Healthy Bodies Continued

Well, we have them. :) Thanks for praying you guys!! (above picture taken while visiting Joel's family in the Boston area)

Super quick update (because I'm having a rental movie date with the hubby in 2.5 seconds)...

Nobody has 'spilled' (what Cass called it when she needed to throw up...I've decided to add that word usage to my vocabulary) since last weekend. Yay.

My back is now back to almost 100%. It was slow and I was beginning to wonder what in the world I could do to get it all healed up and then, just like that, it was better. I started running again slowly and yesterday ran my usual time again. Looking at the possibility of running a 7K here in September. Funness.

And, Cass...
After x-rays and ultrasounds last week, we finally got the word yesterday that basically it was still a mystery. Our wonderful angel doctor (the one that we met at church that night...see last post if you don't know the story) asked us to come to see him once more last night. So, we met him and he looked at it again...just feeling the knot on her bone. He said that he was going to be going to a meeting this morning and would run into one of his friends who is an orthopedist. He would see if that doc could see us and get back with us to let us know.

So, this morning we got a call around 10:30 or so. He had just gotten out of that meeting and this doctor could see us...now. So, Joel and Cass went (with pictures in tow of Cass before accident and with a normal collarbone...thanks to my obsession with taking pictures of our kids, we had plenty of diagnostic evidence of pre-accident appearance of the collarbone...hahaha) and our doc met him there.

Basically, Joel and Cass spent all morning being whisked around by our doc at the huge teaching hospital here on the Unicamp college campus (very respected college here in Brazil). First they went to the orthopedist who had all of his interns there with him...about 10 of them. Joel said they ooh'd and ahh'd at Cass and then got down to the business of palpating and looking at her shoulder. They looked at the x-rays and ultrasound report and had a pow wow in their office...great for teaching purposes I'm sure. Then came to the conclusion that they needed a better x-ray.

Then our doc whisked Joel and Cass into the radiology department where tons of people were waiting to have their x-ray taken and they walked straight to the x-ray machine. They got their x-ray and went straight back to the ortho doc and his interns. They stood there in the hall gathered around Cass, oohing and ahhing some more, and holding up the x-ray to discuss what they saw.

The ortho doc (head professor of orthopedics there...who was great by the way...Joel said he was so good with Cass and even said a few things to her in English...our angel doc was the same way) said right away that it was very clear that she had fractured the bone. The x-ray from today was of much higher quality and they also got more angles. They said that the bump was there because of calcification. There's nothing you can do for a broken/fractured collarbone. So, even if we'd known, wouldn't have changed anything. And the bump...they said that because of the calcification there might always be somewhat of a bump there, but that it should go down some. Of course, we are hoping that it goes down completely. We'll just have to wait and see though.

We are so very glad to have a verdict. Whew. You know...when there is an unknown, it's just an uneasy feeling. Cass is fine...she hardly complains about it at all. She stopped complaining when we pick her up. Of course, we modified the way we picked her up for a while. But, after a while tried it the regular way. I noticed that most the time she just tilts her head to the side...so, she might still have some pain that she has learned how to adapt to. But, she doesn't complain anymore. Even when we touch the bump, she says it doesn't really hurt anymore. So, that's good. The docs said that at her age, the fracture might have even healed up already. First kid to break a bone. Interesting experience.

Thanks for the prayers y'all!! We so appreciate it. God has taken such good care of us here. We have no insurance. There have been a few times through the years when we haven't had insurance...this isn't the first time. We had it here before we went to the states, but cancelled it when we left. Even if we had our insurance that we had before, it wouldn't work here in the city where we are now. See what I mean? There have just been times when it hasn't worked out for us to have it.

The first time we lived without it, Joel was reading in Isaiah 58. One part of that reads...

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness [a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

And another part...

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.

Joel felt like the Lord was saying, "That's your insurance right now." We were sure to give something to every beggar that came to our door. Hahaha. But seriously, that's the way we should live. That's the Body of Christ. I'm telling you, the Body of Christ has sure come through for us these last couple of weeks. People we don't know from Adam, but we have the same Father.

That's what it's all about...and we are truly thankful beyond words.