Hello from Lima.
With just a little over a month left of out first year here life is going fairly well.
I am feeling pretty good. I have my good days and my bad days, I am having more good days than bad days so that is good. I continue to work through finding the right meds in the right dosages with my doctor (Dr. Harrison) but I feel good about things. I am able to teach my class and do most of what I plan. Whereas three months ago I had so much I wanted to do but was unable to physically move enough to do those things. I also feel that I need to receive some positive affirmation that I have less than 30 days of school left and ALL my children are alive and I have not even maimed any of them! (Some days this is a major miracle...sigh)
We are gearing up for the Christmas program...here in Peru there are two big things each school year that have to be BIG. They are: Mother's Day, and Christmas. It should be fun.
Well I need to go and cash a check so I can go replenish my meds for the next month.
Hope all of those who read this are well and that God blesses you.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Normal
Okay so it appears that the norm for me is a post once a month, I guess it could be worse.
It is now September...there are four more weeks of this quarter left after this week ends. It has been amazing how the time has flown by. Over the last two weeks I have been in the classroom only 1/2 time. This was to insure that my healing progress would remain progress and not backslide into absolute pain. I am finally to the point this week where I am coming in full time and not feeling like it is doing me harm. I may take one day this week either 1/2 time or off totally depending how I am feeling by Wednesday night. I thank you all for your prayers for my healing.
I guess I don´t know if I have ever actually stated what was happening with my health. I will give a brief (really I will try to keep it brief) overview now....
...In June right before my birthday I began feeling stiff and painfully achey all over my body, with my right foot being the most painful. I was told I had plantar faciitis and was giving exercises to do for it. (I am happy to report that my foot does not bother me in the least any longer) I began the treatment and the foot got better. As that happened I also got worse with the pain in the rest of the body. I began seeing a Chiroprator (Dr. Bill, he is my friend) and that has been a HUGE help in being able to survive day to day and not give up. By the end of June I was in so much constant joint/muscle pain that we rented a whellchair so I could go do things, you know like grocery shopping and getting to school.
By the end of July I had been to see two different doctors who told me what it probably was not, but no one could tell me what it actually was. It has been very frustrating. The end of July was vacation and those two weeks wondreful. I started to feel like I could possible recover from this in the long run. I was using the wheelchair very little and was starting to regain a little of my normally happy personality. Then I went back to school. It was an outer ring of hell. After the first week and a half I found myself sitting in my administators office crying and telling them I was unable to do this any longer. I told them I need the rest of the week off and that the next week I was only coming in half time. I told them that I was NOT going to go backwards, I REFUSED to go back to the wheelchair.
It has been a little frustrating dealing with the administration with reguards to my health. I someitmes feel like they don´t believe there is actually something wrong with me, like it is all in my head and if I wanted too I could just get better. Add that to not understanding the medical system down here and it left Emily and I feeling helpless as to fixing the pain and what to do. Not just helpless but alone as well. It was NOT a good feeling. Last week two women came to us and asked if they could...basically take ¨control¨ of the situation. They had both seen our helpless frustration and had been through similar circumstances when they first came to Peru. It has been a HUGE blessing. They speak fluent spanish and understand the system and have come alongside of us and truly helped to carry our burden.
So I am feeling hopeful again, and God is always good. So that is where I am here at the beginning of September. I really feel that God is healing me, I had fixed in my head that if nothing had changed by the time September came around then it was time for me to seriously consider going back to the States. I am excited about teaching again, I have missed not being with me kids. Please continue to pray that is progress with not just continue but increase as well. I love ya all.
Cindy
It is now September...there are four more weeks of this quarter left after this week ends. It has been amazing how the time has flown by. Over the last two weeks I have been in the classroom only 1/2 time. This was to insure that my healing progress would remain progress and not backslide into absolute pain. I am finally to the point this week where I am coming in full time and not feeling like it is doing me harm. I may take one day this week either 1/2 time or off totally depending how I am feeling by Wednesday night. I thank you all for your prayers for my healing.
I guess I don´t know if I have ever actually stated what was happening with my health. I will give a brief (really I will try to keep it brief) overview now....
...In June right before my birthday I began feeling stiff and painfully achey all over my body, with my right foot being the most painful. I was told I had plantar faciitis and was giving exercises to do for it. (I am happy to report that my foot does not bother me in the least any longer) I began the treatment and the foot got better. As that happened I also got worse with the pain in the rest of the body. I began seeing a Chiroprator (Dr. Bill, he is my friend) and that has been a HUGE help in being able to survive day to day and not give up. By the end of June I was in so much constant joint/muscle pain that we rented a whellchair so I could go do things, you know like grocery shopping and getting to school.
