Update after St. Louis

We were on the road over the weekend, leaving Sunday afternoon for St. Louis for Jack's appointment with the specialist. The trip went well. The Dr. was really nice guy who actually has been in the part of the world we were living in, doing some research with vaccines, he even knew where the capital city of Papua was and stuff like that.

 

His initial suspect is some kind of a parasite, so he started Jack on a funky, expensive drug as a trial, to see if it works to kill the parasite. He's not positive yet, but he is doing some tests to be sure. Beyond that, he does agree that Jack is underweight and he's doing some blood work to see if Jack has any deficiencies at all. He felt like, if the medicine didn't work, we couldn't find a parasite or if the blood tests came back clear, that jack would likely then have what's called Toddlers Diarrhea, which is bascially iritable bowel syndrome for kids. It's somehting that Jack would hopefully grow out of, but it's also an 'umbrella' diagnosis, being something that isn't really conclusive as to what is causing the problem. The Dr. wants to see Jack again in early summer to see how his growth is going.

 

So, we were pretty happy, but obviously hoping for a more conclusive diagnosis or idea. We may still have some more checking to do. We'll see.

 

For us as a family, as of right now, we still have no big plans as to what comes next. We have moved things around a  bit more in Bethany's mom's house so that we can stay sane a few more months here if need be. We were all living in one room, the four of us Potters and we were sleeping terribly, all hearing each other in the night.  Thanks to our ultraflexible mom for being willing to have her home overtaken!  We are talking with various folks in our mission who work in the states at our training centers to see what might be available for us for the next few years.  Once we know something concrete, we'll let you all know. 

 

Thanks for all your prayers lately, especially as we have fought sickness after sickness.  It seems we are all healthy again and are enjoying the first days of spring.  Soon the dogwoods in mom's front yard will burst forth with blossoms, the grass will turn green, the tulips will pop out of the ground in vibrant color and the world will look new again.  Praise God for the creativity he had in creating seasons!