Rice Grains

Did I think I was going to be able to rest lots and lots when I returned to my apartment? Well, OK, I'm not doing my normal work, but somehow, with going to the hospital every morning, the rest of the day tends to fill up with other things, mostly visiting with friends.

On Thursday, after I was finished at the hospital, I met some of my Chang Noi friends at Central Bang Na for lunch.


After eating lunch together, we did a bit of shopping, and by the time I got home it was about 5 pm. I think that was the evening I ended up looking at Songkran pictures from Day's home province. Day is a "paw-kah", or male street vendor. Paw means "father" and kah means "sell". I think I am like an older sister to him, so anyway, I ended up looking at some videos of his home and friends.

I can't even remember what I did on Friday, but yesterday after leaving the hospital, I met Wana, a Thai Christian whose 18-year-old son has been in the hospital for quite a while, suffering from some sort of septicemia (as did I). We spent a few hours at the hospital, and then Wana returned home with me to see my apartment.

A little later in the evening, my friend Dta called and brought me some Thai snacks, as well as some fruit called rambutan in English (gnaw in Thai). After she left, one of my good friends from Ohio called me, and well, that pretty much took me up to bedtime!

Today, after I left the hospital, I walked down the street to explore another bus stop. As I was walking along, I encountered several stray dogs, including a couple cute, if a tiny bit mangy, puppies. So of course, I had to stop and pay them some attention.:)

After getting off the bus to walk home, I bought some delicious-looking purple grapes to take to my elderly neighbors, Bpa Dang and Luung Boon Tam. They had invited me earlier in the week to come visit and eat somtam (spicy papaya salad) with them. It never worked out for me to go, so I decided today was the day to visit. We had a nice time visiting. They keep inviting me to stay with them; today I told them I think I have too much stuff to stay with them, and they laughed. Hopefully they are not offended.

The rest of today I hope to relax and rest, but hard telling.....:)

Posted by Sharon Rice at 06:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last night Colleen and Brittany helped me move back to my apartment again. It feels really nice to be back there again after a month's absence. It has been fun to chat once again with my friends and neighbors; they have been really worried about me.

I also feel my strength returning, another answer to prayer. I am so grateful for the many people who have been praying for me. I still need to go to Thai Nakarin Hospital (a hospital closer to where I live) for daily IV treatments of Rocephin, the antibiotic I am taking.

I discovered that on Saturdays and Sundays Thai Nakarin provides live classical music and snacks to their guests. Hospitals here continue to amaze me with their services. Of course, since I have never stayed in a hospital in America, I can't really compare the two.:)

When I stayed at Tom and Candice's, the first--and last--part of my trip to and from the hospital were on a motorcycle taxi. Here I am!:)

Speaking of Tom and Candice, they have been absolutely awesome in overseeing my care. I can't thank them enough for all they've done. But Tom and Candice, may God bless you richly for your support and care!

Posted by Sharon Rice at 10:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Today is the day I needed to meet with my 4 main specialists for follow-up. Praise God all my doctors gave good reports. Even though I still feel very tired and lack energy, and even though my right eye still has an anoying blur, it is encouraging to know that my body is gradually improving.

Cardiologist report: the stress test/ultrasound of my heart (I forget the technical term:) revealed no more blood leakage at my mitral valve prolapse, and the doctor seemed happy with the condition of my heart. He even told me it would be great for me to move back to my apartment, where I have to do many flights of stairs to my 5th floor apartment. He says the exercise would be good for me.:)

Ophthomalogist report: my eye remains about the same at 20/50 vision, but the doctor feels the cloudiness inside the eye is less. He has reduced my medication.

Rheumatologist report: no need to return to see her. She is very pleased with the disappearance of my reactive arthritis; however, she prescribed more pain killers in case I need them. My hip still pains me just slightly, but I would like to quit the meds for that if I can.

