I will ever forget. The rest of the night was great. We had another wonderful dinner, got the kids to bed, and crashed ourselves slowly thereafter. Praise God for another great Day!

Zimbabwe Vacation #2

Day 2

Today, April 16th we were met by our long haired, younger then expected white African tour guide at 7:45 am. (He was actually only 20 years old, but very capable and experienced for his age). His name is Stephen. He came with a nice big van, so there was plenty of room for all of our stuff, especially since we had already packed so light. Also there was seat belts in the middle seats, so we could actually use are car seats the conventional way and not just for a high chair at mealtime. Our guide was charged with taking our 2 families hundreds of miles(1950 kilometers round trip to be exact) through Zimbabwe, guiding us through various game parks, cooking and cleaning most of our meals, and handling police roadblocks, and any vehicle malfunctions that could occur. Seemed like a huge challenge for most, especially at 20. Fortunately, he had already guided many mission trips into the majority of countries in Africa. So he was very experienced. Both of his parents passed away by the time he was 9. So he and his sister who was 9 older became quite self-sufficient at very young ages. Needless to say, he seemed to be up for the task, and we were all just excited for a change of scenery and a chance to “hit the open road”. Today we only had to drive 4 hours from Harare to Antelope Park.

The drive went rather smooth....thankfully. The kids did well, aside from a few small outbursts. But nothing that Elmo and Brother Bear and a laptop with a DVD player couldn't fix (Not to mention some nice “biscuits” or as I like to call them cookies).

We arrived at our 1st destination shortly after lunch was served.......and what a feast it was! The view was phenomenal as we had green manicured grass all around, that crawled right up to the edge of lush river, teaming with wildlife. It was the paradise we had hoped for, and we were all thrilled. We stayed in river tents. They were actually large canvas structures with an enclosed brick bathroom attached, overlooking a small marsh that was adjacent to the river. We each had large balconies that overlooked the water, and was perfect for viewing birds, fish, and other wildlife that wondered around behind us. It is really very luxurious, and peaceful. A wonderful place for all of us to recharge our batteries.

All the meals here are provided by the cooks here at Antelope Park. The meals today were simply amazing! We had a large selection of meats and sides with cool crisp ice cream for desert. The best part of the meal was that we were not responsible for any dishes. Paul and I joked about the dishes as we went back for seconds and thirds and casually left our used plates behind. Overall it was a wonderful 2nd day. We praise God that we made it safely, and are already enjoying the rest!

Zimbabwe Vacation

We just made it back to Harare from our weeklong excursion through Zimbabwe. Were all doing well.  I've tried to keep a daily journal of all our notable experiences. I decided to just send out one of the entries every day for each of the 7 days of traveling that we had. Hopefully you find it interesting.......if not than stop reading:):)! Alright, well enjoy.

Day 1

Let the adventure begin! Today, April 15th we set out on the first leg of our trip. We began by driving ourselves from Karanda to Harare. I think we are very excited to have a break from the bush. We have been in Karanda 6 weeks straight, and are anxious to get in a car and head to an actual city. We are traveling with a group called ACTS. They are a group that specializes in leading short term mission trips into remote places in Africa, and they also plan and lead vacations for long and short term missionaries. We were informed by them that we should pack light, probably backpacks and small bags, so as to fit everything in the vehicle for the long trip. Its a tall task to pack “light” when you have 2 kids and your traveling through Africa for 7 days. We did our best to comply, and we'll just have to see how this “backpacking trip” really goes.

