Please God, not Africa!

Week 2 back home has been interesting one.  This is going to be a pretty long post because there is a lot to cover, so hang with me. Last Friday was Kylie's surgery date.  On the morning of, we got a call from the doc's office saying that they were ahead of schedule (as if the snow wasn't enough of a clue, I knew for certain I was not in Togo when I heard the words "ahead of schedule"!).  They were waiting for US!  Imagine, docs waiting for patients?? We left right away for the hospital and when we got there, we registered and then were zoomed through the paper work, taking Kylie's vitals and getting ready for surgery.  Here we are in the little surgical waiting room: And here we are gowned and ready to rock and roll about 3 minutes later.  These guys waste no time. Before we went off to the OR, two of our pastors and my mom and my sister came in with us to pray.  Above photo is our little group who stood to pray for Kylie...

It's been a crazy few days since we landed.  We've been to the hospital and seen the surgeon.  Kylie's had an MRI, some x-rays and blood work.  I've seen our family doc for a little amoeba friend I brought home with me.  We've been clothes shopping (thanks Nate!), grocery shopping and out for pizza.  Dinner party, birthday party, church, Bible study and the list goes on. It has been so sweet to be reunited with family and friends! This morning we met with the surgeon.  I have to admit that last night I had a little trouble getting to sleep just thinking about what might be said to us.  Yesterday I had three different people (all in the medical profession) talk to me about the possibility of amputation and I was FLOORED!  It had never even occured to me that this was even a possibility.  And to hear it three different times was just astounding -- I thought I was going to throw up every time someone said it.  So this morning, I get up an...

Home sweet home -- it was a long trip but a good one. Thanks so much for praying for us -- man, can we ever tell that people are praying for us. Kylie, Teddy and I came home together.  We flew out of Togo on Sunday night around midnight, went to Brussels and on the Brussels to Chicago flight, we were able to get our three seats together.  From Chicago we caught the later flight to Detroit, but our three seats were apart.  A kind gentlemen (bless him, whoever he is) moved seats so Teddy and I could be together.  Kylie sat across from us, between strangers but thankfully she was so tired, she slept the entire time. It was a sweet reunion in Detroit - we were greeted by my parents, my sister and my two nephews.  We grabbed our baggage and headed home, getting into London about 1 am. This morning we got a call from our doc's office telling us to go to the ER at the children's hospital.  Just around noon (the kids and I were pretty groggy so we weren't m...

We just got the MRI results this morning and Kylie needs surgery for sure.  So some of us will be heading home, not sure exactly who, how, when etc. but will keep you posted.  Please pray for the following details: 1.  Who to come home?  Me and Kylie for sure, whether not to bring Teddy along too so Nate can function on the site. 2.  How to quickly get into the Canadian medical system to see a surgeon.  The doc who read her MRI says she needs it pretty quick....something about irreversible damage. 3. When to come and a good deal on flights! 4. Pray for Nate and the boys who will be left here.  It could be that we are home for a couple of months, but we'll wait to find out. Thank you so much!

Last week Kylie and I went south to Lome to have her MRI done. We met Dr. Kelly and another little patient of hers (Bernadette) on Monday morning and went to a clinic. Here she is waiting to have her 17th IV put in.  She's so good at this now.   After the IV was put in, we were taken to a waiting room where Dr. Kelly, Berna, me and Kylie visited until it was TIME! I asked the technician if I could take a photo of Kylie having her MRI, but he said no -- something to do with metal things and a magnetic imaging system and me messing up with whole thing by having a camera in the room.  So before he started the big machine I took a quick pic of her.  She just had to lay down on that bed and her foot went into that big circular thing.  It was pretty cool.  It took about 45 minutes and I was able to stay in the room with her while it was being done. Here's Kylie and little Bernadette.  We think we have problems -- Berna had to fly with Dr...