Current Affairs

It's a funny thing, the more things get bad, the less I tend to write. That, combined with a healthy dose of self-deprecation, makes me look humble without actually admitting any faults or struggles. I think Gwenn is similar. It's not that we're intentional in this way, but I'm afraid that it happens far too often. And if you haven't noticed, neither of us have been writing very much lately. Gwenn and I are together (which is a rarity), but we're in PAP (which means our family is still not together). We had talked about us getting away for a few days as the end of our time apart but this was not the plan.

Shortly before I returned to Haiti with Nia, Nico, and Josiah, Gwenn got a staph infection in her armpit. Staph is not new in our home—Yves started it, Prisca, Nia, Josiah, Sanndy and others have had it. While in the states I picked up some Hibiclense to attempt to rid our house of all all staph for good. But this infection turned out to be different. In addition to a boil, on Wednesday night, Gwenn contracted a secondary infection. The redness on her skin around the boil grew from the size of a orange to the size of a basketball in a matter of 24 hours. Her temperature started rising and we began to go down the list of medical options for her care. We ended up traveling to PAP Thursday morning and seeing a doctor to figure out what to do.

Dr. Jen immediately started IV antibiotics. By evening we had decided to open up the abscess (Gwenn is all about pain with a purpose, as she calls it) and clean it out. She got lucky and found the cavity while injecting a local anesthetic which made the procedure simpler. But simpler is a relative term. As Jen cleaned out the infection she (skip this next sentence if you don't like the thought of blood) had her instruments up 4” inches inside the incision before she reached the end of the infection. Packed and IV-ed up, we headed back to the Heartline guesthouse here in PAP to recover.

It's been a day since then, but we still aren't out of the woods yet. The redness has stayed about the same (indicating the infection hasn't gone down), Gwenn's fever is now going back up. So

she's still sick, but she's also dealing with the pain of a giant hole in her side and nausea from the medicine she's getting via IV every six hours—it's pretty pathetic. I wish I could take parts (if not all) of it away from her.

So here comes the true humility. We're not doing well right now. It's been over six weeks since our family has been together and healthy. It's been over a month since Gwenn and I have been together and healthy. All that separation was because Gwenn and I decided to split our furlough and not leave the family alone. But now, with Gwenn sick and me attending to her, that's exactly what we've done. This infection that Gwenn has is serious. And while I have no doubt that things will be OK for her, it's still scary to think about how it all could have turned out if we had made a few different decisions. I could go on.

I'm reminded of how fragile our lives are and how out-of-control we all are (we can't even make our own hearts beat). I'm reminded of how crucial our psychological health is. I don't think it's a coincidence that this infection came on the heals of 3 weeks of single handedly running a home with twelve kids (and five staff). And I'm reminded of how important other people are in our lives. So if you haven't heard from us lately, it's not because we don't need you. We do. Please pray for us.

Specifically:

• For the infection to be killed by the antibiotics

• For the Nausea to go away

• For the pain to subside

• For wisdom (for us and Jen) as we navigate the medical options

• And that we can all be back together soon.