32 Maggots Delivered via C-Section!!

Penned June 6, 2011, Monday, 8:00 pm

Sounds like a headline out of the National Inquirer, but alas...no.  Welcome to my world.  6 days ago I noticed multiple “bug bites” around my torso.  They were itchy and in an odd location, but I didn’t pay them much attention as we were in the middle of moving to our new house.  However, over the next 4 days, more appeared and they gradually grew in size and tenderness.  I got out my Village Medical Manual from the bush medicine class that Jason and I took last summer.  All my symptoms fit with a diagnosis of Cutaneous Myiasis, except that multiple people had told us it doesn’t occur in the Kitale area.  

Myiasis occurs when a tumbu fly lays eggs in damp laundry hanging outside on the clothesline.  If the laundry is not ironed, the eggs survive and then hatch when the clothes are worn.  The larvae then burrow into your body and develop into maggots there.  Apparently this rogue Mother Fly chose my shirt and some of my “unmentionables” as a suitable place to lay her eggs.  I can now say from personal experience that having maggots in your body feels like tiny razors twisting around as they bore into and gnaw away at your flesh.  Nothing like a little All Natural Liposuction to remind you that you are in a developing country, just in case you get too comfortable and forget.  

We looked at the CDC website and read that sometimes you can “coax” them out by putting butter or raw bacon over the entry hole.  So, last night I slept covered in butter, an interesting experience in itself.  Sadly, this did not work so now I am in a hospital in Eldoret, 2 hours from home, waiting for surgical removal of them all in the morning.

When we arrived at the hospital, I was sent to a dermatologist.  She asked what was wrong, so I told her I thought I had myiasis.  She asked, “What is that?”  When I explained, she said, “I’ve never even heard of that.  You should not do so much reading to give yourself such ideas.”  I think that is the point where I broke down sobbing.  Jason made a few more phone calls and we found another doctor that we thought could help me.  We waited 3 hours to see her only to discover that she is a gynecologist!  I guess all the round bellies in the waiting area should have tipped us off.  And I guess we need to practice our Swahili. 

Shortly after that, Jason was able to find a surgeon who would see me.  He took one look at my red, lumpy back and confirmed the diagnosis.  He had me immediately admitted and gave me antibiotics and a (semi-effective) pain killer.  He was unable to find an available anesthesiologist for tonight, so my surgery to remove all these suckers is scheduled for the morning.  Jason is at a hotel for the night, and I am in a private hospital room trying to focus on the things I am thankful for.   

I am thankful for Dr. Perklea, the surgeon, who doesn’t just think I am a crazy mzungu makin’ stuff up.  

I am thankful for anesthesia because I’m a wimp and I don’t think I could handle the removal with just a local.  

I am thankful for the wonderful ladies who taught us so much at our bush medicine class:  Becky Overlin, Sandy Sjogren, and Dottie Tankersly. 

I am thankful for my husband who has been an amazing advocate for me, and who still loves me even though “with maggots and all” was not specifically mentioned in our wedding vows.  

I am thankful that my kids have not gotten this. 

I am thankful I have money so I could hire two ladies to come to my house and iron EVERY piece of clothing, sheets, towels, etc. that we own.  

I’m thankful for our friends, the Biemecks, who are caring for our children while we are away.  

I’m thankful that we can pay for my treatment because we’ve heard that if you don’t pay your hospital bills in Kenya, they throw you in jail.  

I’m thankful that this is not a life-threatening situation. 

I’m thankful that we now know how to prevent this in the future (guess we’ll be finding money in the budget to hire a house helper after all, to do all the ironing!).  

I’m thankful that the hospital didn’t serve ugali and sukuma for dinner, because if surgery doesn’t go well tomorrow, that would be a bummer of a last meal!  (Instead, I got mashed potatoes with hamburger gravy, which was quite tasty.  And apparently the hospital is trying to prevent goiter in their patients because they brought me a cup full of salt to season my already over-salted meal).  

I’m thankful for the many prayers that have gone up on my behalf.  

And mostly, I’m thankful for my Heavenly Father, the Great Physician, who hears those prayers and heals us, outside and in.  

Epilogue:  Penned June 7, 2011, Tuesday, 4:00 pm

I’m writing this maggot-free!  

The last few hours before surgery were the worst.  The pain upped about 10 notches from the previous day, as though the little monsters knew they were about to die, so began viciously eating me alive in order to save themselves.  It felt like someone was repeatedly jabbing me with a Makita drill.  I survived with Jason holding my hand, praying over me, and by thanking God for everything I could possibly think of.  It’s a good thing I wasn’t born a Masai Warrior, as my mother would have had to club me over the head for bringing shame upon the family with all my wailing.  Finally, at 11:00 a.m., they took me in for surgery.  The surgeon apologized it was so late, but they had just finished removing a large goiter from a man who obviously hadn’t eaten enough hospital food.  