Infectious diseases specialist: she is the doctor who has been looking after my case since the beginning. She seems very happy as well. She says I need to continue Rocephin, the one IV antibiotic, for another two weeks, but just once a day. So I will still need to go to Thai Nakarin Hospital, a closer to home hospital, to receive my daily IV doses. But it will feel like much less. Rocephin is the medication that takes maybe an hour max to administer. The other one took at least 2 hours.

So, I am happy with the reports today. I do feel a need to continue resting quite a bit, and maybe I will need wisdom in knowing when and how much to get involved in activities again. Feel free to pray about that and against discouragement if improvement doesn't happen as rapidly as I would like.:)

Posted by Sharon Rice at 11:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I've been out of the hospital 4 days now. The Masts are great hosts; they enable me to feel right at home, to come and go as I need, to rest in my air-conditioned spare room, or to play with Clair and Eliza.

So far I have not had energy to do more than simply rest. But I was unable to resist getting into the water battle at Masts' team Songkran party last night. Check their blog below for pictures of the water fight.;)
http://masts.rosedalemennonitemissions.org/

Thursday I will go back to Samitivej to meet with my 4 main doctors. They will also do more bloodwork and have me do a stress test. Ughh; I don't think I have energy to do a stress test!

At this point I am not sure what will happen beyond Thursday; it will depend somewhat on the results of all my doctor appointments. I'll keep you posted! (and hopefully have some pictures for you at some point again:)

Posted by Sharon Rice at 11:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday afternoon I was released from Samitivej. Yeah!!!!! Pastor Num, from The Promise Baptist Church, Lee, a friend who partners in Chang Noi Ministries with Num, and Candice came to pick me up. I am now residing at the Mast residence, probably at least until Thursday, when I return to the hospital to meet with 4 doctors: the infectious diseases specialist, cardiologist, rheumatologist, and opthamologist. They will determine how much longer I need to continue IV antibiotics.

Until Thursday, I need to make two trips per day, one in the morning and one at night, to Thai Nakarin, a hospital a bit closer than Samitivej, to receive my antibiotics. The morning visit will probably be 3-4 hours, and the evening visit approximately and hour. So my next days will be filled with running back and forth from the hospital.:)

As I was leaving the hospital, I asked my nurse friends if I could take a picture with them. They were more than happy to oblige. I will miss them.

There is no way I can ever thank you all enough for all the support and prayers that have been lifted up on my behalf. I would ask you to continue praying that God would bring back health and strength, as well as clear vision in my right eye. I believe God has worked through your prayers in the healing process. I wish to continue being a light to the various medical staff I will yet encounter.

Posted by Sharon Rice at 08:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

I've had quite a few guests while recuperating at the hospital. I am so grateful to have friends who care.

My Japanese frienids, Yukiko and Wakako. The three of us used to study Thai at the same school.

Jew, one of my Saturday English students, and his girlfriend

Tawan and Yao, 2 of my good Thai friends. They stayed overnight with me in the hospital quite a few times.

Two former English students, Mek and Gaew; really sweet gals

Susan and Christy, volunteers at The Well; they brought me a bunch books to pass my time.

My good friend Claire. she bought the beautiful pink heart pillow for me; I have that and the cute teddy bear that Eliza gave me sitting on my bed.:)

Anita agreed to accompany me to Vanilla, an Italian restaurant not far from the hospital for my first time outside in three weeks! It was a great experience (see next two pics)

Posted by Sharon Rice at 06:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

It's probable, although not certain, that Sharon will be released from the hospital this Friday! On Thursday, she has a final heart test and if that looks good, she'll be able to go "home." For now, "home" is our guest room...until she gets enough strength back to climb those 10 sets of steps at her apartment! For the week following her release, she'll go to a closer hospital for daily IV antibiotics and then she'll have another assessment with all her doctors back at Samitivej to determine if she needs to continue with antibiotics.

