Thank you so much for your prayers. I was surprised by the number of people who replied with a written prayer... and how much comfort I've gotten out of them... thank you!
And there were definite answers- we have found the perfect treatment- Intervertebral Decompression Device therapy, a machine called the Accu-Spina, and with Cindy's RA, it's a gift from God, because she would NOT be able to do the standard exercises usually done for herniated discs, and even laying on her stomach for the deep heat therapy and electro-therapy is incredibly difficult, and so I cannot imagine what she would be enduring without this machine.
Our chiropractor that we were introduced to last year is from the US so speaks English. He got the machine in January of this year- it's one of two in South America, the only one in Peru, and it's ten minutes from us! It has given us hope as we see improvement little by little after every therapy. Also, since Tuesday Cindy has been able to do the machine without pain so unbearable it reduced her to tears, since she went for a cortisone shot in her left knee (the one most affected by RA) and is experiencing some temporary relief.
She has not returned to school, and will not until at least Thursday, when she will perhaps go in for an hour or two. Friday is a big day in P-4 (Cindy's class) because it marks the end of studying the entire alphabet (one letter per week all year long). Cindy really wants to be able to attend school for this big party day of celebration. Prayers for this are appreciated.
And it's been good for me, to be self-sacrificial and caring for a person bedridden- I am not by nature a nurturing person. I have discovered satisfaction and happiness in being able to make meals or remember to do all the things for her that she needs. Don't get me wrong- I'll be very happy as she is slowly able to actually walk to the kitchen to get her own sandwich, but it's been good for me.
Thanks so much again for your prayers. We know and feel the prayers of all our friends and family.
Saturday, November 7
Saturday, October 24
Update on Cindy
Hello dear friends and family. Here is an update from the Land of Peru!
Well, it's been an interesting day, to say the least. Other adjectives would include: frustrating, boring, stressful, tearful (on my part, breaking down under some stress), angering, humbling, successful, and informative. Oh, and did I mention exhausting?
Learned a lot about the WAY communication is different in the medical setting of a different country OTHER than the actual spoken language. Yes, a lot in US health care needs fixing. But man, we've got some stuff right, too.
Diagnosis definitivemente is herniated disc between the L5 and S1 vertebrae in her lower back. That's the bottom lumbar vertebra and the top sacral (better known as "tailbone") vertebra. Treatment: painkillers for the next week, learn some exercises, do these exercises pretty much forever, and lose weight. Exercising and losing weight complicated by the Rheumatoid Arthritis, since movement on a daily basis is painful, and steroids generally cause weight GAIN.
She will be discharged tomorrow morning. We will be looking into finding a pool that she can go to regularly to exercise (best option for RA). She will probably also need to be on bed rest for another day or two, so please pray for her class of four-year-olds. Prayer for our mental peace of mind (mine more than hers) is also welcome!
Here is a pretty good explanation of herniated discs, and a picture of an MRI and illustration of a herniated disc in the place Cindy's is. http://www.mayfieldclinic.com/PE-HLDisc.htm
On a different note: will you please join us in prayer this week for our future beyond December? And also for the school's future overall. There is a man coming to visit this week who is the president of an organization that financially supports missionary endeavors and missionaries. He happened to meet in the airport the husband of one of our Peruvian teachers several months ago and has asked to come to the school and to talk to me and Cindy.
Thank you all for your prayers and concern. The responses we have received have been so encouraging. I need to be at the hospital at 7:30 tomorrow, so I'm not replying to all of them individually, but I am so grateful for them. Thank you!
Emily and Cindy
Well, it's been an interesting day, to say the least. Other adjectives would include: frustrating, boring, stressful, tearful (on my part, breaking down under some stress), angering, humbling, successful, and informative. Oh, and did I mention exhausting?
Learned a lot about the WAY communication is different in the medical setting of a different country OTHER than the actual spoken language. Yes, a lot in US health care needs fixing. But man, we've got some stuff right, too.
