Back to Juba

mosquito net over the hospital bed :)

I have waited to write anything until we got back to Juba so that I could do an update on everything at once.
Lynn did get an MRI and a CT scan done. The scan showed one large stone and several smaller stones right behind it so no wonder he was in a lot of pain. All the tests they did that first day came back kind of scary, they said his kidneys were working at less than 50% and other numbers were off also. Not what you want to hear when you are far from home. On day 13 of pain he finally passed the stone but by then he was so worn down it was hard for him to eat and drink like he needed to and he ended up in the hospital with dehydration and a fever but was discharged after only 2 nights in the hospital.
I feel like the last 2 weeks would need about 6 blogs just to get caught up!
Some things we learned:
1. Every time you go to the Dr or get any kind of test done at the hospital you need a letter from your insurance promising to pay the bill. It does not matter if you were there the day before for the same test, you better have a letter.
2. God provides support where ever you are.
3. I (Sharon) do not have any patience for dealing with people in the States who are supposed to know how to handle things, insurance wise, in another country and don't believe me when I say I cannot get a certain phone number for them.
4. It is easy to pick up with friends you have not seen for 20+ years
5. The food in the hospital was served stove hot.
6. God is good!

I love that whenever we go to Nairobi we see beautiful flowers!

7. Even good guesthouse food gets old after 2 weeks.
8. Even with all the uncertainty at first with Lynn's health, we felt the prayers of you all and we knew that God was in control - even when it was hard for us to pray.
9. In Kenya, Lynn is a girls name only, so at the hospital everyone was getting a good laugh out of his name. Yes, Lynn fed into the jokes all the time.

Lynn did get a real ego boost our first day in Kenya. When we went down to get an appt. for the MRI the lady there wanted to know where the person was who was getting the MRI. When I pointed at Lynn, who was standing right there and talking to her she said there was no way Lynn is 60 years old! She was looking behind us to find an old man :) She thought Lynn was 45!!

We did enjoy getting away from the heat of Juba and even though I would not call it a relaxing time away we were still ready to get back to Juba and try to get into a normal routine again. We are hoping to find another language teacher and continue with learning Arabic.
There is really no way I can express how much your emails meant to us during that time. I know some of you felt like you did not want to "bother" us but reading those is no bother and I answer as I can.

Please continue to pray for Lynn to gain strength. Pray also for South Sudan.

Headed back to Juba!

Traveling Fun

Well, our adventure continues! We are taking a little break in Nairobi, Kenya and the process of getting here was....interesting.
We were to be at the Juba airport at 2pm for check in and when they say 2 they mean 2 and not one minute before! We arrived 20 minutes early and while the people were at the desk they said not before 2, so okay, we wait. At 2 the people behind the desk get up and leave! So, wait a minute, you said wait until 2 and then you leave???? They came back in about 10 minutes with 2 briefcases which at first we thought were computers and since the power had just gone off we thought, oh boy, but the cases were full of boarding passes, luggage tags etc. Ok, so now we get checked in, someone takes our suitcase to weigh and we try to keep track of it through the crowd. Oh, and it is over 100 degrees, no air-conditioning and no breeze, just sweat running down the body in rivers. Ok, get our suitcase back and tagged, now what? Oh, on to immigration, ok. At immigration they have one of those things that scans your face but they can't have air-conditioning in the building? I love Juba:) Done with immigration and off to go through security and into another HOT room where there are no empty seats so we stand until a plane boards and then there is a rush for the empty seats. Guess what? there is air-conditioning in the room -  you just  have to sit right beside the air-conditioner to feel it! I was just glad to have a seat! Our plane was to leave at 4 with boarding at 3:30. Mind you, someone just walks through the area announcing boarding so you have to pay attention. At about 5 til 4 they announce our plane and we go to the door where someone leads across the tarmac, under the wings of other airplanes, around airplanes, through other people getting off airplanes and finally to our airplane which I think was the furthest from the building. At the plane you go over to a cart, identify your suitcases and then they put them on the plane - it was nice to know our suitcase was going to be on the plane with us.
We arrive in Nairobi and, wow, was I impressed with the airport! Mind you, it has been 20 years since I was last here so things should have changed. We landed and went through immigration, got our suitcase, went through customs and were outside in less than 30 minutes!!!! We we got off the airplane we went down the steps and walked over to a bus that would take us to the building. Well, when we got off the airplane it was breezy and cool - maybe 70 degrees and it felt great! I know, I know, we have been bragging about our hot weather but I will admit that Juba is just plain HOT so this felt really good. Now, don't get me wrong, I will take Juba weather any day over what Ohio has been getting this winter!
So, here we are at Amani Gardens Inn ( formerly the Mennonite Guesthouse ) in Nairobi, for a week. We have stayed here many times years ago, but things have changed - new buildings, different meal set up but the feel is still the same. This is a little piece of heaven. Beautiful gardens, big play area for kids, tennis court, friendly people. A chance to recharge the body.
We are also going to get some medical things taken care of while here and do some shopping for things we can't get in Juba.
I could not get this posted yesterday so I can give a bit of an update today.
We spent most of the day yesterday at the hospital getting tests done on Lynn. We still have some more to do but would really appreciate your prayers. Lynn is having trouble with pain in the kidney area and the Dr. here in Nairobi wants to do an MRI on Monday.
One thing about Nairobi that has changed that we really do not like is the traffic. I think we could have walked back from the hospital faster than the taxi drove! It is nothing for a 20 min ride to take an hour! I am really glad I do not have to drive in this city. What is normally a 1 hour drive to the airport can now take close to 3 hours depending on the time of day.  There is a very narrow window that you can do it in the 1 hour.
We are blessed to have all of you praying for us.