March 2012 trip - getting there is half the battle - I hope!

March 23-24, 2012

Well, its been a trip alright already.   I was fighting sickness since last Monday night - throat, headache, sinuses, cough, chest pains when coughing and then stomach troubles on top of that.    Went to the Dr. at 2:15 and we are scheduled to leave at 5.   Hadn't slept in over a day and was so emotionally shot over being sick and the lack of sleep I'm in tears at the Dr.'s office simply by hearing that I have a 101.2 temperature even though I felt cold and at times have felt like I was burning up over the last few days which must have been an enormously high fever.   Well the Dr. at Pro health was very, very understanding and supportive and helpful.  He gave me a Z pack of antibiotics for the sinuses and listened to my lungs a few times to make sure there wasn't any start of pneumonia.   He encouraged me to follow up once I got to Kenya if I didn't feel any better.       This is not to mention the fact that my kids were not getting in touch with me so I could say goodbye and know that someone knew exactly where they were and where they intended to be for the night. Needless to say this was not what I had planned when I booked this trip at the beginning of January.  Add to that my friend Sue H who is coming with on this trip is sick also. Not quite as severe, but still sick.    

So here I am a little over 1 hour before I am leaving and I am sitting in my kitchen crying and crying that this was not how it was suppose to be.  I'm sick, I'm tired, my kids have fallen off the planet.   I haven't eaten anything but 1/2 a bowl of romaine noodles and Wendy's fries since Tuesday and now I'm suppose to eat a full meal, which I'm to cook myself though I can bearly stand from weakness and tiredness and then I'm to take 6 pills, which remember, I cannot swallow pills without ice cream and on a rotten stomach ice cream does not sound good at all.    I ate a 1/2 bowl of romaine noodles and took the pills.   I didn't feel any better but it was time to go.  After emptying half of my carry on items as I knew I was too weak to carry them, we headed out the door.  

Though I saw times as very tough, God was at work in the situation all along.   First of all, I'm thanking God that Chris and I asked our friend Darrell to come with us to Chicago to the airport, which we had never done before, and now I know why, because I cannot even attempt to think about picking up a bag other than my carry on without getting extremely dizzy and almost passing out.  I'm also so grateful Sue was coming with.  The last several trips I have traveled to Kenya by myself or with young kids and me so to have an adult there given my condition was so awesome.   But it turned out, once we were inside the airport loop at Ohare, I started feeling so much better.   Strength returning.  Able to function without crying at every thought.    Chris and Darrell helped us in with all of our stuff and we had enough donations to cover all the over baggage fees, which totalled $420.  

That taught me a huge lesson about God's timing.  Though I would have preferred to have been fully functional and healthy, God knew I would not be so he provided the help I needed to get to where I needed to be at the time He needed me to be there.   That is a lesson I need to learn over and over again, but I think I am finally seeing it before situations than having to wait till after to see it like I use to do.

The plane rides were uneventful.   Flew Turkish Airlines which was fine.  Had a very small lay over in Istanbul, Turkey.