Diagnosis definitivemente is herniated disc between the L5 and S1 vertebrae in her lower back. That's the bottom lumbar vertebra and the top sacral (better known as "tailbone") vertebra. Treatment: painkillers for the next week, learn some exercises, do these exercises pretty much forever, and lose weight. Exercising and losing weight complicated by the Rheumatoid Arthritis, since movement on a daily basis is painful, and steroids generally cause weight GAIN.
She will be discharged tomorrow morning. We will be looking into finding a pool that she can go to regularly to exercise (best option for RA). She will probably also need to be on bed rest for another day or two, so please pray for her class of four-year-olds. Prayer for our mental peace of mind (mine more than hers) is also welcome!
Here is a pretty good explanation of herniated discs, and a picture of an MRI and illustration of a herniated disc in the place Cindy's is. http://www.mayfieldclinic.
On a different note: will you please join us in prayer this week for our future beyond December? And also for the school's future overall. There is a man coming to visit this week who is the president of an organization that financially supports missionary endeavors and missionaries. He happened to meet in the airport the husband of one of our Peruvian teachers several months ago and has asked to come to the school and to talk to me and Cindy.
Thank you all for your prayers and concern. The responses we have received have been so encouraging. I need to be at the hospital at 7:30 tomorrow, so I'm not replying to all of them individually, but I am so grateful for them. Thank you!
Emily and Cindy
Friday, October 23
Hello everyone.
I am really not a very good missionary as far as updating the people who have played a part in my life. Here's the low-down on the situation this evening in Peru.
What I wrote on Facebook:
Most of you know that a year ago Cindy was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. It has been difficult watching her body fink out on her over the past sixteen months, even with the RA meds that she's been taking, she is in near-constant pain. This past week, a different kind of pain started coming off and on and then pretty much on starting last night. This morning she was in tears and in pain no matter what position she was in: standing, sitting, lying down, etc. It's pain deep inside her left leg.
This morning she went with a Peruvian friend to clinic, which is what they call hospital. They wanted to admit her overnight; we were told at first because they thought it was sciatic nerve issue and since she was on so many other meds for the RA, they wanted her in clinic overnight. So she was admitted. AFTER paying a sizable deposit.
Well, after a very frustrating four hours spent with her at clinic, and another spanish-speaking-friend's help, we have discovered that really, they haven't decided what's wrong with her, they need to do an MRI, and the MRI isn't in the clinic (usually in Peru the MRI is not at the actual hospital, it's in an MRI center) and so we have to go to another place to get the MRI and WHY on EARTH they didn't send her this afternoon to get an MRI?????? is beyond me...
Anyway. Her RA doctor was there with the other doctor, and neither one thinks this pain has anything to do with the RA. Like she needs anything else wrong with her body.
PLEASE PRAY for both of us, for the people around us, and for the doctors and medical staff we encounter. I am scared, because not only do I have NO IDEA what's wrong but also because I cannot be effective in advocating for her treatment with my very limited Spanish.
Thank you.
And now how I really feel: absolutely scared out of my wits. and angry. Like cindy doesn't have enough to deal with???? Is her middle name Job??? I'm really not at all confident in this situation- we've never had a problem with the RA doctor at Tezza, but I have little peace with the situation she's in now. I know part of that is just because I'm worried about her and I can't communicate in Medical Spanish. But it's more than that- it's the whole vibe of the place, of the way the nurses reacted or did NOT react.... I understand now why no one ever wants to leave their sick folks alone at a clinic here in Peru... Hearing that "we don't know" what's wrong didn't help either. And now she called to say they can't take her to do the MRI until tomorrow morning, which means another day staying at the hospital, and my cynical side says "yeah, another day in the clinic, more money for them, so of course they won't do it until tomorrow..." She has insurance, but it reimburses after the fact, so it's also the stress of making sure we've always got access to cash for whatever they need to do next...
Until today, our big prayer request would have been "guidance for what on earth we're supposed to do after December" and "miraculous provision of the next-level RA drugs that Cindy needs but that are exorbitantly expensive". And really, those both still apply. The school would love to have us another year (my third grade class wants to have a garage sale to help "pay for me") and we've got nothing job-wise looking good for us in the States. But we can NOT ask our friends and family alone to support us for another year. So, we're unsure of what our next move will be.
