Answered Prayers!

Right after it happened.

Running in the rain

It was Wednesday. The day before Suzanna and I had painted, helped Mama Ese do a huge washing, drove the truck for the first time, and did all the little things that take up so much time. We were having company for supper so today we needed to clean and cook. I cleaned up our painting things and swept the porch. We had a down pour and the boys were delighted. I let them run in the rain for awhile. I was finishing up on the porch while keeping an eye on them. In the corner of our yard they have rolls of chain link laying for our fence. They were over there messing around when Austin started screaming. I ran out to him and he said I got a pricker in my foot. I took him over to the outdoor hydrant and washed the mud off his feet. Right on top of his foot, right at the vein there were two little marks like a bee sting. The fact that there were two scared me. Snake! I watched his foot carefully trying to decide what to do, but they really looked like two bee stings. They swelled a bit and looked kind of black and blue but I decided to keep an eye on it and see what happens. We soon ate lunch and then I laid down with both boys. I slept about half an hour and woke up feeling refreshed. But soon Austin woke up screaming. He had to go to the bathroom but his foot hurt too bad to walk on. Plus he was still tired. I was horrified when I looked at his foot. It was much more swollen, and the bruise had spread down toward his toes. My phone wasn't working so I couldn't get a hold of anyone. Thankfully Suzanna was here to help keep my head together! We decided to run over to Noah Beachy's and ask Mama Rose for advice. We also stopped for phone cards so I could put more minutes on my phone and get a hold of Kenny. Rose didn't know what to think and since there were some Ghanaians around we asked them. They all decided maybe spider, maybe scorpion. Not snake because it would have affected him worse. We soaked it in Epson salt water n went home. We scurried around and got supper on the table around 6. Austin sat on the sofa with his foot propped up. I had given him Tylenol but he still cried every time he bumped it or if it hung down too much. Noah called Kenny around 8:30 to see how he is doing and told him whatever we do, don't wait too long to get help. After everyone left we looked at it closely. The bruise and swelling was spreading up to his ankle. Should we take him to the ER? At home we would have said rather safe than sorry. But in Ghana, you don't want to be sorry you go and they give you the wrong thing or something. But in the end we decided we weren't going to sleep very well and what were we going to do if it spread farther?

after his nap

  Miriam and Suzanna stayed with Brent and Kelsey. Jay went with us to find an ER. We thought we were going to Cape Coast Regional Hospital, but ended up at Cape Coast Teaching Hospital. One thing about their hospitals and clinics here, the first thing you do at the door is pay a registration fee. So after that was settled we waited for the triage nurse. His temperature was fine. Oxygen level was fine. I tried not to cringe since gloves and sanitary measures seemed to be a foreign thing to them. Then we waited a little more before a doctor called us over to a small table and asked more questions looked at it more and then went to find her superior. She came and looked at it. Asked more questions. And went and called her superior. We waited and waited. Then he came, looked at it, asked more questions, scratched his head, thought, thought, thought some more. "Not a snake bite. The venom would move faster and do more damage. Maybe spider. We will give him pain medication, observe him overnight, and then ask the superior doctors in the morning. I was starting to wonder what they are going to when there are no more superior doctors to ask!

  So after waiting while they did paperwork, they escorted us outside, down a walkway to another building. Through a ward crowded with cribs with mothers on sleeping mats on the floor beside their child. To a little room in the back corner. For 30 cedis (about $6)  extra we could have the privilege of a side ward room. With its own washroom! They settled Austin in, gave pain meds and IV for fluids (they did use gloves to put the IV line in) and then left us alone for the night. Kenny and Jay went home and I crawled in beside Austin. He slept soundly till morning (it was 12:30 till we were settled in). I dozed! A nurse stuck her head in one time to ask if we were ok but other than that they didn't do much observing.

   With morning came nurses and doctors. All just checking up on us, shaking their head and leaving again. Kenny came in with food and water. We were still waiting to see the superior doctors. Kenny left to run some errands and while he was gone they came in. They decided to treat it as infection for 48 hours and then if it still wasn't better give anti-venom. "His toes have good circulation so it is no worry. Ok?" I asked what we are going to do if the toes lose good circulation. "We will have to see." That wasn't real comforting to me! When Kenny came back, while we were waiting for the antibiotics, he said he talked to some of the other missionaries and they all think we should head to Accra. It was now over 24 hours since it happened and things were still moving along slowly. meanwhile his foot was looking worse, his ankle was swollen, and now it was starting to swell up his calf.

  We decided to take their advice and cancelled the antibiotics. Kenny ran home for clothing and met Merlin Ramer and they picked us up at the hospital. Around 4 we were in Accra at the Impact Clinic seeing a doctor that came highly recommended. He looked at it and said, "Oh, it is a snake bite. Maybe not poisonous, or maybe a very small one. The fangs have introduced an infection and now we are dealing with cellulitus. Giving anti-venom is no good. It has been too long and without knowing for sure what it is, has too many side affects to be worth it. He needs to be watched for tissue damage at the bite and given antibiotics with IV." Finally! Someone that sounded like they knew what they were doing!! He didn't have the facilities to admit patients there but sent us to a private hospital where we would be taken good care of. Although I was worried, sitting in a doctors office that felt like and operated a little like an American one, felt so good. But our journey was not over!