By the end of July I had been to see two different doctors who told me what it probably was not, but no one could tell me what it actually was. It has been very frustrating. The end of July was vacation and those two weeks wondreful. I started to feel like I could possible recover from this in the long run. I was using the wheelchair very little and was starting to regain a little of my normally happy personality. Then I went back to school. It was an outer ring of hell. After the first week and a half I found myself sitting in my administators office crying and telling them I was unable to do this any longer. I told them I need the rest of the week off and that the next week I was only coming in half time. I told them that I was NOT going to go backwards, I REFUSED to go back to the wheelchair.
It has been a little frustrating dealing with the administration with reguards to my health. I someitmes feel like they don´t believe there is actually something wrong with me, like it is all in my head and if I wanted too I could just get better. Add that to not understanding the medical system down here and it left Emily and I feeling helpless as to fixing the pain and what to do. Not just helpless but alone as well. It was NOT a good feeling. Last week two women came to us and asked if they could...basically take ¨control¨ of the situation. They had both seen our helpless frustration and had been through similar circumstances when they first came to Peru. It has been a HUGE blessing. They speak fluent spanish and understand the system and have come alongside of us and truly helped to carry our burden.
So I am feeling hopeful again, and God is always good. So that is where I am here at the beginning of September. I really feel that God is healing me, I had fixed in my head that if nothing had changed by the time September came around then it was time for me to seriously consider going back to the States. I am excited about teaching again, I have missed not being with me kids. Please continue to pray that is progress with not just continue but increase as well. I love ya all.
Cindy
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
hello again
Wow look at this a second post and it has hardly been over a week!!!! Go me.
We have started a new semester and I am excited. I am praying that I continue to improve, I am on my feet much more and doing things that could potentially cause more pain. I continue to pray that things continue on the upswing.
We have set up Skype and are very happy to talk and see our friends and family. It has been are great metal boost for both of us.
We also have found an English service church that I really like. It felt like coming home. It is the the perfect blend between Living Water in Chicago and CCF in Vincennes. I was very happy, oh so very happy.
So as long as the pain continues to ebb away, life is looking good.
That is all I have for now, I will write more later.
We have started a new semester and I am excited. I am praying that I continue to improve, I am on my feet much more and doing things that could potentially cause more pain. I continue to pray that things continue on the upswing.
We have set up Skype and are very happy to talk and see our friends and family. It has been are great metal boost for both of us.
We also have found an English service church that I really like. It felt like coming home. It is the the perfect blend between Living Water in Chicago and CCF in Vincennes. I was very happy, oh so very happy.
So as long as the pain continues to ebb away, life is looking good.
That is all I have for now, I will write more later.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Once again I apologize
I am so bad at updating this thing.
A lot has gone on since I last blogged. I have been in an enormous amount of pain. It started with me feet and then spread throughout my legs specifically my knees, causing stiffness, swelling and pain. It got to the point where I was in a wheel chair if I was not teaching, and when teaching I was using a cane.
The good news is that I believe the worst is over now, the bad news is we are unsure what is causing it. It start as plantar faciitis in my right foot. Extreme pain in the heel, and unable to put much pressure on it. However at the same time I became stiff and achy all over my body, all my joints. You know how you feel when you have the flu and a fever? Well it was like that all the time. My back and shoulders began to hurt and I couldn't sleep at night because of the pain. I began going to the Chiropractor, Dr. Bill from California, and the pain in my back and shoulders soon dissipated. He also adjusted my foot after a month of me trying other things to get relief. He doesn't like to do extremities, he is "a spine guy". The foot felt better within two or three days. Of course this was coupled with me staying off of it whenever possible. So my foot started to feel better then for no reason at all on July 5th my left knee swelled up along with my calf and ankle...my roommates where a bit dismayed at it when I asked if they thought it was swollen, it was very swollen. Since then it has been stiff and painful to bend. This caused a bigger problem, I was now trying to keep weight off of both legs, the right for the plantar faciitis and the left for the swollen stiff knee. Grrrr.... My fingers and hands have been swollen and painful since about that time too. Well the knee is muscle related, when I get massages at the Chiro it feels much better and when Dr. Bill works on it it feels better (but man does it hurt when he is rubbing that muscle that seems to be contracted and not releasing causing me knee to be pinched to one side, thus causing my body to go outta whack and my other knee to try and compensate and it hurting too....sigh....it truly is amazing how the body is so closely interconnected.) Anyway I am slowly feel better everyday and I am trying to make sure I force myself to walk as normally as I can for longer and longer distances each day. I can't let my body get used to sitting in that darn chair! So far I am up to about a block. This means I can walk a block with out being in worse pain the next day. We are about to start our second week of vacation so it has been a blessing not to have to worry about teaching. I hope to be able so spend more time in my classroom getting ready for next semester.