Cindy's RA is so severe that all of the drugs available to her now are no longer inhibiting the disease at all. It's barely controlling the pain. But affording the next-level of drugs is WAY beyond our ability, even here in lower-cost Peru. Only God can provide that. We are currently pursing several assistance options through the drug companies and through the Peru ministry of health and hoping God will use that option in a miraculous way.
It's tough living with a loved one in chronic pain. I am trusting God to provide for both of us. (I believe, help my unbelief, ya know?) (I miss my parents and family tonight!)
A happy note: I had to leave school early today, and left a sub with my class. When I told them why I was leaving (Miss Cindy's in the clinica), every one of their faces showed sincere concern and two of them said "we should pray for her". And as I left the room, that's what they were doing. (When I asked who would like to pray, seven hands went up! My class this year has truly been a blessing.
I just talked to Cindy- she told me not to come back, that she's just going to sleep with all the pain killers, and when she heard the tears in my voice actually said to me "Emily, call me if you need anything- God is a loving and faithful God." SHE is comforting ME! So, I suppose I shall go to bed since I've got to be at the clinic in the morning at 8.
Love to you all,
Emily Leinbach (and Cindy)
I am really not a very good missionary as far as updating the people who have played a part in my life. Here's the low-down on the situation this evening in Peru.
What I wrote on Facebook:
Most of you know that a year ago Cindy was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. It has been difficult watching her body fink out on her over the past sixteen months, even with the RA meds that she's been taking, she is in near-constant pain. This past week, a different kind of pain started coming off and on and then pretty much on starting last night. This morning she was in tears and in pain no matter what position she was in: standing, sitting, lying down, etc. It's pain deep inside her left leg.
This morning she went with a Peruvian friend to clinic, which is what they call hospital. They wanted to admit her overnight; we were told at first because they thought it was sciatic nerve issue and since she was on so many other meds for the RA, they wanted her in clinic overnight. So she was admitted. AFTER paying a sizable deposit.
Well, after a very frustrating four hours spent with her at clinic, and another spanish-speaking-friend's help, we have discovered that really, they haven't decided what's wrong with her, they need to do an MRI, and the MRI isn't in the clinic (usually in Peru the MRI is not at the actual hospital, it's in an MRI center) and so we have to go to another place to get the MRI and WHY on EARTH they didn't send her this afternoon to get an MRI?????? is beyond me...
Anyway. Her RA doctor was there with the other doctor, and neither one thinks this pain has anything to do with the RA. Like she needs anything else wrong with her body.
PLEASE PRAY for both of us, for the people around us, and for the doctors and medical staff we encounter. I am scared, because not only do I have NO IDEA what's wrong but also because I cannot be effective in advocating for her treatment with my very limited Spanish.
Thank you.
And now how I really feel: absolutely scared out of my wits. and angry. Like cindy doesn't have enough to deal with???? Is her middle name Job??? I'm really not at all confident in this situation- we've never had a problem with the RA doctor at Tezza, but I have little peace with the situation she's in now. I know part of that is just because I'm worried about her and I can't communicate in Medical Spanish. But it's more than that- it's the whole vibe of the place, of the way the nurses reacted or did NOT react.... I understand now why no one ever wants to leave their sick folks alone at a clinic here in Peru... Hearing that "we don't know" what's wrong didn't help either. And now she called to say they can't take her to do the MRI until tomorrow morning, which means another day staying at the hospital, and my cynical side says "yeah, another day in the clinic, more money for them, so of course they won't do it until tomorrow..." She has insurance, but it reimburses after the fact, so it's also the stress of making sure we've always got access to cash for whatever they need to do next...
Until today, our big prayer request would have been "guidance for what on earth we're supposed to do after December" and "miraculous provision of the next-level RA drugs that Cindy needs but that are exorbitantly expensive". And really, those both still apply. The school would love to have us another year (my third grade class wants to have a garage sale to help "pay for me") and we've got nothing job-wise looking good for us in the States. But we can NOT ask our friends and family alone to support us for another year. So, we're unsure of what our next move will be.
