Did you ever wonder what it was like going to the Emergency Room in a foreign country where they couldn't understand you? Well, let me tell you it is just like you would expect. It looks like a bad game of charades. Let me start from the beginning... on Thursday afternoon we had an appointment to take all of the kids to the consulate doctor so that they could have thier medical examinations done. It was basically a total physical that had to be performed on all of the kids. It was funny. They went oldest to youngest. The doctor took Marlon back to the exam room and in about 2 minutes Marlon comes out saying no, no, no... with the doctor walking after him. He didn't want to take his clothes off for the doctor. So, I went back with him and he, very hesitantly, let the doctor do his thing as he laid there in his underwear and held his hand over his eyes laughing... because he was embarassed. Then Mary Jane went back with Ana Carolina and I don't know what happened. Then it was my turn to take Diogo back. When the doctor told him to take his clothes off he looked at me and I nodded OK and he modestly took his clothes off and I placed him up on the exam table. After Diogo it was Gabriel's turn. All he had to hear was take your clothes off and before the last syllable was out of the doctors mouth, Gabriel was butt naked up on the exam table, on his back, doing what looked to be snow angels! Was this really happening! I told him he didn't have to take his underwear off but he just laid there laughing and smiling. Anyway, after that was Robert and he is only 2 so he didn't know what was going on. Everyones exam went good... no major problems... praise God! But on the way home I started feeling strange. It was becoming hard to swallow and difficult to breathe. As the night progressed and it was time for bed I told Mary Jane that I was getting concerned because it was becoming difficult for me to breathe. It felt like my windpipe was being restricted and very little air was getting through. I don't think she was taking me very seriously though because she wasn't giving me any sympathy... oh yeah, that's right, she's my wife and she doesn't give sypathy to me when I'm sick (oops, did I say that?). Back to the story... I woke up in the middle of the night and was totally freaked out. I looked in the mirror down my throat and I could see that the right side of my throat was totally swollen shut. You know that thing that hangs down in the middle of the back of your throat? Well I couldn't even see it because the inside of my throat was totally swollen almost shut! I got back in bed and told Mary Jane that I couldn't swallow, could barely breathe and I was worried. She said she was sorry and dozed back off to sleep. I laid there for about 3 hours praying, trying to figure out what was going on, going through my mind to see if I had all of the materials to do an emergency tracheotomy on myself if I had to. It was serious! As the sun came up, it was worse. I tried to explain the severity to Mary Jane but she said I needed to get better or she was going back to Georgia. I think she just thought I was trying to get out of helping with the kids or something. Her Mom came in and talked to me and went and found a nurse here on the property. She looked at it and said I needed to go to the hospital. So, off to the hospital I went with this sweet older lady and my father-in-law. When we got there it was slow, thank God, because it was Good Friday and I guess most Brazilians don't get sick on holidays. When they examined me they didn't have all of the right equipment so they coudn't see all the way down my throat. They said they needed to send me across town to a specialist. Man, that is not what I wanted to hear! I needed relief and I needed it now. But I went ahead and paid the fee for them 'not' being able to examine me and we were off to the specialist. We drove to the other side of town and arrived at the specialists office. It was a very nice building and there wasn't anybody there. I think because of the whole Brazilians not getting sick on holidays thing. We went in and within 5 minutes I was in this fancy examination chair. This office was the bomb. He had a scope that had a tiny camera attached to it. He put it in my ear, and if you think that it looks like you have a lot of hair in your ear when you look in the mirror... then just try having the inside of your ear projected live up on a 42" LCD TV right on the wall! It was kind of gross actually. I thought I was going to see some exotic Brazilian insect that had migrated into my ear while I was sleeping or something but I didn't. Just a bunch of hair and wax! He then turned off all of his high tech equipment and told my father-in-law and the lady who brought us that what had happened was this; when I had my tonsils removed as a child, the doctor had left a small portion of one of the tonsils still attached. This small portion somehow became infected with a bacteria while I was here in Brazil and was so full of puss (gross, I know) that it was cutting off my airway. Great! Now how do I get better? He prescribed 4 medications for me and said that he wanted to see me again on Monday. If it wasn't better by then they were going to have to perform surgery. What! Surgery? There is no way in hades that I'm having surgery in Brazil! No way! So we left. The lady who brought us took us to the phamacy and there I learned that pharmacists give shots. That's right, pharmacists give shots right there in thier store. One of the prescriptions was a shot. And a big one. Did I ever tell you how much I hate needles? But at this point I didn't care. I just wanted to breathe again. He gave me the ginormous (?) shot in the arm and off we went. When I got back I went to bed and slept for about 4 hours and when I woke up I was already starting to breathe easier! Praise God! When I woke up this morning I was breathing perfectly normal. My throat is a little soar but that's it. So that means 2 things. I'm not having surgery on Monday and my wife isn't leaving to come home early! Praise the Lord.
Today was a good day. We are finally beginning to see a lot of progress in the kids and in us as thier parents. We are really going to miss not being at church tomorrow. Church is what we do. Just being able to be a part of a seeing peoples lives changed each week is an honor and a priveledge. We love you guys. We hope you enjoyed hearing from my in-laws, Maryssa and Matthew. It has definitely been a journey we will never forget. Next week we will try and do a few video blogs so be sure to check us out. have a great Easter Sunday!
Love ya,
Able to breathe in Brazil
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