We didn't get far from Karanda when our first obstacle presented itself. You see, there are 2 ways to get from Karanda to the paved road that will take us to Harare. One way is 25 Km of bumpy, rocky, winding roads that takes adds about 40-45 minutes to the trip. The other-way just recently became a possibility as the river waters are just beginning to recede (200-300 feet wide at the crossing point, and probably mid thigh to waist deep at some points). This way is only 4-5 Km on dirt road and is a straight shot to the highway. Now we are driving a Land Rover with 4 wheel-drive....so that is to our advantage. We also just talked to several missionaries who recently braved the waters. Two of them said it was difficult, but thought we could make it, the other said she made it but she would not advise trying to cross it at this time. So naturally, that's 2 to 1 in favor of giving it a shot. So......as we approached the river we could see that it was quite high. There were Shona people walking across, but the water was above their knees, probably close to there waist in some areas. I turned to everyone for one last bit of encouragement, made sure the kids were all buckled in, said a quick prayer.........oh yeah and made sure Paul got his video camera out(sink or swim we had to make sure we got this on camera). Then......I decided to go for it. I had two people in the front seat with me. I had Dr Smith (a visiting neurologist from the US), and Shea both eagerly awaiting and pondering every move. It was nice having 2 opinions as I began my plunge into the waters, but unfortunately they both shouted opposite commands as I began driving in the water. Shea shouted “faster”, Dr Smith shouted “slow down”, and April and Paul (in the very back) were shouting other commands as well. As we approached the deepest area of the river I could see that water was approaching the hood of the truck. I could also see that we were making quite a wake (and for a brief second thought: “this could be fun to ski behind.....then I went back to reality), the tires were covered with water, and I knew we were very close to stalling out. I really started to doubt why we were doing this, and wished we had just taken the extra 45 minutes of driving. Unfortunately the middle of the river was no place to turn around. I kept driving, as I continued to get conflicting orders from my 4 backseat drivers: “More the the left!”, “no more to the right!”, “stay in the middle!” “Were not going to make it!!!” But thankfully, after a bit of stress, some shouting, and a few prayers.......we made it to the other side. It was a great feeling! We got through the first major obstacle of the trip, and shaved 45 minutes off the trip as well (always nice with 3 kids in the back).

We made it to Harare with no other issues. We enjoyed a nice big pizza dinner, as we always do in town. Paul and April went to the store and loaded us up with some excellent drinks and snacks for the road. We bunked down for the night, and awaited pick-up from our ACTS tour guide in the morning. I'm sure more good stories are sure to follow!

A Day at the OPD!

Well I hope this doesn't bore everyone to tears, but I decided to write a blog about a typical busy day at the OPD(outpatient department) here at Karanda Hospital(by the way it was April 12). If nothing else its just a good way for me to look back and see what kind of things we see on a usual OPD day. This will probably be more interesting to those of you in medicine or just those of you who find medicine interesting. To the rest of you read on at your own risk. I'll be just listing the majority of the patients I saw, but for your reading pleasure I might just throw in some interesting side commentary.


Anyway, as always the day starts out for Shea, Paul and I rounding on the wards. This month Shea and I have been in the Female Ward. Female ward is generally the busiest. Usually we have anywhere from 25-30 patients that need to be seen. Luckily for me on this particular day we only had 18 patients....so as you can imagine it made rounds quite a bit faster. On this day the female ward had 9 post-operative patients(ranging from hysterectomies(5), ovarian tumor removal, scalp tumor removal, thyroidectomy, and vesico-vaginal fistula repair). We had 9 other patients with diagnosis's ranging from: HIV, TB, pneumonia, vaginal bleeding with severe anemia, heart failure, and intractable Headache. After rounds is when the fun began!

Now to give you some background OPD is not just a normal outpatient clinic. We don't have an ER here at Karanda so from 9-5 everyone goes straight to the OPD....so there is always an interesting mix of the worried well, and critically ill. Basically, the clinic takes place in a fairly small room surrounded by benches. We are all quite packed together in a poorly circulated, warm room. I will sit at a table with a translator next to me, and a long line of people sit crowed around us on benches waiting for there turn to be seen(Its actually a bit unnerving because they just sit and stare why you talk to and examine the other patients). The nurses triage the patients and actually 25-40% of the patients are actually seen by nurses. Its the lucky ones who actually get to see a doctor (Well I guess that depends which doctor it is :)) Many of these people live within a 5-10 KM area, but the majority live quite far away, and many had to get up as early as 4 am to wait to be seen.

