MY LAST POST

It's been quite a year and so there have been fewer blog posts than usual.  In April we received the news that we would be returning to the UK and now here we are surrounded by boxes and embracing a new ministry in North London.  This will be my last post on this blog and so I thought I would share with you our moving song.  I think all Pastors kids should have a moving song.  A. and I composed this together a few weeks before we moved and I sang it to him so much that it drove him mad - it helped me and I think it helped him! The words should be sung to the all too familiar tune of, 'Let it go', from the film Frozen.  I wasn't brave enough to post a recording of me singing it so here are the words:

The sun shines on the apartment tonight
It's almost 30 degrees.
A city full of people and we've been here for 6 years.
God told us to come here and we just had to obey.
Could not say no, heaven knows I tried.

They let us in, they gave us visas, CPF-e and RNE.
We ate the rice, feijao and pao.......de queijo    But we have to

Go, got to Go
Got to go back to England now.
Got to go, got to go
I really have to go.
Here I stand, but not for long
Gotta get that plane
- I never liked mosquitos anyway.

(music)

It's funny how travelling all this distance
Makes everything seem small.
The fear that once controlled me can't stop me anymore.
Jesus, we've seen what you can do when we give our life over to you.
The Spirit makes us free in Li......berdade.

Got to go, got to go
Got to go back to England now.
Got to go, got to go
I think I might just cry.
Here I stand, but not for long
Gotta get that plane...(music)

I really want to stay because I could be
The most amazing footballer you have ever seen.
There's Neymar and Kaka but I'll never play
In the World Cup, for Brazil one day.....

Got to go, got to go
Gonna arrive at the break of dawn
Got to go, got to go
Following God's call.
We love Brazil but we love God more
So we're moving on.....
We're glad that we came anyway.

DENGUE OR NOT DENGUE - THAT IS THE QUESTION.

There are about 50,000 cases of dengue fever in Sao Paulo at the moment and I may be one of them.  I have all the symptoms of dengue and so I either have it or a virus that is exactly like it - it really makes no difference to me as either way I feel ill.  I am writing this from my bed of sickness in the hope that what I have to say might help someone and encourage you, if you find yourself living in a high risk area, to smother yourself in insect repellant day and night in order to avoid this horrible disease.

There are two essential health related items that all overseas missionaries in hot countries must carry with them at all times; sun cream and insect repellant.  We had a whole bunch of vaccinations before we came to Brazil but there is no vaccination available for dengue fever.  The only precaution that anyone can take against catching this disease is to avoid getting bitten by a mosquito.  Generally speaking, I don't suffer from insect bites as often as my husband but we have both been bitten regularly in the last two weeks as the hot weather has continued and mosquitoes have had perfect breeding conditions.  Like most people I have always thought that it wouldn't happen to me.

I was feeling so ill last Saturday that my husband, P, had to drive me to the hospital.  I was put on a drip for about half an hour (it could have been longer) containing fluids and pain relief. A blood test showed that I have a virus and the doctor is treating it as if it is dengue.  If I develop abdominal pain and start feeling confused (...how would we know...?) I must return to the hospital immediately.  However, for now, the muscular and joint pain, intense nausea, red, itchy rash and headaches are enough for me to deal with.   After an impressive 2 hours in A & E (on a rainy and quiet Saturday evening) I returned home with the instructions to take a prescribed painkiller every 6 hours and drink 4 litres of fluids every day. 

Looking back I can see that I started feeling unwell 2 weeks ago.  On the Sunday evening I preached in our church and I seem to remember feeling fine.  I woke up Monday morning feeling very tired and out of sorts but I just got on with the day thinking that I was probably feeling tired from the weekend activities - as a Salvation Army officer my busiest day of the week is always a Sunday.  I continued to feel tired all week and although we had planned to have a family day out the following Saturday, neither P. nor I felt well enough to go far and our plans to take A to the beach changed into staying at home and watching a film on TV - we couldn't even manage a game of monopoly!  I found it a bit harder to get going on Sunday morning and was 10 minutes late for Sunday School but I was able to get through the day and complete my responsibilities.  Monday came and went and on Tuesday I spent the afternoon at the area called 25 de marco, in the centre of Sao Paulo, buying material and stuffing for the cushions that we would make at the Home League (Ladies meeting) on Wednesday.  It was a very hot day and I felt quite dehydrated whilst out shopping and was very grateful for the bottle of water that a friend gave me when I popped into his shop having finally discovered where it is. That evening at about 10pm I felt like I had been hit by a juggernaut; I was completely exhausted, every muscle, joint and bone in my body was in pain and I just couldn't do anything else.  I got into bed and slept.  At that point I was still thinking that I was very, very tired and I didn't think about the possibility that I might be ill.  

I woke up on Wednesday feeling ill but well enough to get up and get dressed.  I had planned a busy day which included Home League followed by an important visit to a member of our congregation. I pushed my way through the day with a hope and a prayer.  Things seemed to go well and I continued to work through Thursday with more visits and some time in the office.  I continued to feel dehyrdated and accepted all the offers of water throughout the day.  Thursday night it hit me again, the same as Tuesday, my whole body shouted 'Stop!', every muscle and joint was in pain, I couldn't move but now I had a major headache as big as any migraine I have ever had.  I got into bed at about midnight and slept until 4:20am.  I got out of bed and took a migraine pain killer, had a drink and got back into bed but I couldn't get back to sleep until 6:30am and then woke up again at 7:30am with the rest of the family.  Friday was the World Day of Prayer and I had promised to organise the decoration.  I could have given it all to P. to take with him and someone else could have put it together but I was still thinking that I was just suffering from tiredness and now I was able to move again so P. took A. to school and then we both went to the church for the World Day of Prayer meeting.  When I arrived there I discovered that the two other women that live in the same building as me were also feeling ill and one of them was wondering whether she had dengue.   I have no idea how we all got through the day but prayer is a powerful thing.  Once I got home I realised that  I wasn't really very well and for the first time considered seeing a doctor. 

On Saturday I stayed in bed until 2pm and then had a shower.  After that I was completely exhausted and decided that I couldn't continue like this - I started dreaming of anti-biotics that would remove this nasty bug from my system.  P. had to go to the front door of our building and while he was there he met the two other women living in our building - they were on their way to the hospital and by 6pm so were we.  One of the reasons it took me so long to decide to go to see the doctor was the prospect of sitting in a hospital waiting room whilst feeling so ill but it was a rainy night and the hospital was not busy - we were home by 9:30pm and had only spent two hours in the hospital. 

I suppose my purpose in writing about this experience is to share this knowledge and encourage you to seek medical help if any of the symptoms I have described have been experienced by you or a member of your family.  I thought that I was just feeling tired and my husband thought I was dehydrated because I wasn't drinking enough fluids.  However, the dengue virus affects the bloodstream and the dehydration is actually caused by the effect of the virus on the white platelets in the blood.  I didn't receive the anti-biotics I was hoping for as the treatment for a virus just involves treating the symptoms and waiting for it to take it's course so I have painkillers and the instruction to drink 4 litres of fluids a day.  The painkillers seem to bring their own side effects and it is almost impossible to drink that amount of fluids in one day - it is about 4pm and I have only managed to drink 1 litre so far.  I have been asleep for most of the day and after writing this am feeling exhausted.  And that's it - I haven't got an interesting way of ending this blog so I will just leave it there.