Steak Does a Body Good

We got John's blood tests back yesterday and wanted to give a quick update...

<> <>Here are his levels... the one we were most concerned about was his hemoglobin because he was right on the border of needing a blood transfusion and he was having many symptoms of anemia.

	6/12/11	6/20/11	Normal Levels
Red Blood Cells	2.65	3.56	4.70-6.10
Hemoglobin	8.0	10.9	13.5-16.5
Hematocrit	22.9	33.0	42.0-52.0
AST aka "liver enzymes"	107	26	15-37
Total Bilirubin	3.6	.6	.2-1.0

But in just over a week he went up 2.9 L! yay! And sadly... his hemoglobin beats mine!  I've been a little on the low side since being pregnant.  I did find out that babies are born with a hemoglobin level between 15-20L!!! So its not really my fault is what I'm trying to say... the baby is stealing it from me! ;)

Also John's liver enzymes and bilirubin are now in normal levels!  We still have some work to do in the anemia areas but I'm VERY excited that he made soo much progress!

Today we got our our account balance from John C. Lincoln... its almost laughable what a bill you can rack up! Thank the Lord that our insurance is covering most of it!  But it is over $12000!!!!  Thats like half of our yearly income! But God always provides!

Iron Man

A little update on John's condition...
John was released from the hospital Sunday evening with instructions to go back to the ER or urgent care for a blood transfusion if he had an increase in the following: nausea, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, etc. 

His hemoglobin was about an 8 on Sunday which was right on the brink of needing a blood transfusion but the Dr. figured that he was a young healthy guy and would probably be able to improve without it.  Plus there are risks with having a transfusion such as having an immune reaction or getting other germs.

So we decided to fight his low hemoglobin and anemia by treating it at home with iron supplements and high-iron foods. 

Here is a day in the life of my wonderful husband John in terms of eating:

7:00 am  3 eggs with salsa and fluoridix supplement (14.8 mg iron)

9:00 am green smoothie (spinach, orange juice, frozen bananas, frozen strawberries) - 1.6 mg iron

12:00 Lunch- steak sandwich - 4.6 mg iron

3:00 snack- protein bar - 5 mg iron

6:30 Dinner- 2 hamburger patties (grass-fed beef mixed with some beef liver) - 3.0 mg iron

Snacks that are high in iron:
                  - apricots

                  - prunes, prune juice (John doesn't like these!)

                  - prenatal multivitamin (because they are high in iron!) - 27 mg iron

So in total, John got anywhere from probably 40-56 mg iron Monday through Wednesday.  He needs Vitamin B12, Folate, and iron to rebuild red blood cells.  It takes 5-7 days to rebuild the cells so John needed some good raw materials to work with.

Monday through Wednesdays John was feeling a lot of the symptoms of anemia.  When he would lay down for a nap he would get a racing heart, at night he would have some insomnia, if he didn't eat every 2 hours or so he would feel shaky, and he would get dizzy if he got up too quickly.  He also showed evidence of jaundice in his skin and eyes.

Thursday was a big turn around day so I've been a little more lenient on food and supplement intake.  Today (Sunday) a week after being discharged he would say he is at 85-90%.  He gets a little dizzy still sometimes and his skin is a little pale but other than that he's doing much better.  We go see our general doctor tomorrow to redo blood work to see if he's improved.  I'm hoping for a hemoglobin of at least 9.5 or better! 

Some things we're excluding: caffeine (inhibits iron absorption), alcohol (John would maybe have a beer a week or less but malaria and the drugs to treat it do a number on your liver so he is going to take a break for 3-6 months)

Other hints to improve your iron... always take it with vitamin C which helps it's absorption. 

John was able to understand what pregnancy feels like in terms of hunger... we were eating a pregnancy diet together... eating every 2 hours... lots of iron, etc!  Despite not wanting John to have to experience what he had to experience, I enjoyed spending time with him this week, eating together, and using my layman's nutrition knowledge to help him heal. 

John Has Malaria :(

Some of this post is a repeat from an email we sent out to friends and family but I added a bunch also...

For the past 3 weeks or so John has been having some ups and downs... somedays he feels great... other days he's been having body aches and chills and a headache almost daily.  Tuesday night we finally caught a high enough temperature to think it was more than something like dehydration or viral so we took him to see a family dr.  I was thinking he could have worms or possibly hepatitis A or even some other tropical disease that I don't even know about.  The Dr. ran a whole bunch of blood tests but once we started really verbalizing his symptoms we thought "maybe you do have malaria".  We had brought back a few at home tests for malaria so decided to take one just to see what it said.  Well immediately it showed up positive for Plasmodium falciparum.  Everything made sense... he had the typical presentation of malaria... headache, body ache, chills, feeling feverish every 1-2 days (cyclical nature)... the only thing that didn't fit the bill was the absence of a super high fever. 

