malaria and more

It truly is remarkable how much good one little pill can do. Especially when you have malaria. Yesterday I started having abdominal pain in the late morning, and by early afternoon I was pretty sure it was malaria. By dusk I thought I might die. After much debate, discussion, and research about which drug would be best for me to take (since I am still breastfeeding Micah), and then much driving around the city by our friends, trying to locate the drug (despite the fact that it's the government subsidized drug "readily available" for pregnant and nursing women), I finally took the first dose around 8:30pm. Between the antimalarial and some ibuprofen, I feel like a new person. Well, not quite, but I do feel a big improvement over yesterday. Last night before I took the meds, I couldn't lie down, because it hurt too much, and I had constant pain in my side/abdomen no matter whether I was standing, sitting, or lying. Now, only 14 hours later, I am lying down, virtually pain-free as I write this. But oh, am I exhausted!!!!

Stewart and Micah are both doing better as well. Micah is now on day 2 of his 3 day malaria treatment. And despite also having an ear infection in both ears, he is doing really well. He is playing happily right now, and seems more his usual self than he has in days. In fact, I think he just ate an ant. Lovely. Anyways... it seems like we caught Micah's malaria quite early on, and he never got really sick, which we are so thankful for.

Stewart also seems to be improving, although still probably the sickest of the bunch. He is still in the it-hurts-to-breath stage. But he is up and about and improving. The thing with anti-malarials is that they are strong and kick the malaria fast, but also can give you some lovely side effects. Like abdominal pain. And headaches. Somewhat like the malaria itself. So I think that's where Stew is at - still not feeling great, but probably due to the drugs more than the malaria.

I am amazed and so thankful for our friends here, and how very helpful they have been. They have been making us meals, watching Micah for us, taking us to and from the doctor, and now, just last night, a friend slept over at our house to help care for Micah in the night. She enabled us to get a good rest last night, and know Micah was being well cared for. All I had to do was get up and nurse him and go back to bed. She did the rest. What a blessing!

There are so many people praying for us -- we can tell. Your prayers are making a difference in our lives. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to heal. Although the treatment for malaria is only three days, we've been warned that we will continue to feel exhausted and run-down for at least a couple weeks afterward.

Thanks for caring for us!

Charisa
P.S. I took this photo of my sick boys a couple days ago (before I was sick), when Micah was at his worst and just wanted to snuggle. It was hard to see him sick, but precious to receive snuggles from our not-so-snuggly baby!