If you are sick and tired of hearing how we are sick and tired of being sick and tired, please double click on the red x in the corner of your screen. Or if you're really annoyed at me, you may click it 20 times in rapid succession. Or you may choose the option of throwing your phone, Ipad or computer out the nearest window.
Ok, now that I got that off my chest and IF you're still with me, here goes....
I really wanted my next post to be a positive, all is well, happy kind of post. Since I try to update monthly and we're not quite at the "all is well" stage, I guess I'll try to give an update without sounding too complainy. I don't write this as a bid for pity, but as a fact of life and also because I am hoping to eventually get this blog printed into a book for our own memory's sake and hopefully save me lots of hours of scrapbooking tons of pictures. (Any tips on that process would be appreciated!:)
As the saying goes..."ignorance is bliss." I almost have to laugh at the naive girl that wrote my last blog post. Except it's not really funny. She thought that they were at the tail end of the chikungunya fiasco but, in reality, that wasn't the case. This same girl, that was healthy most of her life is learning alot. About health. About sickness. About patience in tribulation. Ok, she's still TRYING to learn that one...hasn't quite succeeded yet. About trusting God. About not judging others till you limp a mile in their sandals....
Like I said, I was pretty much healthy my whole life. I always thought that health nuts were just that. Health nuts. Surely if you eat a well balanced diet you can do away with all the extra roots, oils, teas and powders. Little did I know, sometimes a person gets so desperate to feel better that they are willing to try almost anything.
I'm turning into a self-proclaimed health nut before my very eyes.
Vinegar. Good for blood circulation? I desperately grasp the jug with cold, blue-tinged fingers.
Daily vitamin. Mine makes a horse pill look small. Ok, not quite, but it feels that way when I attempt to force it down my throat.
Ginger. Good for its anti-inflammatory properties? Where's the root!? My inflamed joints will thank me.
Green tea. Full of antioxidants?! Get that tea pot boiling!
Cinnamon. Improves glucose and lipids levels? Pile the bundles of sticks by the back door please. Papaya leaf juice. Elevates a low blood platelets count. Into the blender goes a bundle of leaves.
Garlic. Lots of uses and good for whatever ails you. Into the ear goes a clove for earache. Fresh minced garlic goes in alot of our dishes. (Why are people falling over when we walk by? I don't smell anything.)
Four cups of water in the morning before eating anything. This is Chris's. I don't think I could handle that on an empty stomach.
Bye-bye sugar....sniff! I will never forget you. We've been such good friends for a LONG time. I love you and we will still get to see each other sometimes, but not as much.
And then the stressful decision...to exercise or not to exercise. It would be so easy to curl up in a ball and never have to unravel these painful joints. Unfortunately, my words from times past, glibly spoken to my residents at the nursing home, have come bouncing back to haunt me....
"You need to move it or you will lose it."
In other words, an ominous threat meaning "If you don't let me help you take your walk, you will lose the muscle tone you do have."
They would look at me with displeasure, snarl and snort, and threaten to throw their walker at me. Now that I know how it feels to move painful joints, I wouldn't blame them a bit if they would have thrown their walker at me. In fact, I would have hit me over the head with a cane for good measure.
Just because it's good to move arthritic limbs, doesn't mean its easy or fun. And it's always that fine line between getting them moving, and moving them too much, the latter which you only realize after its over and done.
The one day I forced myself to take a walk and was sooo bone weary that evening that I wailed from the shower to my husband...."I WISH I was an old lady! And I WISH I had a shower chair to sit on! And I WISH I had a nice nurse's aid to come give me my shower!" I was seriously so tired that I could hardly stand to shower. Perhaps the first time I was ever jealous of old folks.
The pain ranges from extreme, can't sleep at night kind (inflamed joints), to medium, can't carry the kettles to the table kind, (wrists) to mildly annoying, going down the steps sideways kind. (ankles).
It's not the kind where we can't go about our day to day living, its just that its always there. The children have had some rashes and pains again but nothing that has been keeping them down. Chris finds it is unhandy to do certain types of work that requires a strong grip or lots of walking.
Chikungunya had recently been declared an epidemic on the island, with Laborie being proclaimed the chickungunya capital of Grenada. Very few people have escaped it. Thankfully, it is a disease you will only get once....because it lasts the rest of your life. Haha...JK. (Although sometimes I wonder!:) Seriously though, it is something you will develop a resistance to, although you can have flare ups for up to 2 years. Some people think they are getting the second round of it, when in fact, it never left their body to begin with.
There are some other myths swirling around with the mosquitoes. Some that I don't bother arguing with if being presented to me....
Myth #1. The disease does not come from mosquitoes. The thought came from the idea that something so small could not cause so much pain.
Myth #2. The westerners brought the disease to the island. Whatever.
Myth #3. It's really not that bad. Ok, anyone that experienced it, knows that one isn't true, unless you just had a touch of it. That's what the government is encouraging people to say though, so as not to hurt the upcoming tourist season.
(At least that's what I've been told, unless that is myth #4.)
