Pray for Josh

Hello all.

This is a 'fuller story' for those you have already heard about our current situation and an even fuller story for everyone else! 

A few weeks ago, we all had a brief but unpleasant stomach bug. We all recovered, but a couple of weeks later Josh was ill again. He recovered but was subsequently plagued with periodic stomach pains. This went on for a couple of weeks, and then last week he spent the whole week off school because the cramps were sufficiently bad. He also mostly lost his appetite. Libby took him to the doctor's two weeks ago and last week. He was given a couple of different kinds of medication and had blood tests taken done didn't seem to show anything untoward. 

On Friday evening he felt a bit better (we were all out watching Caleb being the lead in the school play - somewhat of a triumph, but a different story...) However on Saturday morning he still didn't have any appetite, and then had diarrhoea which was predominantly blood. 

This freaked us out a bit as you can imagine, but we were grateful to be able to get an appointment with the first doctor within half an hour. He suggested a few other possibilities of what could be wrong and recommended a stool sample and some more blood tests for those conditions. However, when Joshua continued to bleed while trying to obtain a sample, we pushed a bit (as we didn't want to have to go to A&E/ED/ER in the middle of the night) and the doctor agreed to give us some notes to take to the hospital.

I subsequently spent the rest of Saturday with Joshua in Accident & Emergency (the Emergency Department/Emergency Room, depending on where you are) while they ran multiple tests to try and determine the cause. To be specific:

* stool sample

* urine sample

* multiple blood tests

* x-ray

* ultrasound

* haemorrhoid check

* CT scan

Eventually, just before Libby and the kids came to visit, they diagnosed an 'intussusception'. If you haven't heard of that, don't be surprised. Although it apparently affects 56/100 children under 18 months, it is much rarer in people older than that. It is basically where a portion of the intestine telescopes in on itself. Something like this: 

After the doctor consulted with some paediatric colleagues, and they consulted with the surgeon, and the surgeon consulted with the Consultant Surgeon, and the consulted with his colleagues in Townsville and Brisbane (larger towns in the State) it was decided that they would need to do surgery to see the extent of the problem, sort what needed sorting if necessary and remove what needed removing (if anything). 

Libby stayed with him overnight in a room on the paediatric ward, and the next morning while waiting for an opening in the surgery schedule.

After going to church and feeding the kids, I was able to drop them off with friends and then join Libby. I managed to get there just before Josh went into surgery, and we were both able to go into theatre and I held his hand while they put him to sleep (around 14:45).

We were told the surgery should take between one and a half and two hours, and we probably wouldn't get any updates until he was in recovery and ready to be moved to the ward. 

We waited in the room he was expected to come to in the 'adolescent ward'. The plan was for Libby to stay with me until Joshua came out, but unfortunately, the surgery went on and on, and Libby had to go and collect the kids. Fortunately (at about the three and a quarter hour mark) I got an update saying that things were going well, but it had turned out more complex than they had first thought, but they expected to be done in a further 45 minutes. They also said he would be going to the surgical ward as they were better set up for post-op care. In the event, the surgery took four and half hours. 

Joshua has since done pretty well, getting up (with much assistance) for a shower on his first morning. However it is quite an uphill struggle to do anything, but he is keeping on with physio exercises he has been given.

On Tuesday he was able to move to 'clear liquids' (i.e. broth and jelly).

However, on Tuesday evening he started to feel nauseous, and despite the anti-emetics put through his canula started vomiting. The nurses had to get the surgical and 'pain team' registrars up, and around midnight we were sent down to radiography for an x-ray to confirm their suspicion that he had an ileus - basically his intestines had gone to sleep as a result of their treatment during the surgery and so everything that had gone in was just sitting fermenting in his stomach. Apparently this happens in 30-50% of such cases. 

The best solution to this problem was to insert a naso-gastric tube (i.e. a small tube inserted up the nose and down the throat into the stomach to drain everything out). This was done. It was a very unpleasant experience for Joshua, but he was as stoic as ever. However, the assurance that 'he would hardly notice it once it was in' didn't really come to pass, and he has found it fairly unpleasant. However, it did reduce the nausea and we managed to get 4-5 hours sleep. 

We have been rotating on and off with one of us staying with Joshua and one of us looking after the kids. 

Big steel lizard

We've visited the Mareeba Wetlands recently for a friend's birthday. This hosts one of the world's few remaining areas of wild rice. The Japanese have decided this is sufficiently important to mark with a large steel lizard (presumably so they know where to find it when all existing rices have been genetically modified out of existence).

Good for climbing on and taking photos of - especially in it's shiny eyes...

Failed photo

We tried to take a photo of the kids on the trampoline (we managed this about 5 years ago). It didn't really succeed, but this was the best of the bunch.

Struggles

I wrote the below for the weekly MAF internal 'News for Prayer'. It summarises some of the highs and lows of my last couple of years.