So we called the dr. to tell him about the positive test and they called us back saying their tests showed he was negative for malaria! We were like "what?" We didn't know what to do? The thing about living in an area where medical treatment is generally sub-par or far away is you start to make a lot more decisions yourself regarding treatment.  You rely less on the "experts."  Also, most people that have been to or lived in Africa would much rather be treated for malaria in Africa than be treated in the U.S.  Most US, UK, and German doctors just don't encounter malaria enough to recognize signs and symptoms, know proper treatment protocol, etc.  We will see proof of this later in the story...

So because of this new way of thinking, I told John "I think you should just take the medication" (we had brought back some malaria treatment just for such an occasion)  They were mefloquine, quinine sulfate, and artesunate (which is currently not approved for use in the US... but like I said what do they know?" lol!) The World Health Organization's recommendation for malaria treatment is 1000 mg mefloquine + 200 mg artesunate for Day One.  Day Two: 100 mg artesunate. Day Three: 100 mg artesunate + 500 mg mefloquine.  John was not sure about it... he didn't want to disrespect the US doctor we went to by saying "thanks for all the blood tests, but we don't trust you and are going to do what we want anyways"

We called a family friend of ours, Chris, who is also a Dr. to ask him his opinion.  My thought was if he DOES have malaria lets get him on some meds so he would be on the road to recovery sooner than later.  Chris was going to do some research for us and call us back.  John was feeling okay so we decided to go see the new Xmen movie (which is fantastic by the way) with our friends.  Before we left we hadn't heard back from Chris so I encouraged John to take the Day One meds.  John did so but within an hour of taking the meds while we were at the theater he started feeling sick again.  He felt freezing cold in the theater while wearing both my and his sweater.  I suggested to him that either we or just him could leave if he wasn't feeling well.  Looking back on it, it was so selfish! I can't believe I would even suggest him leave without me... despite my love for Xmen.  As we were walking back to the car (Ben and Kati drove us) John was walking really slowly and was shaking.  John could barely muster out any words he felt so bad.

Ben and Kati took us straight home and almost instantly John ran to the bathroom to throw up.  He also peed and there was blood in his urine.  That scared him and we decided to go to the ER.  As my mom drove the car John was in the back yakking.  It was such a blessing that there was NO ONE in the ER waiting room. They put John in a wheelchair and with a few questions and signatures they had him in an ER room getting blood and an IV fluid.  They gave him an antinausea medicine and an antiinflammatory for the pain. 

I had never seen John feel so sick in my life and my heart hurt so badly for him.  Everything in me wanted to start crying and possibly go in to a little hysterics but God gave me a strength that surpasses all understanding.  I knew John did not need for me to be crying but to be a source of strength and calm when I am sure he was scared about what the outcome may be.  I was feeling bad about having encouraged him to take the medication when he wanted to wait on what the Dr. said and not go our own way.  He also told me that he felt like his sickness was from the medication themselves... like maybe they were bad... It is hard to be certain that you are getting quality medication in Sierra Leone. 

I felt a little better when the ER doctor said that the medication regimen was an understandable choice.  Made me feel less of a bad wife for encouraging him to take it.  They gave him an anti-nausea medication and an anti-inflammatory for the pain.  Around 2 or 2:30 am, they had procured a room for him so we went there.  He was starting to feel a little better by then. The ER nurse told me that he would be able to get anti-nausea meds, pain meds, and even sleep meds if he needed it.  When we got to the 4th floor she gave him a couple tylenol and a sleep aid.  After she left we turned out the lights and I tried to climb in the bed so I could sleep there with him.  The nurse returned and said I wasn't allowed :(  Around 3:45 am my mom picked me up and I went home to sleep a few hours and take a shower.  I was back at the hospital around 7:20 am to find John still knocked out. 

A few hours later we got a visit from the infectious disease specialist.  I gave her the run down about the blood tests and she concluded that he does have malaria.  I told her that he tested positive for the P.f. strain on our at home blood test and she says to John "oh thats the fatal one." We both rolled our eyes and laughed about that later.  I'm not discounting the seriousness of John's illness, but its coming from someone who probably rarely treats malaria.  Anyways, she ordered the malaria treatment from the pharmacy and its supposed to arrive sometime this afternoon.  If we were in Africa, we would have gotten medication for malaria treatment within an hour of a positive test.  I don't think we'll even find out what the test results say till tomorrow. 

It is about 11:30 am right now and I am sitting with John in the hospital.  John's family has come in from Parker and my uncle Phil came to visit.  I am so thankful for the support of family and friends that have said they are praying for John... you know who you are! I will keep you all posted...

Photo Shoot

A few highlights from my maternity photo shoot by my super talented cousin Stephen...

Here is Stephen and his lovely future wife assistant and girlfriend Katie who provided the entertainment throughout the shoot.   What can we say? We're silly!

These past 2 weekends I had 2 baby showers... one in Flagstaff and one in Phoenix... I will post some photos from those soon!

And Debbie... I will send you a copy of the DVD with the pictures on it ;)