Chance Encounter with a Bird!

This past weekend after I got out of the hospital, my dad flew in to visit us and bring down our homeschool supplies. We took him all over the place and during one of our trips Doug had a chance encounter with a bird. The bird was HIGHLY interested in Doug's hat and eventually pulled off the top center piece of his hat.

It had been a nice shiny blue, but the bird tried to eat it. We finally got the bird to drop the piece he had so that he wouldn't be hurt. However, Doug's hat is now missing a piece and will be a wonderful memory ever time we look at his hat.

After the bird stole a part of Doug's hat, he went after Doug's backpack. Maybe the bird was attracted to red hair or something.

My Hospital Stay

was great! I know most people wouldn't say that any hospital stay was great, but the hospital that I was at for FIVE days, was REALLY great!!! Clinica Biblica (http://www.clinicabiblica.com/) is the best hospital in Costa Rica. We are priviledged to have a doctor who practices there and also has hours at the language school! I truly believe that I received the same quality of care, if not better care, as I would have in the states. Dr. John Longworth, our doctor here, was born in Canada, but was raised here as an MK. He came back here to work at Clinica Biblica, but he has a special heart for missionaries, so he also has an office at the school where he sees ILE (Instituto de Lengua Espanola) students and their families at a discounted price. WHAT A BLESSING!!! And boy does he take care of us. While in the hospital he visited every day and got a TOP NOTCH endocrinologist involved in my case. What a comfort! Doctora Loria spoke English and I learned more from her in less than 1 hour than I have learned from any doctor. God was truly watching out for me! The nurses and staff at the hospital were wonderful, very friendly, and you could tell they truly love their work in a Christian hospital.

On Saturday I went into emergency with a friend from ABWE, Heidi Gott. She is here with us studying and then will head on to Colombia. I will miss her dearly when we head to different fields! Saturday was the day I felt the worst. I didn't know why, but I knew that by staying at home, I was not getting better, only worse, so while Heidi checked my into the hospital they attempted putting in an IV port. While they did this, I was so exhausted I couldn't even make a strong fist. I also almost passed out while sitting up on that gurney. After I laid down for quite a while they got me into a room on the 3rd floor. Then began the tests and tests and more tests. Until my dad called Doug on Sunday AM telling him of a familial history factor, that was KEY to determining what was wrong with my body, did we know which way to go with the MANY blood tests, X-rays, CAT scans, and a tilt test. The tilt test which tested my blood pressure and heart rate in various positions, was the worst test for me. I told Dr. Longworth of the familial history of Addison's Disease on Sunday at 11:00am when he visited me. By 4:00 pm there was an Endocrinologist in my room explaining issues. She connected SOOOO many dots from my past and current medical history. I praise the Lord that she was there to explain things and give me hope that I really did have a reason for being in the hospital.

They determined through the tilt test and multiple blood tests that indeed I do have Addison's Disease. For more info go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addison or www.endocrine.niddk.nih.gov/pubs/addison/addison.htm . My grandfather and my aunt on my dad's side of the family also have this disease. This is "fixed" by cortizone pills, but even though I am out of the hospital, it will take a few days for my body to adjust to the meds. I'll return to school next week and then I have a HUGE oral exam on Wednesday and then a 3 hour written grammar test on Thursday. Please pray that I would have enough energy to take these tests so close to starting the medicine and that my body would hold up for such a long and emotionally nerve racking day.

Thanks to each and every one of you who prayed for me and who continue to pray for me! I still need it. We still need it. The kids had a REALLY hard time with my being in the hospital and cried themselves to sleep at least once if not more than once while I was gone. Doug is exhausted from running a household, being sole provider for the kids, full time student, and visiting a sick wife in the hospital. Pray this long weekend that is upcoming, with my dad visiting, will be a relaxing one and would give us family unity and security for the kids once again!

Diagnosis

(This is Doug posting for Heather)

For those of you who do not get our email updates, I wanted to get you updated on the latest results.