Cindy's RA is so severe that all of the drugs available to her now are no longer inhibiting the disease at all. It's barely controlling the pain. But affording the next-level of drugs is WAY beyond our ability, even here in lower-cost Peru. Only God can provide that. We are currently pursing several assistance options through the drug companies and through the Peru ministry of health and hoping God will use that option in a miraculous way.
It's tough living with a loved one in chronic pain. I am trusting God to provide for both of us. (I believe, help my unbelief, ya know?) (I miss my parents and family tonight!)
A happy note: I had to leave school early today, and left a sub with my class. When I told them why I was leaving (Miss Cindy's in the clinica), every one of their faces showed sincere concern and two of them said "we should pray for her". And as I left the room, that's what they were doing. (When I asked who would like to pray, seven hands went up! My class this year has truly been a blessing.
I just talked to Cindy- she told me not to come back, that she's just going to sleep with all the pain killers, and when she heard the tears in my voice actually said to me "Emily, call me if you need anything- God is a loving and faithful God." SHE is comforting ME! So, I suppose I shall go to bed since I've got to be at the clinic in the morning at 8.
Love to you all,
Emily Leinbach (and Cindy)
Sunday, October 4
I am a terrible missionary....
Oh, wait, that sounds like i'm a terrible missionary because I'm not sharing the Gospel- I'm doing THAT. I'm just not sharing anything else! Like, I'm not sharing my experiences with anyone through any of the multiple ways open and available to me through modern technology. Facebook, email, my blogs, the Internet phone we can use just like we're in the States...
I am a terrible communicator, and for that I am truly sorry. I tend to think this way: I want to share all this stuff with people, but i'm really tired or don't have very much time, and i won't be able to write it all, so i will just wait til later...
BUT LATER NEVER HAPPENS. Yes, I realize the complete silliness of this. I am going to try something new: tidbits.
Today's tidbits:
-How did I ever think that sweet potato was yucky????
-THE SUN IS OUT TODAY! cindy and i went out and sat in the park for more than half and hour just to BE in the sunshine...
-I should have brought that gorgeous purple formal dress I bought for $2.50 at Goodwill two years ago... Peruvian women DRESS UP for weddings!
-I really really don't like the whole "grading" part of being a teacher...
-It's sad when you're left speechless after watching the "in memory" montage of the Emmy's (repeated here a few days after the event) because you had NO IDEA that all those people were dead! Bea Arthur?!? (I'm so sorry, Meg!) Ed McMahon? I can't even remember the rest, because there were so many!
My goal is to do tidbits on a regular basis. Nothing deep or profound, but at least it's something!
Love you all!
Emily
I am a terrible communicator, and for that I am truly sorry. I tend to think this way: I want to share all this stuff with people, but i'm really tired or don't have very much time, and i won't be able to write it all, so i will just wait til later...
BUT LATER NEVER HAPPENS. Yes, I realize the complete silliness of this. I am going to try something new: tidbits.
Today's tidbits:
-How did I ever think that sweet potato was yucky????
-THE SUN IS OUT TODAY! cindy and i went out and sat in the park for more than half and hour just to BE in the sunshine...
-I should have brought that gorgeous purple formal dress I bought for $2.50 at Goodwill two years ago... Peruvian women DRESS UP for weddings!
-I really really don't like the whole "grading" part of being a teacher...
-It's sad when you're left speechless after watching the "in memory" montage of the Emmy's (repeated here a few days after the event) because you had NO IDEA that all those people were dead! Bea Arthur?!? (I'm so sorry, Meg!) Ed McMahon? I can't even remember the rest, because there were so many!
My goal is to do tidbits on a regular basis. Nothing deep or profound, but at least it's something!
Love you all!
Emily
Monday, June 15
weirdest things make you miss people...
So, sometimes the weirdest things trigger rather intense feelings of homesick "i miss so-and-so".