I got pretty down at the end of last semester. The pain was changing how I could teach and that really made me mad. I know I was shorter with the kids, how can you not be when you are coping with large amounts of pain with every step you take. I know I was not the best teacher I could have been for the last month. I am hoping that the next semester goes much better. I thank you all so much for your prayers, I know that I have people praying for me in at least seven different states, people I don't even know, I am so glad I am a Christian and have such an amazing extend family!
We also have more good news...we got our replacement camera!!!! Hooray!!! So in the next several days check back on both this blog and the Peru blog for picture of our schools 28th of July Peruvian Independence day program. (My kids looked so cute but MAN is was a hellish day...sigh four year olds don't do well when their entire normal schedule is thrown out the door and barely controlled chaos is given to them instead. Did I mention they look cute though?)
Keep up the great work people, if we don't give up we might just make it through this day... (I must admit, there have been times in the last month that I have been ready to give up, yet some how God has carried me through.)
A lot has gone on since I last blogged. I have been in an enormous amount of pain. It started with me feet and then spread throughout my legs specifically my knees, causing stiffness, swelling and pain. It got to the point where I was in a wheel chair if I was not teaching, and when teaching I was using a cane.
The good news is that I believe the worst is over now, the bad news is we are unsure what is causing it. It start as plantar faciitis in my right foot. Extreme pain in the heel, and unable to put much pressure on it. However at the same time I became stiff and achy all over my body, all my joints. You know how you feel when you have the flu and a fever? Well it was like that all the time. My back and shoulders began to hurt and I couldn't sleep at night because of the pain. I began going to the Chiropractor, Dr. Bill from California, and the pain in my back and shoulders soon dissipated. He also adjusted my foot after a month of me trying other things to get relief. He doesn't like to do extremities, he is "a spine guy". The foot felt better within two or three days. Of course this was coupled with me staying off of it whenever possible. So my foot started to feel better then for no reason at all on July 5th my left knee swelled up along with my calf and ankle...my roommates where a bit dismayed at it when I asked if they thought it was swollen, it was very swollen. Since then it has been stiff and painful to bend. This caused a bigger problem, I was now trying to keep weight off of both legs, the right for the plantar faciitis and the left for the swollen stiff knee. Grrrr.... My fingers and hands have been swollen and painful since about that time too. Well the knee is muscle related, when I get massages at the Chiro it feels much better and when Dr. Bill works on it it feels better (but man does it hurt when he is rubbing that muscle that seems to be contracted and not releasing causing me knee to be pinched to one side, thus causing my body to go outta whack and my other knee to try and compensate and it hurting too....sigh....it truly is amazing how the body is so closely interconnected.) Anyway I am slowly feel better everyday and I am trying to make sure I force myself to walk as normally as I can for longer and longer distances each day. I can't let my body get used to sitting in that darn chair! So far I am up to about a block. This means I can walk a block with out being in worse pain the next day. We are about to start our second week of vacation so it has been a blessing not to have to worry about teaching. I hope to be able so spend more time in my classroom getting ready for next semester.
I got pretty down at the end of last semester. The pain was changing how I could teach and that really made me mad. I know I was shorter with the kids, how can you not be when you are coping with large amounts of pain with every step you take. I know I was not the best teacher I could have been for the last month. I am hoping that the next semester goes much better. I thank you all so much for your prayers, I know that I have people praying for me in at least seven different states, people I don't even know, I am so glad I am a Christian and have such an amazing extend family!
We also have more good news...we got our replacement camera!!!! Hooray!!! So in the next several days check back on both this blog and the Peru blog for picture of our schools 28th of July Peruvian Independence day program. (My kids looked so cute but MAN is was a hellish day...sigh four year olds don't do well when their entire normal schedule is thrown out the door and barely controlled chaos is given to them instead. Did I mention they look cute though?)
Keep up the great work people, if we don't give up we might just make it through this day... (I must admit, there have been times in the last month that I have been ready to give up, yet some how God has carried me through.)
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