Let me begin by thanking those who have been praying for me over the past days. It's been a long time since I felt this bad, and it reminded me of the long bout of whooping cough that originally damaged my lungs twenty years ago.
Yesterday, it was such a relief when I noticed that the throat pain was less, and I began to feel that I was turning the corner. The cough has still been really bad, though, and sometimes I cough so long that I can hardly catch my breath. There's also been some blood in the phlegm, and I know from long years of living in Africa, that this usually means they'll want to do a tuberculosis test - especially if they know that you have been working with poor and vulnerable children and have a cough that doesn't seem to be responding to antibiotics. So, after quite a difficult night of coughing and choking, I went back to the doctor as 6 o'clock this morning to have my chest checked again.
The good news is that he still says it's probably a bad bout of pneumonia with some laryngitis too... but he also said that my antibiotics weren't strong enough. So he's given me a prescription for stronger antibiotics, as well as something to reduce the pain of the incessant cough. If there's no improvement by Tuesday, I've to go back again for the TB testing, but he thinks it's more likely that it's just pneumonia. My lungs are very susceptible to cold fans, to getting caught in the rain, and to air conditioning... and I was exposed to all three of these "hazards" during my last twenty four hours in Senegal.
Despite feeling so awful since coming home, I do look back on the month in West Africa with extreme thankfulness. I was in good health for the whole time in Senegal, and we saw many wonderful answers to prayer as we worked with the "Gather and Go" camp, the "Planting Together" week, and the outreaches with ministries working with vulnerable children.
If you didn't already receive my September newsletter this weekend, you can read more news about the Senegal trip by clicking this link: News from Senegal and Spain, September 2013.
