Health Update

Hello sweet friends and family!

For those of you who were aware of my poor health, thank you so much for your prayers! I would like everyone to know that I am recovering well and finally out and about today.

To make a long story short, Friday afternoon I began to feel ill but wrote it off as cramps and went to my ministry site anyway. I didn't have the energy I usually have with the kids, so I knew something was off. When we returned back to YWAM that evening I was really nauseous and decided top skip dinner and go straight to bed. I slept for maybe an hour and woke up feeling worse than before. My sickness escalated pretty quickly, I was shaking, freezing cold, my body ached, my stomach was upset and vomiting and diarrhea was inevitable. There was a celebration (music, food, dancing, laughing) going on outside of my room in honor of the two other teams staying at YWAM who were leaving the next morning to go home, so I was alone in my room for a while until Kaylin found me and I told her I needed to see a doctor. I tried to fight the pain and sickness as much as I could and contemplated in my head the pros and cons of going to a hospital in a foreign country. When my temperature reached 101 and I could hardly move, I knew I was desperate for medical help. I ended up going to an international clinic and having to stay overnight because I was severely dehydrated, and my temperature had risen to 102. The doctor who took my in also said that he thought I had some type of bacterial infection. Corinne stayed the night with me in the hospital and it was so comforting to have her there with me every step of the way. It took a lot of trust for me to surrender my helpless body over to the doctors and nurses here, and overall it was such a humbling experience. I was definitely in good hands. By morning my blood results showed low calcium and potassium and my stool sample indicated that I have Entamoeba histolytica, which is a parasitic digestive infection. I was able to return to YWAM by noon and I was given a number of medications to take. Since being released, I have been able to rest and recovery quite quickly.

Many of my closest friends and family know that I have a weak digestive system, and I have had a parasitic bacterial infection before, so I can only be thankful to have gone through this once before and know what my body needs to recover. It was definitely a hard experience to be struck with sickness again, but the Lord has spoken to me time and time again that in my weakness He is made strong, and like the apostle Paul, I will boast about my weaknesses if it means bringing glory to my God.

2 Corinthians 4:9 says, "We are struck down, but not destroyed." This is one of my favorite passages, and I continue to have the faith to believe that my weak body means only that the strength of the Lord is stronger and He is at work in me. I have been struck down again, but I'm not destroyed.

Thank you for your prayers of healing.
With Love,
Natalie