On this particular day I saw 68 patients (which is probably quite typical). Now to put this into perspective most family medicine clinics see about 20-30 patients a day(and this doesn't account for all the other patients that the nurses saw). So its quite different than what we are used to back home, and I can tell you I'm learning a lot. OK,OK,OK, now for the list you have all been waiting for. Many of them are fairly routine things, but many were quite interesting. I will just list them in the chronological order I saw them.

I saw crytococcal meningitis(brain infection in HIV patient), drug reaction to HIV medicine(quite common since the HIV meds have many side effects), HIV wasting syndrome(this is usually the last stage before death for these patients), olecranon fracture(fracture of the elbow), foot fracture, fracture of the tibia/fibula(the fracture was a bit old and probably difficult to fix), ascaris infection in a toddler (worms that crawl around your bowels.....think about that tonight when you eat some pasta), Tertiary syphilis,( This was actually quite interesting. This man came in with paralysis from the waste down for 5 days. He had large painless ulcer on his privates (gotta put that for the kids).....usually diagnostic for syphilis. Of course he was HIV positive..so this always complicates everything.....I started him on antibiotics, and when our X-ray machine is working again we'll take a picture of his spine, but for now we'll see how he does), Conjunctivitis (infection of the eye), Kaposi Sarcoma (tumor caused by HIV), Benign prostatic hypertrophy (we see a lot of these around here, since we are one of the only hospitals in the country that removes prostates), new diagnosis of tuberculosis, tension headache, hypertension/backache (fairly typical US stuff), radial/ulnar fracture in a kid, hydrocephalus, osteoarthritis in both knees in an older lady, large ear keloid (enlarged scar), otitis media, tuberculosis, pneumonia in pregnant lady, child with multiple skin abscesses (probably HIV positive), heart failure, abscess of left foot, hepatitis, DVT (blood clot in your leg) , tuberculosis, pneumonia (this was a very sick older man), HIV diarrhea, gastroenteritis, conjunctivitis, impetigo (skin infection in a child), a mother that couldn't lactate, phimosis (a good reason circumcised), 3rd trimester pregnancy with complications, ruptured otitis media, CVA(stroke), malunion of radius and ulnar fracture( 3 month old fracture that wasn't set properly).................OK, OK I'll take a break and put a period. Next I saw post herpatic neuralgia (bad headache and someone who has had a herpes infection), malnutrition, tuberculosis(there seems to be a bit of a TB pattern here), cellulitis(another type of skin infection), conjunctivitis vs glaucoma(sent that one to theater for a proper eye exam), DVT, large lipoma (benign fatty tumor), TB (x2 more), infected VP shunt(shunt for kids with hydrocephalus), pregnancy with poor dating, fungal infection of the scalp, severe eczema, parotid gland abscess, femur fracture, urinary tract infection, pneumonia, atopic dermatitis (allergic rash), cataracts in both eyes (one is totally blind so to late for surgery), hemorrhoids, severe ascites (lots of fluid in the abdomen that shouldn't be there probably from liver failure or heart failure), osteomyelitis of the tibia(infection in the bone), severe vaginal bleeding(had a hemoglobin of 3(should be 12-14 in a normal women), hematuria x 2 years(probably bladder cancer), miscarriage, prostatitis, sinusitis with large reactive lympadenitis(large swollen lymph nodes), tuberculosis(what kind of day would it be without at least one more TB patient...this was on death's doorstep by the way), severe heart failure, and to finish it off one large fibroid uterus (a uterus with large benign tumors).

So that was a mouthful! I think my fingers are beginning to cramp a bit. It was a long, but very fun day for me. I would still prefer to be in the operating room, but the OPD has really grown on me over the last couple of months. I hope you enjoyed the tour through a day at the OPD here at Karanda Hospital. Many, many interesting patients for one day, and there is always more where that came from. I'll be back there to do it again tomorrow.

A week after Easter

We had a wonderful Easter weekend last week. We went to church and Roland Stephens, the eighty year old surgeon that is a missionary here, gave the Easter message. It was a good reminder of what Christ has done for us on the cross. Then we went over to Roland and Cathy Stephens’ home for a potluck lunch, which had an abundant amount of great homemade food. We are definitely not losing weight like I thought we might here is Zimbabwe.