Heather went to the hospital here in San Jose on Saturday (July 18th) and thoroughly had the doctors stumped trying to figure out what was wrong. On Sunday Heather's dad called with some historical family information and that provided the clue for the doctor's. Heather met with an endocrinologist (spl?) and she asked all types of questions. They did a test on Monday called the tilt test (otherwise known as how fast can you vomit test), which Heather thoroughly enjoyed (notice the sarcasm) but the good thing was it matched what the doctor's were expecting.

Entonces, we met with the doctor tonight (Tuesday), and he said that their working conclusion is that Heather has Addison's disease. Basically her adrenal glands are not functioning correctly, but thankfully it can be offset and corrected with medicine.

Lord willing the plan is that Heather will come home tomorrow (Wednesday) which is none to late as her Dad will fly in on Thursday afternoon!!

Thank you so much for your prayers.

Hopefully Heather will be back with her own blog story very soon!!

Off to the Hospital

Off I go... Will write more when we know more and or when I'm home. Keep praying!!

Next Step - Hospital

I just got off the phone again with the doctor and because my low grade fever has continued today, he has said that it isn't unreasonable to wait out the weekend, but then in order to run more tests and such, I have to be admitted into the hospital. His main reason for this is that we've already spent around $300 in out patient tests and doctor visits, which we have no insurance for, so he would rather be able to admit me so as to run more tests with our 100% coverage in patient medical insurance.

Not sure what we'll do. Maybe I'll wait it out a bit longer, I still have to talk to Doug and make a decision. I'll keep you all posted. Just keep praying!!!

This is SOOO foreign to me! I've never been this ill. I've never missed school for this long. I've never had to have meals brought in, except when I gave birth. It's amazing how much identity I find from the things I "do" for my family, for my teachers, for my mission, for God. It's really hard to apply the Be Still and Know that He is my God verse.

So we know...

What Heather's sickness isn't. It isn't mono, although to my surprise the Doctor said I have had it in the past, which I truly don't remember nor was I ever diagnosed with mono. It isn't Hepatitus. It isn't Dengue fever. The blood tests 8 or 9 in total revealed some kind of heightened blood level that leads the doctor to believe that I have some sort of virus, but he doesn't know what. If this persists past the weekend, we're looking at more tests, the consideration of Lupis and/or some kind of immune dificiency disease. Just keep praying!!! We'll update you as we know more.

Amundson Prayer Request from Doug

Dear Family & Supporters,

I would like to ask that you pray for Heather over the next couple of days. Heather has been running a fever since last Thursday (July 10th) and has been extremely tired. We have had two visits with doctors and we took our second trip to the hospital. Her fever has been running around 100/101 since Thursday and she only has about an hour or two of energy before she is wiped out for the day.

1) Please pray for Heather that her body would fight off the disease or virus that she has
2) Pray that the Doctor would have wisdom in looking at the blood tests from today (8 in total)
3) Protection for the rest of the family (if it is contagous)
4) Quick recovery

Thanks so much!!!

Doug

SICK!

The last 5 days have been NUTS! It all started with a REALLY soar throat leading into a cold and then TOTAL exhaustion. I couldn't focus on anything. I couldn't read. My head was hard to hold up and seemed REALLY heavy after only 5 minutes. I slept over 50 hours in less than 4 days. Yesterday, I tried to go to school and barely made it through one of my 2 hour classes. I then headed home to sleep through my second class, before I headed off to the doctor's office. The doctor basically said I have some sort of respiratory virus that is sapping all of my energy. I asked to be tested for Mono, and asked if it came back as positive, if I needed to see him again for additional treatment. He said, no because the symptoms and treatment are the same. GREAT! Well, the test came back negative for mono, so why am I still feeling SO WEAK?

This is just one of the meds that the Dr. perscribed. Its like an energy supplement that I'm supposed to take once a day. Then I have another anti-viral pill I have to take every 12 hours. Adventures, Adventures.

I'm taking today "off" from school to try to rest some more, but then I have to hit the ground running tomorrow with an exam in my first 2 hour class, a 2 hour (in Spanish) presentation, and then afternoon tutoring. Please pray for me, and for my family, as I am "down" sick. My spirits are good, spending extra time with God, but life does move on and the next 3 weeks are the busiest yet with LOTS of assignments and a HUGE evaluation of my language ability. Please just Pray for God to work HIS will, even if this is his way of getting me to a mountain to worship alone for a while, as Jesus did so often.