  At the private hospital they looked at it and said, "Snake bite! We need anti-venom now! There is no infection because there is no fever! We are not equipped to deal with a young child here but you must go to a large hospital with specialists. We will call ahead." They went to call and came back saying"Our superior says you must come by ambulance. He could form blood clots and the traffic will be bad. We don't want something to happen between here and there."  But there we put our foot down. It has been a day and a half, we are not taking an ambulance. We were very reluctant to go to another hospital but what other option did we have? "It is not as nice as here," they warned us, "but they will take good care of you."

the ER 

  So away we went. To the pediatric ward at Korle Bu Hospital. At first we thought this might work out! Supposedly the superior doctor knew we were coming, the nurses at the pediatric ward assured us they would take good care of us. "After here, there is nowhere else to go!" But then they sent us to the ER. As I walked in I really wanted to run out. People crowded every corner of the room. Along one wall were islets with blue lights over them. Mothers sat in front of them and periodically took their babies out to feed them. All along the other walls were cribs/cots. Each of them had a child in with one or two parents beside them. Big fans circulated the hot night air. Mosquitoes and flies buzzed. Cats wandered around past the open doors. In the middle of the room was a table with doctors sitting around it. At one end was a desk for the nurses. We were seated next to a doctor and the questions began. Not only about Austin but about the whole family. How old is the father? How old are you? How many children do you have? Age and gender of each? I stared in amazement as she drew a family tree right there in front of me. Here I sit, holding Austin. His leg is swollen up to his knee by now, and we are drawing a family tree and making four pages of notes? I finally told her that the superior doctor is expecting us, she wanted us to come by ambulance, where is she? Another lady tried calling her. And we waited. And we waited. Merlin asked the doctor that made the phone call if the superior doctor is coming. She was extremely rude and wouldn't talk to him. Finally a doctor came and said we will prescribe two antibiotics to fight the infection and then you need to decide about anti-venom. So we went to a back corner and put another IV port in. The doctor that had taken care of us first had walked off, leaving us feeling stranded. Brent was tired and crying (we had brought him along to Accra but Kelsey had stayed back.) Thankfully Austin was exhausted and went to sleep.  After a bit a cot opened up and they put us in a corner of the room. Merlin ran to the pharmacy to get the antibiotics and they gave them along with a pain killer. A doctor came and discussed the pros and cons of giving anti-venom. We were very unsure as the one doctor we trusted had said it is too risky and too late. We called the other missionaries. Made contact with people in the states. Tried to decide what we should do. They were saying keep him in the Er overnight for observation, then 3 to 4 days in the ward. I sat on a plastic chair beside my sleeping boy. Water was dripping in a facet and the sink was 3/4 full. Under neath a trickle ran across the floor. I had went to find a bathroom for Austin earlier and discovered you have to go out back in a dark corner to a man who makes you pay, and he still just showed us to a shower (little boys don't care if it is a shower!) we had asked for water for Austin but there wasn't any available to even buy! I stepped outside to confer with the men and when I walked back in a huge mosquito was siting on Austin's lip. It was the last straw! We couldn't stay here for days! So we asked if we can "go and come" No! You can not do that! But after more discussion, Kenny went and told the doctor we are leaving. He helped himself to the antibiotic they had stored in the refrigerator and picked Austin up and walked out. Did we owe them yet? Maybe. But the whole p[lace was so terrible we didn't care.

  We stopped at Burger King for some comfort food and lots of liquids. Yes Accra has two Burger Kings! After that we went to the Baptist Guest house and crashed! It was about 12:30 when we went to bed. About 3 we got up and gave him his next dose of antibiotics through the IV port. They had it all measured and ready to go.

   The next morning we hashed over breakfast what to do now. His foot was looking better but I knew he needs more antibiotics. So we went back to Impact Clinic. They were so sorry for the run around we had gotten and although our original doctor we had seen there wasn't in we saw another one. She agreed no need for anti-venom. Just treat infection. She wrote the prescriptions and they put another IV port in since the other one wasn't working. Then they gave us our directions and we were headed home! 

on the way home the natural wrinkles at his
ankle started showing again

  We went to a clinic in Cape Coast to get his next two doses of antibiotics but then decided since they were mixed, in syringes and ready to go, we would do the last two ourselves. Our house was far more sanitary than the clinic anyway. The swelling started going down almost immediately and today, Tuesday, just shy of a week since it happened, it is almost back to normal. 

  Since then we have had people tell us they think it was a scorpion. But we also came across a picture of a child's foot with a snake bite that looked exactly like his. Whatever it was, we witnessed a miracle! He should have run a fever. It should have done more damage. But God kept us!

  One of our biggest fears in coming to Ghana was the medical care isn't very good. Now we faced those fears. We know some places not to go, and we know some we would go to again.

   

Thanks so much to all of you who prayed! I went to bed Wednesday night and realized whatever this was, could spread up his leg and we could lose our son by morning. But praise God, Austin is running again!