John, Beau, and Paul had a great time when they found a chameleon and brought him into our house. We all enjoyed them moving him from place to place and watching his color change in a matter of seconds, I hadn’t realized they changed colors so quickly. You can see him and read more at http://www.mcquilleninternaltional.blogspot.com/ .

Two of the missionaries here, Anna and Nicci, watched our children last week and gave us and the McQuillens a date at “a romantic Italian restaurant” (Nicci and Anna’s dinning room). Nicci is Italian, so it actually was as authentic as you can make it in the middle of the bush, Zimbabwe. We watched “My Sisters Keeper” afterward; it was a very fun evening. While walking back to our house in the dark, we were very vigilant with our flashlights about looking for snakes because there seems to be more around lately. We thought we were safe as Paul stepped through the front door, then April started to step up and something slimy clung to her leg…she let out a loud scream. I decided I had better get out of there, as I turned and ran I tripped in the cement gutter drain and landed on my side on the sidewalk just in time to hear April start laughing. Apparently it was a small frog that had decided to jump onto her ankle…Nicci said that her and Beau had been playing with it earlier and had put it on the front door step, a couple of hours ago, thinking it would hop away. We all had a very good laugh about the whole situation.

The other exciting news is that my mom is going to join us here on April 23rd. We are looking forward to her arrival; I think she’ll have a lot to contribute here. It will also be a special time that she’ll get to spend with Beau and Gracie. She plans on flying back with us to help us on the planes with them. We are very lucky to have had a grandma on the flights both to and from Zimbabwe. We pray all of you are doing well. Please keep us updated on your lives as well. We miss you and will hopefully see you soon.- Shea

