Many of you read my wife's blog site, www.adayinthelifeofamissionarywife.blogspot.com
Well, to "play" on the title of her blog, I titled this post, "A day in the life of a sick missionary wife!"
Over the past 6 months, our family life has turned upside down, topsy-turvy. So I thought I would give you a glimpse at what life is like right now for our family with a sick Momma & wife.
My wife has always been active...loves to hike, exercise, take walks and loves to eat healthy. Many of you have seen my previous posts of horrible things my wife has made us eat: salads, spinach brownies, healthy cereals full of whole grains and dried fruits, chick pea cookie dough... need I say more?
This is the young lady who 6 months ago would go out in the evenings and walk up & down our driveway pushing a stroller for exercise and wash the dishes while doing leg-lifts and marching in place.
After 6 months, here is one of the typical days for Kami :
-Kami must sleep sitting up in bed or in a recliner...she cannot lay flat because the pain/pressure is just too intense. If she does manage to get some sleep, she wakes up with some energy and the pain/pressure is not as intense as in the afternoons.
- She normally gets up in the early morning and has her Bible study/prayer time. As she greets the children in the morning, she puts on her smile but you can see the pain in her eyes and she bends over to hug them and love on them. She begins to breathe heavily and moves very slow trying to save-up her energy so it can last throughout the day.
- By 11 a.m., her skin color begins to change to 'white'. As she loses her energy, she becomes very pale and weak. She then begins her daily ritual of having an ice pack on her chest trying to get some relief. Her eyes become glossy and she often has tears in her eyes that she tries to hide.
- By afternoon time, she is speaking is whispers and taking deep breathes to be able to "breathe" through the pain/pressure. Her joints begin to swell and the pain starts in her legs. This is about the time that she cannot last any longer and must take some sort of pain/prescription medication. At this point, we tell her to rest and she will close her eyes for awhile.
- When someone comes by to visit, she puts on her missionary smile and tries to act like nothing is wrong. She will talk, try to laugh and keep conversations going but as soon as they leave, she grabs an ice-pack and has tears in her eyes as she has over exerted herself.
- By evening, she is quiet, totally exhausted and crying because she can't even seem to manage to give the 3 little ones a bath or even cook dinner. Her pain is beyond tolerable and even the medications are not working. She wants to play with the kids but bending over to play with them is totally out of the question. She shivers with chills and keeps wrapped in a blanket or sweater for most of the day. By 8:30 p.m. she has her eyes closed and is on the couch, wanting to be with her family but not able to do much.
Even though her physical state is hurting, her love for the Lord hasn't changed. She longs to be back "home" and longs to be able to sing with her girls while doing dishes or in church. She talks about all the things that she wants to do in the ministry when she gets well and longs for the day when she can once again serve the Lord with all her strength & might.
Please continue to pray for her and for healing.... Until next time...
