Kenya: enforced rest

I didn't post yesterday because there wasn't a chance... but as of this morning I have all the time in the world.

It was a 12 hour drive back from Kakamega - shorter than the journey there, but still longer than we'd hoped. We were all pretty wiped out (except of course D(3), who seems have no off switch).

When we arrived back at the house, N(5) was in a bad state. Her fever, despite antibiotics and ibuprofen, stood at 39.5 and the mango we tried to feed her came right back up. We took the decision that she needed to be seen in hospital.

After listening to her breathing, the doctor said straight away that she has pneumonia. A blood test showed that her inflammation markers, which should be no more than 8, were at 156! It was decided she needed to stay for two days to receive IV antibiotics and other meds.

We were both feeling rather distressed by then. It was awful seeing my lively girl in such a weak state. While we waited for the blood test results, we waited in a doctor's room and there was a little Gideon Bible. I opened it at random and landed here:

I have to admit I pretty much lost it then.

After the decision was taken to keep her in, we were given a huge private room (I'm dreading the bill, which I'll have to pay before claiming it back from insurance - whether my credit card limits will cover all this?) and we got some pretty good sleep. Except for a lot of coughing of course.

I couldn't fault this hospital or the staff, they are wonderful.

Of course this has now forced us into an unplanned rest period. I'm pretty convinced that all the travel and lack of sleep (early mornings and late nights) had something to do with N developing this... the plan was to get up at 4am the following morning to catch a train to Mombasa for 4 days there; I've had to send Mr and D(3) with the rest of the party, while we stay at Emmanuel's house after being discharged. This rest period is exactly what N needs... so it's all working out ok. We do appreciate prayers for her recovery.

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