Passing the Torch

Its been a while since I last posted something on this blog. We are all doing quite well. The kids are healthy and happy, and Shea and I are getting busier by the day chasing Beau, and keeping up with all of Gracies different stages. Since I last wrote we've celebrated Beau's 2 year old birthday, Gracie is now 6 months, and 2 of my sisters each had babies (Colton and Kate...who we can't wait to see). Beau's birthday was a lot of fun. We ended up having a pool party for Beau....probably the first this part of Zimbabwe has ever seen. It may not have been the biggest pool you've ever seen(ok..ok it was only a kiddie pool), but it had cool water ,and the local African kids, and Beau and Abbi absolutely loved it. Beau and Abbi were probably taken back a bit, by the excitement of the local kids(ok Beau actually left the pool crying at one point....he just wasn't used to having 5-6 bigger kids jumping around and splashing in he and Abbi's little pool), but overall they enjoyed themselves. We actually cooked hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and Shea made 2 great cakes(chocolate peanut butter and strawberry) from scratch, turned out great. I think all of the kids really enjoyed the food...a little better then the normal sadza (corn meal mash) that they are used to eating.Beau continues to grow at a lightening pace. He is saying more things all the time. He loves chasing beetles, ants, and especially lizards. (he actually starting to catch them on his own now) He's working on the whole potty training thing right now(couldn't come at a better time...the whole cloth diaper thing is getting a little old). His new love of chewing gum has been a great incentive for him to use the toilet. He's actually pretty good at chewing it, and not taking it out.(except for the time I found he and Abbi ripping off an old piece off the ground that he had dropped some time ago....oh well with kids theres always exceptions). Its been especially fun watching him explore the African bush these last few months. He never gets tired of being outside and exploring the vast terrain(namely our front yard:)). He gets stir crazy sitting inside for very long (takes after his dad). Its been a ton of fun watching him have his own adventures as he explores new trees, plants, bugs and animals(just so long as he stays away from the mambas and cobras). For me its like living life again as a little boy......(I guess for those of you who know me best, you wouldn't think thats much different then normal). Anyway, he is doing great, and we can't wait for everyone to see him when we get back.Gracie is also changing everyday. She is becoming such a beautiful little girl. Compared to Beau her activity's don't seem quite as fast pace, but Shea and I see her doing different things daily. She is now almost sitting up on her own, getting closer to crawling, and eating solid food(She hates bananas though). She definitely chatters more then Beau did at his age, so she may be quite the talker here in a few months. She was actually ravenged by mosquitoes one night several weeks ago. ( I think Shea counted...38 bites....something only a mother would do) We both felt awful for her, but the bites are all healed, and no signs of malaria.......so I think we're out of the woods. She really is doing wonderful and is a joy for Shea and I. As I mentioned Shea and I are staying busy with the kids and work. But we are loving every minute of it(or I guess I should say....most minutes of it). The hospital is full of interesting pathology, challenging cases, and heart wrenching stories. We've seen a wide variety of problems including: land mine amputations, gold mine accident(see Paul and Aprils latest blog if your interested in the details), fractures, HIV, TB, Hydrocephalus, Prostrate cancer, cervical cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, Hepatitis, Malaria, schistosomiases, meningitis, and people with strange things growing in strange places(just to name a few :)). We've also been busy doing most of the C-sections here at the hospital. We've done them without light (well I at least had my $8 walmart headlamp), without sterile gowns(Shea and I each had nice plastic aprons...keeps the blood off at least), and performed them on patients who had been in labor greater then 3 days(not a easy thing for those of you not in medicine). So the educational experience we have received has been unbelievable, and we've taken a great deal of the work load off the other doctors so I think its been good for them as well. Shea and I are still splitting up some of the hospital/house workload. We are currently taking care of the women's ward, and last month we took care of the Pediatric ward. The wards are all busy, and each one provides a unique array of problems and pathology. We've also enjoyed getting the opportunity to share our faith with patients and hospital employees. That in fact, is the biggest reason we are here(its easy to get caught up in all the blood and guts....literally), but the reality is we came here to share Christ with people who don't yet know him. All 4 of us feel that with local Shona friendships, and great translators, we have been able to truly minister to patients staff and and especially the HIV orphans spiritual and physical needs. This has enriched our time here more then anything else. Other then that we have enjoyed the extra free time we seem to have. We're out here in the middle of nowhere, so there are'nt a lot of distractions. There is a small little local sadza resturant next to some of the shops.