I have been able to be to put a few hours in at the hospital. In a way it helps me to get my mind off my own ailments when I can focus on other people's issues. There have been so many people coming in with chickungunya. Some come limping in and some are so weak they have to be brought in on wheelchairs. Unfortunately, there is just not a whole lot to do for it, other than an injection or pills for the pain or fluids if the patient is dehydrated. It definitely hits some people harder than others. Some people bounce back after a few days and the next ones end up spending weeks in the hospital.
Either it is part of the chikungunya or a nasty stomach bug going around, but we, and many others have had the honors of hosting that bug, as well.
Help! If it's true about the government not wanting word to get out about the chikungunya on this island, they're probably about ready to throw me in jail for writing all this! I sure don't want to scare visitors away, but I would think after rainy season there shouldn't be as many mosquitoes? Optimistic thinking? I don't know. I hope. If you're only coming to visit for a week or so, it would be worth it to faithfully wear strong bug repellant. It's just when you live here, it's hard to constantly keep yourself protected. We could be going through a bottle a day! (I have to insert here that I had one of my happiest moments this week. I woke up to find a blood smear on my hand and realized, to my utter delight, that I had somehow, someway, killed a mosquito in my sleep! I can make myself dizzy going in circles when I'm awake trying to kill just one annoying mosquito, so to realize I had killed one in my sleep was bliss beyond compare. I couldn't stop smiling. Just thinking about it makes me smile again....)
So anyway, it's not all bad and it's not all good around here. As is the case anywhere on this old earth. Just because we are sick here, doesn't say life would be perfect back home. Sickness is not confined to a certain area on the globe, and there are people suffering many areas around the world.
Like the twelve spies that searched out the Promised land, we can choose to see the milk and honey on this island or focus on the giants. We can choose to be thankful for all the many blessings we enjoy or be depressed over the fact that we can't go as strong as we used to. There are blessings in time of sickness...for when I am weak, then He is strong! It has been a time of discouragement. A time of learning. A time of stretching and, I hope, a time of growing. Through it all God has been faithful!
And so, we will attempt, with God's help, to look past the giants and focus on the milk and honey....
and meanwhile, we will try to enjoy our vinegar and ginger-laced drinks as we await better days!
Tons of pics...I must have went snap happy these last few weeks. I don't know if I should be embarrassed that half these pics show case our dogs or thankful that they provide so much entertainment? As I'm typing this, Collin wistfully remarks, "I wish I could shower with the dog."
I think not!
dish soap bottle. He said, "It must get stuff off really good!" Sorry son....
try to pop everyone elses without getting yours popped. The children loved it.
had to open a pack of smarties with a pair of gloves
Joyce Weaver are serving in Laura for 2 months.
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| Yea, this is the feeling.... |
Hopefully this lays to rest the rumor around here that chikungunya does not come from mosquitoes. 
or happy that the dog has a never ending supply of fresh water...
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| More dog entertainment....I really get annoyed at these mutts sometimes, dragging off wash and shoes, chewing up underwear, fighting and carrying on, underfoot at the most inconvenient times...but then, there are times I feel like I should give them a good juicy bone for all the entertaining they do.... |
and Angie went along. Was a fun evening even though we didn't catch much.
in and out, fish off, ect...he was beginning to despair on ever getting to fish himself!
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| "Yea! I caught one, but I'm gonna hold it way out here so it doesn't touch me!!!!" |
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| The awesome sunset while out fishing |
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| Someone likes the Monday morning pile of wash better than me! PS. I'm REALLY starting to get embarrassed of all these dog pictures! Even if we're dog tired through these long dog days of summer, I promise our life consists of more than dogs. Are you dogged out yet??:) |
home the middle of November, please the Lord. (Grenadain equivalent of Lord Willing)
him famous. (Even though it was a randomly snapped photo...)
Thank you so much for your prayers. I wasn't sure if I wanted to add this yet, just for the fact that if we would dwell on all the what if's, could have beens and close calls in life, we could drive ourselves crazy. I share it more as a token of thanks for my sister's faithful prayers. Last week she woke up around 5:00 in the morning with a strong feeling to pray for us. About that same time Carter "just happened" to wake up to see a flame in their fan. Apparently the motor had burned out and started on fire. The flame was small enough that Collin could blow it out. However, if he wouldn't have awakened at that time, it wouldn't have stayed small for long. A fire in our house is one thing that always kinda scared me. All of our windows have bars over them and our only escape is out the front door since our back door has a gate over it that is padlocked from the outside. Our bedroom is down the hall from the boys so we would have had to get past that point to get out. So anyway, we are thankful all ended well and that we don't need to dwell on the what ifs, but rest in the fact that nothing will happen outside of God's control!
As I conclude this blog post, started over a week ago, we are enjoying some good days and some not as good days. I do believe, barring any set backs, that we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The pain is not as intense, it is always there, but we are able to go about life in an almost normal, although slower, fashion. Today I was feeling more energetic so I decided to walk to the grocery store about half a mile down the road. I left the house with a "gonna do it or die" attitude.
Till I got there I felt like I did when we walked the one side of the island one day this past spring, which was 32 miles. I made it though! There and back! Yeah for me!! I'm paying for it now but it was fun while it lasted!:)
Ok, I must end this post before it turns into a book! Good bye and God bless!