It took the surgeon two and a half hours to remove 32 maggots, and happily I don’t remember any of it.  The surgeon presented me with a vial of the largest critters as a Kenyan souvenir.  An experience I’d rather forget, thank you very much, but I’ll take the vial home to show Ethan.  To be honest, they were a little disappointing in size for all the pain they caused.  

As much as I'd like to forget this whole experience, there is one memory I will forever cherish.  At one point, in the middle of the worst of the pain, as I was thanking God that this hadn't happened to one of my children, I realized that this is what the Fruit of the Spirit is all about.  My circumstances did not dictate joyfulness or thankfulness, yet I had both.  I was given just a small glimpse of what Paul experienced in prison when he realized he had learned to be content in all circumstances and that he could do "all things through Christ who gave him the strength he needed."  That glimpse was a gift, a moment of direct communion with God, of resting in His presence, and a gift I wouldn't trade for anything.    

God Has His Own Plans...

Just wanted to let everyone know that God has a plan, and when we wait on His plans, we will find that they are much better than our own!  

Two months ago, we had started looking for a new house, not sure how long it would take to find one that would suit us.  At the time, we only knew of 3 houses available in our area, so out of the three we picked the best one that we could afford.  It was the right size but was quite a fixer.  Jason never had a peace about it, but we figured, we are missionaries now... We can't be so choosy, we need to be willing to sacrifice our comforts, etc.  The current tenant was supposed to move out the last week of May, which was perfect timing for us since we wanted to stay in our current place as long as possible to help out the missionaries who normally live here but are on furlough.  So we signed the lease so we'd be sure to have a place when the time came for us to move in June.  

Last week, the tenant was supposed to have moved out, so we went to see if we could take measurements for curtains and figure out how much paint we'd need to buy to paint it.  Well, the tenant had not moved out according to schedule and didn't seem so anxious to leave either, so we could feel our plan slipping down the drain.  As is usual for Amy, she began to panic and worry.  We imagined the worst, so started looking for another place.  

We were told by a friend about a place just down the road from us that has been vacant for over a year.  I'm not sure how we missed this one when we were looking two months ago.  We went to look at it and fell in love.  It is quite a bit smaller than what we have grown accustomed to back in the States, and even here in our borrowed house.  But, it is a very well built, and well maintained home that Jason the Architect felt great about.  It is immaculately clean, and has been completely repainted on the inside, even down to the insides of the closets and cupboards!  It is on a HUGE compound, maybe about 3 acres (?), one acre which is a fully fenced plot in the back suitable for farming.  This appealed to us greatly because we have been trying to figure out how to rent  another plot for the Children's Home so we could grow more of our own food.  

The only problem (there had to be at least one to make the story more exciting, right?) was the price.  The owner was asking quite a bit more than we could afford.  We had already adjusted our budget significantly just to be able to make the payment on the fixer house, as we grossly under-budgeted for housing when we were fund raising.   Anyway, we told the owner the highest amount we could afford, which was 25% less than what he was asking.  He said he would consider negotiating and would discuss it with his wife.  The next morning, we spoke with him again and he said he could only come down about 12%.  We told him we'd have to say no for now and keep looking.  

We went back to see the landlord of the first house, and the tenant had finally moved out the previous day, so the house was vacant and we could still move in according to our contract.  We went back to look at it, and found it in even worse shape than it had been when we saw it last.  The gazebo in the back had completely collapsed, there were new water stains on the ceiling from the rains we've been having, and we noticed "hot" wires (wrapped in plastic grocery bags) sticking out of some of the walls that we hadn't seen before. Ugh.  We couldn't stand the thought of moving in there any longer.  We went back to the landlord and asked to be excused from the lease we had signed since the property was not in the same condition it had been when we signed.  He agreed without any argument!  We were so thankful for his graciousness. 

We started to pray about how we could get into the other house.  All of a sudden, "cleaning lady" popped into my head.  We had budgeted for a cleaning lady, nearly the same amount that was the difference we needed to make the rent.  I told Jason, "I can clean!  I have been cleaning my own house my whole life!  Let's do without the cleaning lady!"  We called the owner back and offered what we could now without a cleaning lady, AND we offered to keep the old, decrepit guard dog who lives on the property that he was going to need to find a new home for.  He agreed!  So, now we have FOUR dogs, a beautiful house, a separate guest house for anyone who wants to come visit (Consider this your invitation!), and did I mention the fruit trees????  We will have avocados, mangoes, guava, bananas, gooseberries, and macadamia nuts!!  More than we can possibly eat, so the children at the Home will benefit as well.  What can we say?  God's plans are so much better than ours.  

We are packing today and will move in tomorrow.  It will take us a few days to get our internet up and running, so we will be offline, but will send more photos as soon as we can.  God is good, all the time!  And yes, I have asked forgiveness for my worrying and complaining.  I'm learning :-)  

Blessings to you all, and thank you so much for your prayers!!