Back home from the E.R.

It's been quite a Monday for our family. Our 4 year old daughter Joy had a high temperature early in the morning, so we kept her home from school. I took our son David to school, then went to the baby swim class with our 20 month old Dawn. I met a man named Jean-Philippe and his first born son today, as well as spoke with the mother of Sarah, whom we met last year.

After I got back, Marie went to one of the schools that we're considering for David for next year and picked up the application form. I worked on filling out the form in French this afternoon.

Joy's temperature continued to go up and she looked pretty listless laying on the sofa. So Marie took her to a 3:00 p.m. appointment with our generalist doctor. Dr. C. thought it was a urinary tract infection and had them go to a lab for a urine test. When Dr. C. got the results, she called our house. The news wasn't good, as it appeared that the infection had spread into Joy's kidneys. She thought that Joy would need to stay over night in a local children's hospital for a treatment of a couple of different antibiotics via in IV tube.

Marie and I were quite thrown by the possibility of a hospital stay. For one thing, Marie has agreed to help pick up Maria, a classmate of Joy's whose mother can't pick her up after school because of work. So we had 4 kids in our apartment after school today.

When Marie called the childrens hospital and described the condition, the hospital thought that it wouldn't be necessary for them to stay overnight, but told them to come in as soon as possible for the treatment. But Marie packed an overnight back with books and clothes just in case.

They were at the E.R. about 5 hours. There were 2 different antibiotics that were given intravenously. They kicked in pretty quickly and Joy seemed to get more alert very quickly.

After the treatment, they did an ultrasound. It appears that there is no permanent damage in Joy's kidneys or bladder. So they got to come home.

There will be a nurse who will come the next 2 days to give intermuscular injections of antibiotics. Joy will have another appointment at the hospital on Thursday to analyze further the urine samples.

We're thankful for all the prayers and encouragment today. Marie's mom providentially called right when we were trying to figure out what to do this afternoon. She got people on the prayer chain at her church praying. Our across the hall neighbor rang the doorbell in the afternoon and was encouraging. So was Alex, who telephoned this evening after Marie and Joy had left for the hospital. These last two aren't yet Christians.

I think that how we followers of Jesus act when under stress will speak positively or negatively to the preChristians in our lives. Certainly not everything will be "praise Jesus" when difficulties come. But the Spirit can give a supernatural peace in the midst of the storms of life. This peace that passes understanding can point people to its source.

Sometimes we need to allow people to walk across the room to comfort and encourage us. This position of vulnerability can sometimes end up being a position of power.