November News

Written November 23, 2012

 (See bottom of the post for update)

We pray that this Thanksgiving Day was a special time recognizing the goodness of God. Our family celebrated by sharing in this a meal with several others families- turkey and all the fix ‘ins, but the part we cherished most was writing down on the back of colorful paper leaves what we are most thankful for and then sharing how the love of our Father God and his intimate provisions have been so strikingly clear this year and in this season of life for our family.

We are specifically writing to inform some of you and to catch others of you up to speed on Caleb, his health, our family and decisions we are in the process of making concerning all three…

Over the past several months we have had serious concerns about Caleb’s health over the past several months.  In May just before we were Stateside for the weddings Caleb had what we thought was a reoccurrence of Bilharzia symptoms- rash, high fevers and joint pain. He was given the treatment and we left for California. He felt better for a few weeks but in June the symptoms were back. After visits to more than 1 doctor he was treated for “tick fever” and then loosely diagnosed with Reiter’s Syndrome or Reactive Arthritis brought on by an infection either viral or bacterial. The treatment for this was a high and long regimen of prednisolone. Over the past several months he has tapered off of the steroid three times only to have a relapse or “flare up” of the symptoms again and again.

The most recent flare up with symptoms including fevers, (reaching 104.9), severe joint and muscle pain  (to the point that several times he was unable to walk),  brought concern that perhaps this was not the right diagnosis and so he was tested for another suspected cause… brucellosis (bacteria acquired from cattle, beef or milk). The initial test came back negative but the doctor sent his blood to a lab in S. Africa to be tested again with more sophisticated equipment.  Not wanting Caleb’s condition to worsen while waiting for the test results, he started Caleb on the treatment anyway. After three days of treatment Caleb was in fact getting worse rather than better and so he went back to the doctor (Monday). Another practicing physician at the medical center checked Caleb out and believes that he has Still’s Disease. A diagnostic type test was done on Caleb’s blood and there is ample evidence to diagnose him with Still’s Disease.

Caleb has been taken off of the medications for treating brucellosis and is back on a high dose of prednisolone. However this past week has still been rough. Caleb had not been able to sleep for six nights straight because the fevers and joint pains were so intense. Thankfully last night he was able to get almost four hours of sleep! The diagnosing doctors have recommended and the leaders here at New Hope as well as our family in the States agree that it is in Caleb’s best interest to return to the States in order to get treatment, learn to manage his disease and to fully recover. We are praying that fevers will subside in the next few days so that he will be able to travel. Please pray with us. Plane tickets for the entire family to go to California are on hold for Wednesday the 28^th and will be purchased on Monday if Caleb is feeling well enough to fly.

 

Our adoption process (the timing of finalizing the adoption and pursuing immigrant visas for Nico and Nate)…

We spoke with our attorney who informed us that the judge that heard our case and who would grant the adoption order has extended his two week leave to four weeks. In actuality his leave will extend through January because the court system in Uganda recesses for holiday (mid Dec. - mid Jan.). This means that we will not have a ruling until sometime in Jan. or possibly Feb. Our lawyer reassured us that we do not need to be present for the ruling and that he will file all necessary finalization papers with the ministries we are required to here in Uganda to do so with and then will send the final court orders to us in the U.S. We also spoke with the U.S. embassy in Kampala and were told that we are able to file for immigrant visas while the boys are in the U.S. on visitors visa’s (which expire in June 2013) as soon as we have our adoption finalized.

We have been continually reminded by many of you and by the Spirit of the living God himself that there is joy in His presence and it is His presence that we are seeking!

Celebrating Nathaniel Mitchell

After a long day driving in and out of Kampala for doctor appointments we returned home to a meal prepared by friends and co-workers. And after dinner we celebrated Nate! The day after Thanksgiving, three years ago God brought Nate into our family. We call this homecoming event, “God made me a Mitchell,” the day that God made known to us His plan from the beginning for our family. Our prayer for both Nathaniel and Nicolas Psalm 139… We praise God, for Nate is fearfully and wonderfully made! Such a celebration is only complete with an M cake made with M&M’s! We are so blessed to have Nate as our son, and we are sometimes overwhelmed that God has entrusted us with such beautiful boys!

Thank you for your prayers, counsel, encouraging texts, phone calls, meals, and for watching our kids while we’ve been ferrying to and from the doctor!

The Mitchell’s

Update November 27, 2012

 

This is just a quick update on Caleb and what has been planned for our departure.

We have not tried yet to board any flights to America as we had initially planned because Caleb was not feeling up to making the trip.

 

After a conversation with a pharmacist in the States, Caleb began raising his prednisone dose from 90 mg to 110 mg on Monday morning after a long night of high fevers (40.8 C/ 105.5 F). Last night (Monday) Caleb's fever came again reaching the same temperature and he therefore increased his dose of prednisone to 130 mg this morning. We hope that he will not have to up the dose again, but if the fever persists he will taper up to 150 mg then consult the pharmacist about how to proceed from there. We are now awaiting confirmation on tickets to fly out of Entebbe on a commercial airline flight on Friday. This morning we received word that in addition to purchasing the tickets for our family's flight, one of our supporting churches, is sending Caleb's cousin J.T. King and possibly their Global Ministries pastor, to Uganda to assist us with the trip to the US. This decision was one the church made in efforts to fully support us and we receive it a blessing and tangible provision from our Father God.

I (Alair) am on day two of malaria treatment and should be feeling better soon. The boys are doing well and as of now are viewing all of this as a great adventure- which is probably a very good way to walk through life with our God isn't it!?!

 

Please continue to pray…

 

That “he will have no fear of bad news; that his heart is steadfast, trusting in God.” Psalm 112:7

That we will “… fix our thoughts on Jesus…” Hebrews 3:1

That we will “Hope in God” and “praise Him for the help of His presence.” Psalm 42:5

That we will cling to the truth that…

“The Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call on him in truth.” Psalm 145:18

“For He Himself is our peace…” Ephesians 2:14

“He is Immanuel…” “God with us” Matthew 1:23

 

Thank you for praying,

Alair for the Mitchell family