For those of you that know Hourey from Ayorou (Ibrahim's wife) - PLEASE pray for her today. She is BEYOND sick ... she can't hardly walk or talk & has lost so much weight that she's basically a skeleton. We finally got her to Niamey & she's at the doctor right now. She has 5 children, one of which is Nafissa (Izzy's best friend from Ayorou). She's been sick for about 2 months & the "doctor" in Ayorou was unsuccessful in treating her. She can't keep anything down & is very, very weak at this point. Please pray that God would HEAL her & restore her health!!
UPDATE (5:28 pm or 10:28 am CST):
visited this afternoon & wish I had better French to speak to the doctor (Mark's in another country til Monday). They were doing an ultrasound on her & all I could get is that there is lots of fluid somewhere (the doc said kidney in English but she wasn't sure if that was the right word). Hourey still looks just awful ... please keep praying! Her legs are seriously smaller than my arms. There's not much too her right now. I also got from the doc that they really have no idea what's wrong with her but that they can't believe she's still alive!
UPDATE (Monday):
latest on Hourey ... docs says she has a severe urinary tract infection & has had it for over 2 months. That's all they can find at this point. Thanks to everyone who is praying for her ... she's still got a long road to recovery.
UPDATE (Sunday 11/28):
We had hoped to send Hourey home yesterday as her UTI has completely healed but when we went to visit her, she was in BAD shape. She was screaming & shouting & seemed to be out of her mind. The nurses had no clue what was going on but the doctors wanted to run more tests. Her poor mom was just ready to leave & go home and Nafissa, her little 2 year old, has been begging to go home since they got here!
After the results came back, it showed that her potassium level had bottomed out & that can cause symptoms of abnormal psychological behavior including psychosis, delirium, confusion & hallucinations! We were all a little scared to say the least!!
Today, however, she is back in her "right mind" & walking around! It looks like she may get to go home in the next couple of days! Thank you so much for all of your prayers for this wonderful woman & sister in Christ!
UPDATE (Thursday 12/2):
It is sometimes difficult to understand the mindset & rationale of someone from a different culture. Although Hourey has been feeling much better for a few days now, the doctors have not been quite sure if her infection is completely gone. It had gotten pretty bad from being in her system for 3 months & had begun to go outside of her bladder & kidneys & into her blood. Her kidneys took a pretty hard hit & the doctors proposed the possibility of having one of her kidneys surgically removed.
The doctors wanted to run one more test on her before they released her. This test would involve injecting her with a solution that would cause her blood to show up on a ultrasound or radiology exam. Therefore, they would be able to determine if the infection was completely gone or if they needed to proceed with an operation.
Hourey & her mother, however, have been asking us for days to go home. Mark & I, along with the doctors, kept trying to explain to her that, although she was feeling better, her infection may not be completely healed. The women were tired of the hospital, tired of receiving IVs & desperately wanted to return to their "normal." After many days & hours of explaining to them that infections as bad as Hourey's needed time to heal & that it was very important to do this last procedure, they went against our judgement & asked to go home.
Mark & I both told them that this was not a good idea & the doctor practically begged them to stay but, at the end of the day, we were not in the position to keep them "prisoner." Again, we don't understand their reasonings & they probably don't understand ours. So we just pray that Hourey has been completely healed & that she will regain her strength & appetite & return to full health in Ayorou. Thank you all for your countless prayers for this woman. We know that many of you have never even met her but it means the world to us (& to her) that you would pray for her!
UPDATE (Thursday 12/2):
It is sometimes difficult to understand the mindset & rationale of someone from a different culture. Although Hourey has been feeling much better for a few days now, the doctors have not been quite sure if her infection is completely gone. It had gotten pretty bad from being in her system for 3 months & had begun to go outside of her bladder & kidneys & into her blood. Her kidneys took a pretty hard hit & the doctors proposed the possibility of having one of her kidneys surgically removed.
The doctors wanted to run one more test on her before they released her. This test would involve injecting her with a solution that would cause her blood to show up on a ultrasound or radiology exam. Therefore, they would be able to determine if the infection was completely gone or if they needed to proceed with an operation.
Hourey & her mother, however, have been asking us for days to go home. Mark & I, along with the doctors, kept trying to explain to her that, although she was feeling better, her infection may not be completely healed. The women were tired of the hospital, tired of receiving IVs & desperately wanted to return to their "normal." After many days & hours of explaining to them that infections as bad as Hourey's needed time to heal & that it was very important to do this last procedure, they went against our judgement & asked to go home.
Mark & I both told them that this was not a good idea & the doctor practically begged them to stay but, at the end of the day, we were not in the position to keep them "prisoner." Again, we don't understand their reasonings & they probably don't understand ours. So we just pray that Hourey has been completely healed & that she will regain her strength & appetite & return to full health in Ayorou. Thank you all for your countless prayers for this woman. We know that many of you have never even met her but it means the world to us (& to her) that you would pray for her!
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