For example:
For example:
- We have a(nother) new roommate (bringing the total population of our three-bedroom apartment to FIVE women for the next five weeks). This new roommate has a MAC notebook (laptop, for those of you not Mac literate.) It's white, just like Dana's old one. It "breathes", just like Dana's old one. Seeing it sitting around the apartment makes me very very homesick for Dana.
- At school three days a week we have after school beginning gymnastic classes. Just walking past the room where the class is held and seeing the little girls doing all the same exercises (just in Spanish) as another little girl used to do them makes me very very homesick for Holly. How's life going in teenager land?
- Every year there's a huge garage sale that the missionary population of Lima has- as different families come and go. Last year we got some great things for very cheap. This year I was thrilled to find (squeamish males look away) boxes and boxes and boxes of the exact kind of feminine hygiene product i need- and each box for only ONE SOL!!!! (That's about 30 cents, folks... when a little 8 pack of OB down here costs 13 soles... these boxes of 24 and 40 were going for ONE SOL!!!!) It was a gift from the Tampon Fairy- and made me miss two very dear cousins... I won't embarrass them by naming names. :)
- The same new roommie previously mentioned also brought dvds of the Anne of Green Gables movies, and we watched the first movie over the weekend. It's been awhile since i've seen them, and it made me miss my one-time kindred spirit. I hope she's doing well with her husband and (hopefully still alive) brain-damaged cat. Mwaouw.
- Same roommie is from the Warsaw IN area (yeah small world) and mentioned tonight at dinner that she had gone up to see Chicago at the Elkhart County Fair... and that just made me homesick for Indiana long summer days and for everyone i've ever gone to the Fair with...
Sunday, June 7
Happening in Third Grade...
I had to say goodbye to one of my students last Friday- his family is moving to Canada! I really and truly will miss him- I loved his attitude and smile and sense of humor and work. We had a big ole party for him at the end of the day, which we'd planned for all week (mothers involved and everything) and STILL managed to keep a secret from Patrick! It was so much fun. We had a cake, and one of the mothers took last year's class picture, photoshopped me into it with his second grade teacher, and got it framed with a mat that we could all sign. All the kids had made cards or letters at home for him and brought them in and then we took a picture of all of us in the classroom. And then we prayed for him. I started, and told the kids that if they wanted to say a short prayer for him, to raise their hands and I'd say their name. About six kids did that, including one boy that is new this year and not from a believing background, but had become good friends with Patrick. It was so beautiful to be able to do that, to encourage them to pray for each other, and to hear Patrick say "It doesn't matter where we are, God is still with us."
It's been one week without him, and we said several times every day "I miss Patrick".
The only good thing about it is that now i have 16 students, which (unlike 17) CAN be evenly divided into rows, or work groups, etc. *grin*
This week in third grade we are learning about classifying animals, how to divide words into syllables, adding -ing to words, all about the trials of Job, and we are starting a new grammar chapter (yeah action verbs!). The verb chapter has baseball as its theme and so a lot of the sentences use baseball words and verbs. That's great for the USofA, but here in Peru- well, i spend as much time explaining the game of baseball and the vocab in the practice pages as I do explaining the actual lesson! *grin* I wish I had one of those World Series dvd things from when the White Sox won... we could watch it as a Grammar movie!
It's been one week without him, and we said several times every day "I miss Patrick".
The only good thing about it is that now i have 16 students, which (unlike 17) CAN be evenly divided into rows, or work groups, etc. *grin*
This week in third grade we are learning about classifying animals, how to divide words into syllables, adding -ing to words, all about the trials of Job, and we are starting a new grammar chapter (yeah action verbs!). The verb chapter has baseball as its theme and so a lot of the sentences use baseball words and verbs. That's great for the USofA, but here in Peru- well, i spend as much time explaining the game of baseball and the vocab in the practice pages as I do explaining the actual lesson! *grin* I wish I had one of those World Series dvd things from when the White Sox won... we could watch it as a Grammar movie!
Sunday, May 3
Fish Flu????
Okay, I know that the big news right now is the "swine flu" but I think that another tragedy might be getting lost in the glare of the piggy sickness. I am talking about the very real and odorific Fish Flu.
