March 16th, by Collette

WOW. It's already been a WEEK since I posted last! Well, some of you may know I've been sick.....err----on my death bed, one would think! Severe diarrhea, vomiting from the cramping pain, and dehydration. Was taking Cipro, and was feeling better, when I got a horrible sinus infection! Stayed on the Cipro, but to no avail. Saw Dr. Luis yesterday.....cost me 4 soles, or about $1.30 which included a Z-pak!!! Lucky for me, the gringos from the LAMA group from the states have all kinds of drugs here for our medical mission.....we found pseudofed....the REAL kind, and I started that yesterday as well. Felt pretty good today, then tonight it's the stomach again..........UGH!!!!! There have been a few gringos "down" with this as well......Dr. Ed has been in bed all day with it! So Bridger had a VERY high fever during the night, was delerious, and near convulsions. I crushed tylenol and put in jelly to try to get the fever down......fever kept rising, so I cold-packed him in bed.....got it down somewhat and waited it out. An American Dr. came to see him this morning, and we started him on his bactrim, G2 electrolytes, and Tylenol. Diarrhea and vomiting set in, it was a day! POOR kid! Finally got some Ibuprofen from the LAMA group, which brought his fever down in no time. He has been laying around all day.

The other kids have been feeling OK. Brinley's cold is resolving and the 2 big boys are cocky, thinking they won't get anything! Hmmmmmmm...........

So I was able to put in some hours at the medical post yesterday and today, when I could.
I was a "floater" or the nurse "go-fer".....which allowed me flexibility with my illness and the kids'. We have handed out hundreds and hundreds of lice kits. SO glad I have the preventive spray! I also have been giving everyone age 3 and up a dose of parasite med. Whoever comes in, gets the med and the lice treatment....(they take the treatment home).

Dr. Jeff Lystad from Fargo is here, and has been keeping tabs on things. He has 2 of his adult kids here too, who are med students. We have definately been busy, when we aren't "confined" to a bed or the bathroom!!

We had a nice time at Adrian's (choir) house for Brookston's BDay on Saturday. The choir surprised him by cooking a lucious meal of chicken, rice, and you got it---potatoes!! :-)
That evening, we had no power on our block, so Brookston had to cut his cake by candle light. It was awesome cake! I went to bed very early, and the kids and house family all played games via candle light, told stories, and danced to the music! They were loud and having a lot of fun, and I just couldn't even lift my head! Sorry Brooks! However, Brinley told me they had more fun w/o me cuz they could act goofy and jump on the furniture!..............

Sunday I was feeling "a little bit better" and needed to get my kaboodle out of the house......so the kids and I, brother Tony, and cousins Oscar and Javier went to Los Pinos, a park with a swimming pool. They swam while I tried to bake the crap out of my head......Church Sunday night was awesome with the 40 new gringos here.......

The boys each have a "girlfriend" so to speak....or at least one that they each like. Thank God it's not the same girl! LOL.....they are sweet kids....I might have trouble getting them to come home.....Brinley also has a severe crush on a boy, so we shall see how this all plays out!
Bridger just dodges everyone......he walks by and they touch and squeeze on him and say, "gringito"! Means cute little gringo......

So that's it pretty much in a nut shell. We don't see too much of Wilder, b/c he's running around wild running for needed supplies, water, etc.......next week things will be quiet again!
Just hope everyone is feeling up to par!!!! WE HAVE LOTS TO DO YET!!!!

PLEASE NOTE----it's so much easier for me to put photos on facebook. We have hundreds on FB under my account.....Collette Mathern. Just request me as a friend, and you can view them all with their comments. Go to www.facebook.com to sign up! It's free!! LOL...

Love to all,
Collette