( It looks more like an old west town, then any shopping center we are used to) They serve “burn your fingers” hot sadza with either beef, chicken or veggies. We have begun to frequent that place at least once a week. The beef is a little tough, but tastes great....and we dont have to cook it(so thats always a big win). Before we go into the big city again it will be 6 weeks. After about 3-4 weeks we get pretty stir crazy for civilization, so that will be a nice break for all of us.We are finding one of the biggest benefits to being isolated here in Zimbabwe is the free time we have had....... especially at night. It has really been great for our familys and it has given Shea and I a lot of time to talk and to dig deeper into God's word. Life in the US is so fast paced......there is always more to do in a day than possible, and my prayer and quiet times have always seemed to take a back seat to the busy schedule I help to create. Getting a chance to really spend time in the Word has been great. So I just wanted to share a little of what God has been putting on my heart these last few months. The book that has made the most impact on me lately is 2 Timothy. A little background for those of you who don't know. This is the last book that the apostle Paul wrote before he died. At the time of his writings he was sitting in a cold, hard, lonely, Roman prison(essentially on death row). He had already been through years of traveling, years of preaching, and years of persecution all for the sake of advancing the Gospel of Christ. He had persevered through shipwrecks, beatings, stonings, and imprisonments. In this, his last letter Paul chooses to “pass the torch” to Timothy, a loyal, yet inexperienced friend. He starts out with encouragement. In 2 Timothy 1: 7-8 He says “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline. So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God” He then warns Timothy of the trials that await him and how to prepare for these inevitable hardships. He compares it to being like a good soldier, an athlete, and a farmer in 2 Timothy 2:4-7. In 2:4 he says“Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus” He also reminds Timothy of his current suffering, and says in Chapter 2 verse. 9 “ For which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained.”(Powerful words) Toward the end of the book in probably my favorite verse, Paul says “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith.”(Can't you just hear Pauls tired and rugged voice as he utters those phrases)This whole book is incredibly encouraging! You can feel Paul's emotions as he writes it. His moods alternate between sadness and confidence, nostalgia and grave concern. He does not write in his normal composed, and intellectual tone. Instead he writes as one whose physical body is suffering, and although contemplating giving up his spiritual body fights on, like a rugged and tested general calling his troops into battle. So many of you who have continued to read all the way through my ramblings are probably saying “Ok thats nice and all but whats your point? What does this have to do with Zimbabwe?” (don't worry I'd probably be thinking the same thing...I don't really like long rambling blogs either). Ok...the point: We, as believers, have the opportunity and the privilege to accept this torch and run the race that has been run by so many great men and women before us. Just think about that for a moment. You and I get to follow and serve the Creator of the universe.(It gives me chills) And we're not the only ones! There have been thousands upon thousands of great men and women who have given their life to our Creator. They are all now in eternity cheering for you as you run this race in both joy and suffering. Many have even given there physical lives in death and torture (as did Paul) to see that the Gospel of Christ would spread to the ends of the earth. The writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” We are all currently running the difficult race of Christianity, but the wonderful thing is we don't have to do it alone. We do have a great cloud of witnesses that are rooting us to victory, and praying that we will keep the torch and then pass it on to those that come behind us. I can just picture these words from 2 Timothy being written directly to me....and in reality they were. God spoke to Paul in such a way that even two thousand years later the torch of faith would still be passed to new generations of believers through the words Paul once had written down. Today as you read this, I'm asking you to fully except this torch of faith that has been offered to you. Know that the road wont always be filled with joy. There will be temporary pain and suffering along the way. But the indescribable joy of living with The Creator and all fellow believers throughout history.....well I just don't have the words to adequately express that joy. Let this way of thinking change how you live your life....I know it has for me. You can't just settle for church as a hobby or just something to do on sundays with this way of thinking. As one of my favorite preachers Matt Chandler always says “Church by itself is really a lame hobby!”. That statement resonates so true. So accept this torch with vigor and excitement, and let it transform the way you live your day to day life.I know for me today, its not just about accepting this “torch” and moving forward with my own spiritual journey. My job personally, and we as believers have been charged with the challenge of passing the torch/baton of faith to people coming after us. I have to raise Beau and Gracie to know our Lord, so that very soon they can take the torch and run the race. I hope all of us when our life comes to an end can confidently say “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith”

