The Martin's Blog

Update on Gwen

We have heard that our doctor’s group here in Lule has heard from the specialists in Stockholm and they want Gwen to go to Stockholm for a special test on the liver. However, we have not heard when that will be. With only 17 days till we are supposed to fly to the USA, we are quite stressed trying to figure out what to do, when to do, and how to do it. Please pray for extra wisdom and guidance for us from our omnipotent, omniscient heavenly Father as we have to make decisions that we don’t know how to make.

School Closing

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Friday was the last day of school for Jensina and Jiana. Here in Sweden, they have a formal school closing with the kids from the school performing songs and the principle and a representative from the church speaking. The Montessori has their school closing at Domkyrka, which is the main Lutheran church in Luleå and it is a beautiful cathedral! Jiana sang “Vart jag mig i världen vänder” with her 4th – 6th grade class. Jensina sang “För oss alla” with her 7th grade class and had the solo part. We are so proud of them both and all the hard work they did during this school year!!!!

Now,  if you dare, here are the videos!!!! They’re not real good quality, but you’ll get an idea of what it’s like!!  Warning:  You may get seasick!!!!

http://youtu.be/bZJ3-9yHLxE

http://youtu.be/6ROzwMTyS7o

On the mend!

      Yesterday, I was released from the hospital!! YEAH!!!! The doctor decided that it was a nasty intestinal virus that had attached me. It certainly was nasty!! Here’s how Tony had to dress in order to visit me!! He makes a quite handsome doctor, I think!!! So now I am home, but I am quarantined to my bedroom so the rest of the family doesn’t catch it. We really don’t want that!! The nausea has cleared up and my stomach is gurgling nicely. Now we’re just working on getting the food processing through my system again. It is truly such a pleasure to be nausea-free!!!! I really mean that!! When we are sure the virus is gone, I will need to go to the hospital and get a sigmoidoscope to make sure all is ok with the scar tissue from my previous surgery and that the Crohn’s disease hasn’t returned.

     We are so blessed as, once again, God has been amazingly faithful to us!! Thank you Heavenly Father for:

• Our wonderful friends, Anders and Sarah, have been amazing through all of this – taking care of the girls, driving Tony back and forth to the hospital (even being brave enough to bring me home with all my germs!! LOL), providing food, comfort, prayer… THANK YOU!!
• All of you, our friends who have prayed for us! THANK YOU!!
• The Swedish medical system that had taken such good care of us!

We have 3 prayer requests also:

• Just now, Tony told me he has started to feel ill again, so please especially pray for him!
• God will protect Jensina & Jiana from catching this nasty bug.
• The results of the sigmoidoscope. Our trust is in the Lord, but it’s still hard not be concerned. We hope for good results, but mostly that we will be trustingly peaceful with whatever God has planned for us.

Thanks, Gwen 🙂

We Weren’t Expecting This!

Greetings to all our family and friends!

Earlier this week Tony had a stomach virus and on Wednesday Gwen complained of pains in her abdomen that kept her up all night. We assumed she had simply caught the same bug Tony had. Wednesday night she started throwing up and couldn’t keep anything down – this continued until Friday afternoon. When Gwen has any stomach issues, we are always concerned because of her surgery to remove her cancerous large intestine almost 3 years ago. We got in to see the doctor Friday afternoon and he immediately sent us to the hospital emergency room for a CAT scan of her stomach and blood tests. After her CAT scan, the doctor decided to admit her because he was concerned there may be some kind of blockage due to scar tissue building up. So, at 11:00 p.m. Friday, they did the first CAT scan x-ray and have been doing them about every 3 hours since to carefully track the dye injected into her stomach as it moves through her system. They are continuing to do the x-rays and we assume the dye is moving along well as they are just monitoring her at this point.

Though we were totally caught off guard by these events and are obviously concerned, we have several things to praise God about:

• we believe God allowed this blockage to be found early enough to be easily treated. Similarly, in 2009, God allowed Gwen’s cancer to be discovered and totally removed  before we even knew she had it! Isn’t our God amazing?
• the doctors are aggressively treating these symptoms before they lead to a major problem. Thanks God for being pro-active!
• a wonderful couple from our church has taken our girls for the weekend. When I came home tonight, they had also prepared a homemade salmon and pasta dinner for me. Thanks God for providing for all our needs!

No, we weren’t expecting this. However, we thank God for being in control of all things in our lives! Would you please join us in asking God to heal any problems in Gwen’s stomach and to release her from the hospital quickly? Thanks for standing with us!

Continued prayer for Jonathan needed

Lois’ brother, Frank, is doing better, but Jonathan is in St. Mary’s hospital.  His blood pressure was a bit low, he is lethargic, having problems with his bowel movements (this is a continual problem mostly due to his brain injury), and crying out in pain. Pray the doctors can sort it out without him catching any other germs in the hospital. Thanks. Gwen 🙂