So remember in my last blog when I said that I was sick on like the 28th or so of October? Well, today is the 18th and I’m just now getting better. We got to Israel on the 1st and I promptly got off the plane and onto a bus, then off the bus and into bed. I laid in bed for two weeks slowly getting weaker and weaker and losing weight. It was totally and completely miserable. I went to the doctor twice, once getting ant-diarrhea medicine that did nothing and once getting an IV that kept me hydrated for about three hours until I lost it. I was unable to keep any food inside me for more than a couple of hours.
Finally after about two weeks of not improving (both doctors said it was a viral thing that just had to work its way out), I went to the hospital in Beer Sheva, forty minutes away. They did some blood tests at the hospital and I was so weak that when they took blood, I passed out, so they put me on another IV. When the IV was done, a nurse yelled at me (something that was happening a lot at the hospital) to stand up and walk over to her, so when I did my blood starting running up the IV tube, so she sighed as if it was my fault and dragged me out into the hallway where she removed the IV tube while leaving the needle in my arm. I promptly began gushing blood all over the floor and myself and the nurse. This wasn’t the light surface blood that comes when you get a scrape, I’m talking deep, thick vein blood. While cursing in English, she drags me over to a trash can so I can bleed into the trash can and not on the floor, finally gets the blood stopped, wipes my arm off and yells at me to go sit down again. I felt pretty awesome at that point… Anyways after being yelled at some more by nurses (I’m not kidding, ask my friends Dan or Aaron they were there) I saw the doctor who again told me it was viral and just needed to work its way out.
After a couple more days it still wasn’t getting better, so on the advice of my mom’s employer, a gastrointerologist (sp?), I flew home. I flew about 15 hours total in the worst physical condition I’ve ever been in, but God provided in the form of nice flight attendants, wheel chairs in the airports, and even a pair of camels on the way to the airport (I had always wanted to see camels and was excited about seeing them in Israel, but was bummed when I didn’t leave my bed for two weeks. On the way to the airport, I asked God if he could just let me see a couple of camels on the way home. It was the heat of the day and we were in the middle of nowhere so I wasn’t expecting much, but halfway there, there they were. Two wild camels just hanging out five feet from the road. They looked up at me as if to say, “He knows, Adam, and He loves you”. It was very cool). I really don’t think I would have made it without the Lord’s protection and provision. In the Israeli airport alone, I was stopped and searched or questioned five separate times before I got on the flight.
I got home and immediately went to the doctor and the hospital where they ran some more tests. It turns out that I had a rare bacterial infection in my digestive tract that without treatment, eventually would have killed me. Nice job, Israeli medical staff. After a special antibiotic for a few days, the infection was gone, and now I’m on a probiotic to re-establish the good bacteria in my stomach. When all was said and done I had lost 20 pounds, about 15-18 of which was lost in a little over two weeks.
It’s weird being home, this wasn’t part of the plan. Well, part of my plan anyways. I’m becoming more and more convinced that it was definitely part of His. I’m sad because my team got to float in the Dead Sea, see Jerusalem, pet wild camels, and teach Sudanese refugees English. I’m very passionate about what is going on in the Sudan and was so excited to work with refugees from that country, but then I got sick. I’m sad because I’m with a new team and I haven’t been able to do anything with them yet. I’m sad because I’m here at home enjoying a nice bed and good food while my teammates are roughing it in Israel.
Still, I believe that this is all part of a process and I know that among other things, I am getting a fresh start. I will be going back to rejoin my team next week, and it will be like leaving on the World Race a second time. I’m going back to a new team, a new country, and a fresh start. I’m excited to go back and I can’t wait to get to work with my new team bringing God’s Kingdom to earth. But until then, I’m just trying to gain as much weight as possible, so please pray that I will be able to replace the weight I’ve lost and regain my strength quickly. Thank you so much for all your prayers!
