The Camp Report

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I think the time away on Snake Island is my favorite time of the year.  … those 6 days just pip the Christmas season for 1st place.

Inclement weather notwithstanding, it was another special week filled with relaxing, teaching, meeting up with old friends again, and enjoying the camping experience.  Oh!  There were also competitions, (like this one where a team had to eat several raw potatoes – apparently extremely difficult for some people!) 

 

 

This year, Pris and the kids and I went out a day early so that the 55 people who joined us didn’t have to wait so long for a ride out.  We decided we liked being out there before everyone else arrived.  We had just two boats ferrying people and supplies, so it took a while Monday to finish up the trips.  Shane was a champ.  He and Jem were overseers for the week.  They did great.

A recap of the last three months…

On such a day as this – sunshine, warmth in the air, and peace and joy in the home, how could this not be a beautiful day? Confidently stated: we love spring!

clip_image002Several weeks ago, we had a week-end at a camp-site up near Chernobyl. It was a great time… blessed by the Lord. 17 of us took 15 guys who don’t know the Lord away and we played paintball, volleyball and numerous indoor games around the talk times and four “lectures”. Several of the guys responded on different levels to the presentation of the gospel and I met with four of them afterwards to answer question – of which there were many. Three of the guys seem to have already made decisions while one of them, Max, is wanting to, but recognizes the repercussions on his relationships if he goes ahead and that gives him pause. It is my hope and has been my prayer today that God shows him grace and tips the scales in his mind so that he doesn’t worry about the repercussions, but just goes ahead with faith.

Neurosurgeons

What does it mean when one of the best doctors in his field in Ukraine says he can’t find anything that would be the cause of the stroke and I can resume life as normal?

Either:

1.  The doctor is missing something.

2.  The doctor is lying.

3.  The doctor is correct and either God has done a miracle (possible but unlikely)                              or there really was nothing permanent that is the cause.

I would naturally prefer #3 to be the case. 

We went in yesterday morning – Pris drove to the edge of the city and then we took the metro to a stop close to the Hospital of Neurology of Ukraine.  We hopped into a taxi driven by a talkative chap who informed us, before wishing us good health, that times were bad and he often earned in a couple of hours of night work what he earned all day driving around.  But the passengers!  And the ladies were the worst now.  But I digress…

We saw another neurosurgeon who sent us with our MRI’s to a specialist for a second (third in this case) opinion.  They both gave us the “all clear”. 

Next step:  Visit the first neurologist with the opinions of the others, and see what he has to say.  We’ll also probably go ahead and get my heart checked out properly as some irregularities came up in a couple of the tests that were done. 

Meanwhile, I begin to have more strength in the limbs and notice improvement in speech.  It feels good.

Thanks, Gav.

What a day!  We left early for Kiev to make a 9:00 appointment with a cardiologist.  Gav again took us in his little Kangoo – one of the last trips we’ll do together before he leaves Ukraine. 

The Dr. did a cardiogram which came back clear.  He said that I really should drink more water – nothing Priscilla hasn’t mentioned many a time.  : )

Then we did a Doppler neck ultrasound.  Clear, except for some arrhythmic heart beats (I think that means heartbeats that are out of sync), which we should look into later.  This test took ages.  I’m used to ultrasounds for pregnancies being 10 minutes or so.  This seemed to take about 30.  It took so long, I was getting sure that he’d found something to bother him.  Not so.  At least, it didn’t bother him much.

Next, we drove across the city and had an appointment with another doctor for an echocardiogram.  Clear; but she also noted an arrhythmic heart beat and some valve thingy.  Nothing critical though. This doctor did the test unofficially and it was expected that we give her some money as a thank-you.  We did gratefully. (To read more, click on the heading.)