Health update from my visit today.....her eye is still somewhat cloudy and her vision is still testing at around 20/60. The Ophthalmologist is still optimistic that it will clear up and she'll get her complete vision back but is saying that she may need glasses.
The Rheumatologist has cut back the medicine for her joint pain. She still has some pain and stiffness, but not a lot. We went for a walk down to Starbucks this afternoon, and she was walking much faster!
They've stopped administering her IV during the nighttime (she now has one kind in the early morning and two kinds at night before bed)...so that's helping a lot with getting a good night's sleep.
Because the antibiotics she is receiving are so strong and can burn/damage veins, she has to have the site changed often, which has been really unpleasant.

She says a big THANK YOU for all the e-mails and blog comments she's been getting over the last few days. These are really appreciated and she's really enjoying reading them and is encouraged!

-Candice

Posted by Sharon Rice at 09:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Sharon on Thursday with Joelle, Raul, and some of her new fellow interns from Latin America who just arrived in Thailand..... Aida and Eder are on the right.

More Thai friends have also been stopping by. These are her friends Elle and Mol. Another Thai friend, Payao has spent two nights with her this week and plans to sleep here again tonight.

Sharon wanted to show you an example of the hospital food she's been eating. She thinks that unlike most hosptial food, it's "attractive and tasty." She is getting a little break from it today as Eliza and Anita and I took her to Au Ban Pain (downstairs in the hospital) for lunch and she's having pizza with Anita for supper (she's been hungry for pizza). We're happy to see her appetite returning!

I brought Eliza along for our visit today. She brought Sharon a card she made and one of her teddy bears. She had a great time "riding" up and down on the hospital bed, "helping" the nurses, and snuggling with Sharon and listening the i-pod during afternoon rest time.

Health update:
In great news, it appears that Sharon's lungs have cleared up and she is no longer seeing the pulmonary disease specialist (another answer to your prayers!).
Her eye is about the same (20/50) but the doctor is pleased and says her eye looks good.
The swelling in her joints is basically gone and although she has a little pain in her knees and hips, most of the pain is gone.
Right now, she is worried about regaining her strength and feels she has "a ways to go" with that.

Sharon says the doctors have been hinting that she might be going home soon (hopefully this coming week), but we don't have a set date for that yet. Thanks again for all your love and prayers and continue to send blog comments and e-mails as Sharon has internet access in her room right now.
Blessings! Candice

Posted by Sharon Rice at 01:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

First of all, a big praise! Sharon's vision is improving again! She had another eye exam yesterday and her vision has improved to 20/40- the best yet! The change basically happened overnight- going from 20/80 to 20/40. She is so thankful for the improvement and is sure that your prayers are the reason she had such a dramatic improvement. Also, the eye injection has been postponed, so she's also really thankful for that. Thank God for answering your prayers!

Otherwise, Sharon is having increased problems with her lungs. The x-ray yesterday showed fluid on her lungs (although it has improved since she was in ICU) and she is experiencing tightness in her chest. She has (yet another!) new doctor, a pulmonary disease specialist, who gave her a lung function test yesterday. She "flunked" pretty badly. At this point, they will continue to give antibiotics in hopes that the fluids will decrease. They will do another lung function test in another few days and if things haven't improved, she'll have a CAT scan and they'll tap the fluid. The doctor feels she may have had some kind of pre-existing lung disease that she wasn't aware of.
Dr. Apichai says that the chest tightness could be caused by esophageal reflux and has started her on a new medication for that. She's also on a medication to help with the congestion she experiences in the morning and evening.

Otherwise, she is getting around better- able to walk more. Last night she went down to the lobby to use the computer. Her swelling is reduced although she still has a little in one foot. She still has some achiness in her hips and shoulders. Otherwise, she's her positive, happy self! The doctors are saying she's in the hospital for at least another week.
Please continue your prayers for Sharon, they are felt and needed! Rice family, Sharon has loved your calls to the hospital! We would really welcome you to let us know what questions or concerns you have that we can pass on to the doctors. Friends and family with medical experience, you can help us out by telling us what questions to ask! :)
-Candice

Posted by Sharon Rice at 04:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)