Fever of unknown origin

Fever of unknown origin! For those of you who are medical you have an idea of what I am talking about. For the rest of you, this simply means a fever without an obvious source. For example a child with a fever, who has no obvious pneumonia, ear infection, sinus infection, or infected throat. In the United States we generally assume this is some sort of viral syndrome and the child will most likely improve over the course of 5-7 days with minimal treatment. In Africa, fever of unknown origin (FUO), especially in kids is much more daunting. With illnesses such as malaria, meningitis, and tuberculosis much more prevalent, and many parasitic infections present that are uncommon to us the differential diagnosis is much more challenging. Add to that, the fact that many children remain unvaccinated this creates quite a melting pot of infectious disease possibilities.
For this reason, one of my biggest fears when deciding to travel with small kids to Africa was the fever of unknown origin. Shea and I both knew this was a very real possibility, but still hoped this was a bridge we would not have to cross.
Unfortunately this last week we experienced FUO x2. First Gracie then Beau became ill with unexplained high fevers. After ruling out the most common things we decided (with the help of Todd Stephens who luckily was here) that they both should be treated for malaria. We have since treated them with 3 day courses of coartem, and after several sleepless nights they are both recovering well, and doing fine.
It was not an easy time, as you can imagine. I asked myself many times while holding Gracie why we were here. I thought to myself on more then one occasion about going home while praying that Beau would stop shaking and crying with fever. Looking into Shea's tearful eyes and not having any good answers was a terribly helpless feeling. It was quite a challenge, but I could feel the Lords presence as family back home kept us in close prayers, and our friends Paul and April were a constant encouragement and comfort to us on those wakeful nights. In the midst of it all it seemed very difficult. In reality many of you are going through, or have gone through many more difficult things. Even now as you are reading this many of you are struggling with loss of loved ones, abuse, broken relationships, job loss, financial crisis, poor health, and much more.
Fever of unknown origin in African is much like suffering that occurs in life. We do not usually know why it happens, or even how to make it stop. In the midst of the pain there are rarely answers or solutions to the problems at hand. All we can really do is keep going(or in medicine treating, often with multiple medications), and pray a lot. It is this dependence on God that makes the experience worth it. In the end the pain is always worth the growth (easy to say when your not in the midst!!). James says in James 1:2-4 “Consider it pure joy my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” Or in 1 Peter 1:6-7, Peter says “though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith-of greater worth then gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
The good news is trials/suffering like FUO usually resolve. Whether it takes 4-5 days( like it did with our kids), or many years (like the struggles I know some of you are facing today). In the end your pain is well worth the faith you gain through your perseverance. And your months or years worth of suffering will seem like a mere drop in the bucket compared to the inexpressible joy you will have for eternity with our Creator. Anyway, just another valuable lesson I've learned from our time here in Zimbabwe!
Well to change gears, aside from our little battle with illness things are continuing to go well here in Zimbabwe. We just had a visit from Dr Leu, and Dr Stephens. They were here for about 4 days, but added so much in there brief time here(actually....they literally brought a lot of stuff....most importantly a kiddy pool for the kids). But no, we really enjoyed rounding, clinic, and even operating with them. They were just very encouraging, and helped a lot with some of the work load.
We also made our first trip back to Harare to reload on groceries. It was really nice to get a break from the hospital, and mainly just driving in a car for a change(its amazing how much you miss the freedom to drive when you haven't done it for a while). Paul and I got to take turns driving a 1990s Toyota Land Rover through the bush in Zimbabwe and in Harare. It was awesome just to have the freedom and it was just a ton of fun to drive(especially the dirt roads). Don't worry April and Shea kept a close eye on us making sure we kept in the left lane(yeah.....they drive backwards here), and watched with great care as we made our very strange wide right turns. The whole driving on the wrong side of the road (well, I guess it depends who you ask), takes some getting used to, but by the end of the weekend I think we had it figured out. It was a lot of fun, and we do have an interesting driving in Zimbabwe story, but I think it will be more fun if we tell it in person.
The medicine here continues to be both challenging and fascinating. I know Paul has shared with you recently one of our sad C-section stories. (By the way if you haven't checked out Paul and Aprils blog, you should do so at mcquilleninternational.blogspot.com . Paul is a gifted writer, much more eloquent then I, and he gives much better play by play as he usually updates his blog twice weekly.....oh yeah and did I mention he also takes great pictures). Sorry for the commercial interruption...back to my thought. Anyway, we have had several very tough C-sections as moms often labor for 2-3 days at home, before they finally get to us. This makes the procedure very difficult since often the babies head is deep within the pelvis, and the babies are often near dead by the time they arrive. On the flipside, we have also had some really great outcomes were babies that should not have survived lived, and this has been very encouraging. We had one little 28 week baby deliver vaginally through a placenta previa (this is when the placenta covers some or all of the cervix...so not something you want to deliver through.) Anyway the mother went into preterm labor and we were giving her steroids to help mature the babies lung before Csection. Unfortunately she delivered precipitously before a Csection could be done. Amazingly the baby has done wonderful. Usually babies less then 34 weeks do not survive here, but obviously God is in control, and we are all excited to see this little one still kicking and crying.
Well I think I've gone well over my 1000 word limit(sorry not hard to do when I get rambling). I have so many more stories to share, but I'll have to save them for another time. Anyway all 4 of us our doing great. I think Gracie will be crawling soon. Beau is starting to talk a lot more and he is just a blast to be around(if we could just get him potty trained we'd really be ecstatic). He will be turning 2 in about a week, and I think he is already pumped for his cake and ice cream. Shea is doing a great job balancing home and work.....she really loves getting a chance to work in the hospital and is doing a great job.
We miss everyone a lot, and love getting all of your emails. So please keep them coming.(and pictures are great as well). We hope to hear from you all soon.
To His Glory
John, Shea, Beau and Gracie