Recent Adventures!

This past week has been NUTS! Last weekend we visited the Children's Museum on Friday, got to see Wall-e, and visit a house for the family we are helping to transition here from the states all on Saturday. Then on Sunday I taught Sunday School again before being in the church service. We did all that without water, which came back on EARLY Monday morning.

Monday I did LOADS and LOADS of laundry!
Tuesday I was home with Caleb who was home sick with a fever and cold.
Wednesday during my 2 hour break between classes, I went with a friend to PriceMart which is just like Sam's Club in the states, made it home to unpack the food, and walk back to school for my second class
Thursday I woke up with a TERRIBLY soar throat, but had an hour long Bible study to present so I went to school anyway.
Thursday afternoon the kids spent a rainy afternoon at 2 different friends' homes while Doug and I braved the buses, taxis, and downtown to get our Costa Rican driver's licenses. That was definitely an experience worth telling, but by the end of the process, I was SOOO sick. I came home, went to bed at 6:30 and woke up Friday at 6:30am.
I ran a fever all night and after attempting to go to school. I came back home only to sleep about 3 hours more.
Now we're going to watch a movie and eat "Clam Chowda."
Hope you all have a GREAT weekend. I know I'll be doing A LOT of hanging around!

Different Tidbits

I was SOOO excited today when my landlord, who speaks fluent English, Spanish, Portugese, and French overheard me speaking to the new gardener that our landlord hired. He told me that I was basically fluent! WOW!!!!
Here's a picture of Hannah having fun one evening just before going to bed. She loves her initials and enjoyed using her Dora Dominoes to create her initials. We just had to get the picture.

CHEAP VIP Theater

Here in Costa Rica you can see any movie you want in dubbed over Spanish, but to see an English movie with Spanish subtitles it depends on the theater and what you wish to see. To see a movie here is usually just over $2 per person. Remember those days in the states? Well there is also a special VIP theater which costs just about as much as in the states to go to a regular movie, only you get to sit in leather recliners while watching your movie, and waiters come to take your snack/meal order from the various restaurants just outside the theater seating. We didn't avail ourselves of the waiters or ordering in the theater, but we did get a few snacks before we went in and fully enjoyed the leather recliners. In the end though, not REALLY worth all the extra hipe. Just like many things we try to get our hands on and then get what we wanted only to find out it really wasn't worth all the hipe.

Museo de los Ninos

Here in Costa Rica there is a great museum for kids. We had 4th of July off, not by tradition, but by "chance" since our teachers had meetings and many other Americans did have class in the afternoon. Anyway, since we had the day off we went to the museum. Here's a video of the kids hands on learning session of how to pick bananas, wash them, weigh them, and pack them for shipping. What a COOL learning experience of something they see all the time here, Banana Trees!!!

There are many more pictures on our amundsonanthem.shutterfly.com website. Don't forget the password of where we will be serving the Lord in just 8 short months!




This one's for my brother Austin. His basketball number was ALWAYS #22. I thought of you Austin as soon as I saw it, so I just HAD to take a picture of this wonderful engine.

Is anyone out there??

Just a question. Does anyone else read this blog or am I just typing for the Lord and cyberspace?

Tenemos Agua

We have water!!! --------At least for today. But I am thankful that I did get a HOT shower today and I'm currently running the wash of ANY and practically ALL of our clothes.
Gloria a Dios, tenemos agua!!!

Day #4 SIN AGUA

Sin agua means without water. Praise God we have a reservoire in our yard with enough water for the basics like flushing when we need to and for heating to take "baths" in a rubbermaid tub. We just finished hauling in water from the tank to do a load laundry consisting of only the necessities. What an adventure! However we are SOOO thankful that the house in front of us is vacant because otherwise we'd have NO water at all! God is good ALL the time!!! Enjoy your showers tomorrow morning and pray for us the whole time! I don't know if we'll be able to have one and there are plenty of other people around the world who have NO WATER, so a cold head wash and sponge bath is fine by me!