No, there is not a shred of scientific data to back this up, no 24/7 media coverage, no CDC and WHO verification- just the irrefutable evidence of my aromatic sensors. For close to a week now, becoming emergent in the dead, dark hours of the early early morning, and strengthening into the mid-morning, the olfactory evidence permeates the Lima air; how can we go on ignoring this? The level of the disgusting odor can only be attributed to widespread fishy death and decay- yes, I believe we are facing a massive crisis, the beginning stages of Fish Flu! Why is no one helping the little guys?
Ok, so seriously, all kidding aside, the last week every morning it has smelled like the ocean. Now, every once in a while, we here in Monterrico are treated to the pleasant scent of the Pacific, some five miles away. It is a truly nice, oceany scent, causing one to want to immediately stop all activities and proceed post haste to the coast.
But not this week. No, this week it smells like the ocean downcurrent of a sewage or chemical plant- an ocean so fetid that all marine life is bobbing along on the surface, floating in bloated testimony to the inevitable end of all mortal creatures. This week it is the scent of ocean beaches full of washed up half-decayed fish flesh that infiltrates our homes and schools, causing us to wince in the still hours of our night's sleep and sending us burrowing under our covers to use our sheets as makeshift gas masks.
No one seems to know the source of this mysterious pungency; so I am left to conclude the obvious: it must be a terrible new illness, killing massive amounts of fish, which the government and worldwide health agencies are engaging in equally massive conspiracies in order to cover up. The world is already on the edge of panic due to the little piggy sickness: a Fish Flu crisis would send it over the edge into full-blown hysteria.
And if you believe that, I've got some very fertile, green, Eden-like property down here in Lima that I'm selling at a bargain basement prices! (Folks, Lima is a desert, getting less than an inch of rain every year.)
Nevertheless, the aromatic facts of this account are true. It smells kinda like a dogfood factory. I used to live near one, so I know this to be true. And it doesn't smell nice.
Well, it's been fun! Tune in next time for another installment of the Mad Musings of MLE.
No, there is not a shred of scientific data to back this up, no 24/7 media coverage, no CDC and WHO verification- just the irrefutable evidence of my aromatic sensors. For close to a week now, becoming emergent in the dead, dark hours of the early early morning, and strengthening into the mid-morning, the olfactory evidence permeates the Lima air; how can we go on ignoring this? The level of the disgusting odor can only be attributed to widespread fishy death and decay- yes, I believe we are facing a massive crisis, the beginning stages of Fish Flu! Why is no one helping the little guys?
Ok, so seriously, all kidding aside, the last week every morning it has smelled like the ocean. Now, every once in a while, we here in Monterrico are treated to the pleasant scent of the Pacific, some five miles away. It is a truly nice, oceany scent, causing one to want to immediately stop all activities and proceed post haste to the coast.
But not this week. No, this week it smells like the ocean downcurrent of a sewage or chemical plant- an ocean so fetid that all marine life is bobbing along on the surface, floating in bloated testimony to the inevitable end of all mortal creatures. This week it is the scent of ocean beaches full of washed up half-decayed fish flesh that infiltrates our homes and schools, causing us to wince in the still hours of our night's sleep and sending us burrowing under our covers to use our sheets as makeshift gas masks.
No one seems to know the source of this mysterious pungency; so I am left to conclude the obvious: it must be a terrible new illness, killing massive amounts of fish, which the government and worldwide health agencies are engaging in equally massive conspiracies in order to cover up. The world is already on the edge of panic due to the little piggy sickness: a Fish Flu crisis would send it over the edge into full-blown hysteria.
And if you believe that, I've got some very fertile, green, Eden-like property down here in Lima that I'm selling at a bargain basement prices! (Folks, Lima is a desert, getting less than an inch of rain every year.)
Nevertheless, the aromatic facts of this account are true. It smells kinda like a dogfood factory. I used to live near one, so I know this to be true. And it doesn't smell nice.
Well, it's been fun! Tune in next time for another installment of the Mad Musings of MLE.
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