Today’s devotional thought was submitted by Daniel Simkins from the Cairns office.

“Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest…for my yoke is easy and my burden is light”

I am taking a wild guess that I am not the only one who has felt weary and heavy laden.

What has gone wrong? If Jesus’ yoke is easy and his burden is light, whose yoke and burden have I been carrying to make me feel crushed under its weight?

I have suffered with anxiety since I was young, particularly in certain situations, but about 18 months ago I really started to struggle. It wasn’t just particular situations that were making me anxious, but pretty much anything. I began to feel like I couldn’t cope with day to day life, and there were times I would just sit staring at my computer screen and be completely paralysed with fear – of anything and everything.

Eventually I reached a point where I felt like I just couldn’t take one more step. I am very fortunate that I had a friend and colleague I could talk to – and he helped me take steps towards getting ‘proper’ help. I got a recommendation for a doctor who is excellent with mental health issues, started on medication and was referred to an excellent psychologist. I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder – and subsequently with depression. Over the following months I gradually unpacked the reasons for my feelings and started to learn ways to address both the symptoms and the underlying issues. I am now at a stage where I feel mostly ‘fixed’ and am slowly coming off the medication.

Although mental ill health is talked about a lot more these days there is still a lot of stigma attached to it. In some ways this is strange, because it’s not like mental health difficulties are a rare thing – in most Western countries two to three people in every ten experience some form of mental illness each year. And Christians are not immune – the incidence of mental health issues in the church is the same as in the population as a whole, and for Christians the stigma can actually be more of an issue. I wouldn’t say that spiritual factors are never involved but I think we need to stop making that assumption. Most mental illnesses have historical, social, physiological and environmental root causes – and attributing the illness to sin or lack of faith or demons doesn’t help anyone.

For us MAFers, who deal regularly with transitions and other stressful situations there is every reason to expect that many of us are going to face these kind of issues.

So what does this mean for you? It means if you are struggling mentally – with depression, anxiety, or other negative thoughts (or even more serious psychiatric disorders) – you are not the only one!

Please, don’t feel like you’re alone; don’t feel like you have to handle it all by yourself; don’t feel like it’s all your fault; don’t feel like you’re weak because you struggle with your thoughts. These things are not a sign of weakness any more than if you struggle with arthritis or recurring malaria! 

So what can you do?

Firstly, get to know God better. From my experience, many of my problems came from a misunderstanding of my Father’s nature and heart. From not realising that my value comes from Him valuing me – and from nowhere else. This takes time and there is no way round that – it may take some re-prioritisation of your days, but it will be more than worth it.

Secondly, if you’re not already doing so, get help and support – go to a close friend or someone you trust or respect, who you know will not judge you or belittle you for what you are feeling. If there is someone you know who has faced this struggle before, talk to them. Get a recommendation for a good doctor who is experienced in helping people in this area. Get counselling; see a good, recommended psychologist. Go on medication if you need to.

There is no shame in any of these things. Admitting to yourself and others that all is not right and that you need help is not a sign of weakness – it’s one of the most courageous things you might ever have to do. And if anyone tells you different- they’re wrong…

And remember, God is still in control. I am so grateful to God for letting me hit rock bottom – I have grown more emotionally and spiritually in the last 18 months than I have in the whole of the rest of my life. I have learnt so many life lessons sometimes I can barely believe it.

One of the key lessons was this: “I can’t do life on my own – but that’s OK, I was never designed to”. I need God, and I need other people. I am not on my own, I don’t need to struggle alone.

So I learnt that Jesus’ yoke can be easy and his burden can be light – but there’s a catch; if we want to have his yoke and burden, we have to give ours up to Him.

There is help and there is hope.

MAF PRAYER

A Creepy Crawly Came A-callin' (not for the faint of heart...)

I was on the patio a few weeks back and noticed this guy had come to visit. We stuck a pot over him and I spent a considerable amount of research time trying to confirm whether he was venomous.

I eventually identified him as Thereuopoda Clunifera (or 'a centipede' in English).

The weird thing about this part of the world are that there is such diversity of wildlife that even something this remarkable is barely catalogued. In fact there are so many different forms of wildlife that many of them haven't even been catalogued. A recent trip to Cape York (the mostly-unpeopled area North of us) discovered over 50 previously unknown species of spider (see here for more).

(with perspective)

If you want a more up close and personal experience, here is a video...

Unfortunately, we left him under the punnet while we went to do other things, and the sun moved round the house - and he ended up rather the worse for the experience 😦

The Reef

We took Libby's mum out to the reef (on Fitzroy Island). As we were in stinger season, we took the precaution of hiring stinger suits...height of Australian fashion as you can see...

The view from the top of Fitzroy Island...

Lake Barrine

On the way back from Mareeba we came the 'long way round' and stopped off at Lake Barrine. Very nice weather, very nice views - and some very big trees...

From the Department of National Parks website...