SICKNESS ATTACK!! ....................................................

During all the years we have spent together as family - and even after you kids all flew from the nest -  we have maintained good health.  Yes, we had hepatitis and malaria and various other kinds of illnesses, but nothing that laid us up for a really long time.  You kids had all the childhood diseases plus some African maladies, but nothing that was totally debilitating or real long term.  We have been blessed that way!

And I still feel like I am blessed - even after going through a couple long years - plus - of sickness!  I will not go into great detail here - just skim the surface - as I already wrote a complete account of my recent illness which you all received.  But I wanted to include this as part of our family history too. 

My sickness started so slowly - painful legs, trouble climbing stairs, lethargy and aches. I didn't feel like ME!  I had always had such energy! It happened to coincide with both Rachel's and Sarah's weddings that summer.  I hated to be a bother so did as much as I could, which wasn't much!  We got through Rachel's beautiful and busy wedding and enjoyed all of that. I proudly walked down the aisle to my seat in the church on the arm of Nathan, my grandson! And then we took off for Pittsburgh for the lovely wedding there.  Dad wanted me to see a doctor as he knew I was not acting normal, but you know me and doctors!  So I went until I collapsed. the day before Sarah's wedding! Elizabeth was with me and realized something was wrong and she went to call Dad.

Dad rushed me to the emergency room after I literally collapsed in the church bathroom and Debbi and Steve followed immediately. I went to the ER and they did every kind of scan and test they could think of and came up with blood clots in my lung and leg.  So treated me for that.  They kept me in the hospital so I missed the wedding but after the ceremony the wedding party et al. came to the hospital with a beautiful bouquet of roses from the ceremony!  The whole family - plus - came and so I saw the beautiful bride and groom and attendants. Fun! The nurses loved it!

The heavy anti-clotting medication they funneled into me made me go out of it while Debbi and Dad were with me the next  day, and they soon had me down for more machines and then the decision to fly me by medical helicopter to another hospital where they had an A1 brain sugery team!  We were sure glad Clousers were there as Dad did not know his way around Pittsburgh and this was right downtown.  Debbi, bless your heart, you stayed right with me and Dad.  You were with Dad while I was unconscious and going through six hours of brain surgery and were also there when I came out of the anesthesia - and even bawled out the young nursing assistant who treated me so crassly!!   Cheryl, you came and replaced Debbi when they had to leave, and Bubnas, you also came to visit!  I felt wrapped in a cocoon of love - when I could force myself to think about what was going on around me. 

Cheryl, you had that hard trip with us trying to get me back to Georgia. We stopped at a motel on the way - started out the next morning after a hard night, stopped for the day at a small hospital to get more meds put in me, stopped for an overnight where I proceeded to collapse at the hotel and had to be transported by ambulance to another hospital!  Wow!  We just made that trip last week under better circumstances and were reliving that horrible voyage as we went! 

I stayed for six days in that North Carolina hospital and you, Cheryl, had to leave to go back to the field. Dad stayed with me and I picked up some strength in that hospital. Tim and Ruth and Mark all came to NC with a van and a mattress in the empty back for me to lie on - to get me four hours south to Toccoa!  How I appreciated all of the help. By then, I had these enormously swollen legs, full of water, and Ruth sat beside me on the mattress in the back of the van with Mark driving and Tim riding with Dad. I had an oxygen tank just in case, but never needed it. They had given me a sedative so I slept and then talked to Ruth.  What a way to come home!

The nurse in the last hospital had not listened to the nursing staff and insisted on putting this machine on my legs which caused them to swell and retain water.  I ended up getting rid of about thirty five pounds of water from my legs after we got home here. I then proceeded to collapse one day between the bed and the dresser and they had to call the ambulance to get me out and take me to the local hospital, where I spent another week.  The church people flooded in to see me. I was glad when I could finally come home.  Again they had done all kinds of tests on every kind of machine on me. 

I was not in pain - but horribly weak and just had general feelings of malaise, no appetite, etc.  People came in droves to visit me in the hospital and at home. The women of the church sent in meals for two straight weeks and would have kept on. I had no appetite, so Dad froze a lot of food which we ate for weeks afterwards!  I was in a wheelchair - my legs would not hold me up.  But I attended church and social events at the church - all in my wheelchair.  Dad was such a good nurse.

It was also a time when John was going through a rough time with Jennie and Dad would go down to visit him. Betty Shady, the Strongs and others would come in and sit with me as I could not be left alone. Everyone worked together to get me well again. The healing took a long time - it seemed longer than it actually was.  I finally got back mostly to normal - at least I could walk again. I went through therapy of all kinds, got started at the Y.  Got well enough to make our ten day trip to Kurdistan!  (more about that later). 

Now three years later - after that long recovery and a quick recovery from a knee replacement - I am totally normal again!  I never take health for granted like I used to. Every day is a gift from the Lord. So many people prayed for me during these trying times, and I credit much of my healing to the prayers of God's people everywhere.  So many people wrote that they were praying and it worked!  Recently I have had a flood of people tell me how well I look, and marvel at how I can get around.  I am thankful for good health again.  I always used to take my health and strength for granted - not anymore - each day is a new gift from God and I am so grateful to God and to all of you, my wonderful family, who helped me back to being myself again!

One thing I learned during my medical sojourn - the world is indeed flat!  All of my doctors came from many places: Pakistan, Nigeria, Mexico, Brazil, China, Austria, India - hardly ever an American among them!  The team of doctors who had invented my non-invasive brain surgery were all from countries other than the USA. Am I ever thankful for them - no scars of any kind - all done up through the nose into the brain and watching what they were doing on a big screen.  A miracle really!  And I am also a miracle of God, after going through all of that!