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Dear Friends,

I had an update all written and ready to go, but I'm afraid it has been scrapped so that I can tell you about the events of the past day and a half--our daughter's little illness and our cross-cultural medical experience. First, let me assure you that Hannah is doing well and is going to sleep. If you don't believe me, you can take a look at the attached picture, taken of our smiling Hannah just before bed tonight.

Wednesday afternoon I picked Hannah up from her nap and noticed immediately that she had a fever. Marcus and I took her temperature, and it was above 102. We took her to the hospital to be checked for malaria. We arrived at the hospital just before the outpatient center closed. The nurse pricked her finger and put her blood on a slide, but told us that we would not know until tomorrow if it was malaria or not, since the lab technicians had all gone home. He suggested that we go ahead and treat her as if it was malaria because of the high fever. I told him that if her fever did not come down with the Tylenol we had given her, I would give her the medications, but if not I would rather wait.

We went home a little disappointed that we wouldn't know immediately. Her fever did come down a little, and she slept all night. When she woke up, she was still mildly feverish, and alternated between being pretty happy and extremely cranky. Since that is a typical symptom of malaria in this part of the world, we got the medicines we keep on hand for treatment out and ready. I called the hospital to check on the results of the test. They had no record of a slide for Hannah Reese, but promised that they would check it out. An hour later I called back, but they said that they had an emergency and were not able to look for it. A little while later someone called and said that the slide was found in the lab. The lab technician was out of the office, but a note had been left for him to do her slide immediately when he got back and call me with the results.

At 3:00 p.m. I called again, knowing that my time was running out. In Alotau, everything closes at 4:00 p.m. The woman I talked to said that the lab technicians had all gone home for Easter holiday. They would not be back until Monday. Remembering that Marcus had mentioned that the pharmacy did tests for malaria as well, I piled Hannah into the truck and went to town. They pricked Hannah's finger and within ten minutes we had the results. Negative. Nevertheless, the pharmacist said that if the fever did not go down within a couple of days, I should treat her for malaria anyway. She said that the test is not always accurate.

I took Hannah home, gave her some more Tylenol and put her down for a nap. About an hour later, I got a call from the hospital, telling me that the slide for Hannah Reese was not only positive, but it was falciparum, which is worse than the other kind, and that the count was high. By this time, I felt positively frazzled. Hannah woke up and I started trying to get her to eat, so that I could give her the medicine. I was relieved when Marcus came home and took the situation in hand, mixing up her crushed pills with some syrup. Hannah has been cheerful and playing ever since.

We know that with the medicine she will probably be feeling better in no time. I know God was looking out for our little one. Next time, I'm sure I'll do things differently. But for now, I'm glad for grace to cover my footsteps and thankful that a lab technician was working odd hours on a holiday weekend.

Of course, we're thankful for your prayers while Hannah mends.

God bless you all, Diane (with Marcus and Hannah Reese)

Sick Hannah

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