Thursday, February 5, 2009

This morning, Danny wasn’t feeling very well.  He had diarrhea and then started vomiting.  We had planned to pick Lenell up this morning and go into Abidjan.  Then, we were going to pick up Tammy and Kristine to take them all to do some paperwork at the embassy.  We changed our plans a little.  Joe said he would take Danny to the doctor and Gilbert, Bonnie, and I could go into town with Lenell.

Joe said that Danny puked all the way to the doctor’s office.  The doctor said that he was going to admit Danny and keep him there for at least two days.

So, our plans changed again.  We decided to put the paperwork off until next week.  After lunch, we did our grocery shopping quickly and headed home.  I got a bag of stuff ready to go to the hospital.  Lenell took it and met Dan Post half way.  Dan took the bag to Joe and Danny.

The doctor came in this afternoon and said that Danny had a severe bacterial infection.  His white blood cell count was high, and the red count was low.  He also said that Danny was anemic and dehydrated.  They are giving him an antibiotic as well as some fluids through an IV.  Joe said that putting the IV in was quite an ordeal because they kept pricking Danny but not going all the way in with the needle.  Danny was mad by the time they finally decided to go all the way in with the needle.  Danny and the nurse got in a yelling match.

One of the bags contains a sugar water solution.  Joe said that it had definitely kicked in because Danny was hyper this evening.  Joe was trying to keep him still so that the IV could continue dripping.  They had done a puzzle many times and had read some books.

The doctor came by about 19:00.  He said that they will have the rest of Danny’s test results tomorrow.  They took a stool sample, a urine sample, and some blood.  The doctor also said that he had seen several people today with the same symptoms as Danny.

Joe also saw the doctor today.  He has a sinus infection.  The doctor wants to have an x-ray taken of Joe’s sinuses.  Joe will go somewhere to have that done tomorrow morning while I sit with Danny.  Lenell is going to take me up there tomorrow, and Margie is going to keep Gilbert and Bonnie.

Gilbert was holding the phone so that he could answer it when it rang.  He was so tickled when he finally got to answer it.  It was Daddy.  He said, “I need to talk to Danny to see how he is doing.”  Gilbert is usually very tenderhearted when someone is sick or hurting.

The power went off several times tonight.  It was off for thirty minutes a couple times.  I am hoping it stays on for the rest of the night.  Joe isn’t here to fire up the generator.  : )

Thank you for your continued prayers for Danny.  We will let you know what we find out tomorrow.

A demain,

Joe, Laura, Gilbert, Danny, and Bonnie

P.S.  I forgot to mention in yesterday’s e-mail that the dogs killed another black mamba in the front yard.  Because it is the dry season right now, everyone is burning things since it burns more easily.  The burning is stirring up the snakes!