Emuli

Oct. 20 Update and Praise:
I am writing to let you know Emuli does not need brain surgery!  We went to Cure Hospital on Thursday and the doctor feels because he is not having problems it is best to leave the hole as is.  With no major symptoms it is better not to have brain surgery and possibly cause other problems.  Even the eye problems may not be fixed when they fix the bone.  So for now we do not need to do anything else for Emuli.  If he develops problems with walking, extreme headaches, or it begins to bulge where the hole is then we will have to see the doctor and re-evaluate.  

We praise God Emuli does not have to go through brain surgery!  What a relief.  We are grateful you have joined us in many prayers for Emuli.  Please, continue to pray as we know God has and will work through loving Emuli.  We continue to pray for his family to grow in Christ and for the other to come to Christ.  All glory is the Lord's!   

Oct. 10, 2018
This week Emuli came to Kampala with his mother Kate and our neighbor Margaret (Kate really trusts Margaret and asked her to come with her).  We were in Kampala to bring the Georgetown CRC team to the airport.  Monday Josh met Emuli, Kate and Margaret at Corsu Hospital.  It was a very long, frustrating day but we did get a start to answers we needed.  Josh was gone from 7am to 9pm!  Emuli first had an x-ray in which he was so scared.  Poor boy has never seen lights, been in buildings, seen a hospital let alone being told to stand still with his face against a big machine.  The x-ray showed a hole in his skull so the doctor sent them for a CT scan to another hospital (actually after driving an hour the CT machine at the first place was broken so they had to go to a second place).  Emuli was so terrified of the CT machine that they ended up having to seda

te him (which they were able to do only because they had not taken time to eat the whole day.)   I felt so bad for all he had to go through.  After all that it was evening and a kind worker at the hospital let Emuli, Margaret and Kate stay at the hospital so they could see the ophthalmologist in the morning.  Josh came to the guesthouse very tired, hungry, and with out many answers yet.

Tuesday was Ugandan's Independence Day so they did get to see the ophthalmologist but it took a 8 hours of waiting first.  That doctor said the eyes are fine and it is a deformed bone issue from birth and to continue with the plastic surgeon at Corsu.  He also explained to the ladies that his brain is exposed through the hole in the skull.  Tuesday evening they came to stay at a hotel near us and we all went out to eat for Grace's 13th birthday! (Her birthday will be Thursday when we travel back to Obule.)  We went for Italian and asked them if they wanted to try new food or if they wanted fish and chips.  They wanted to try new food so they had pizza and spaghetti for the first time in their lives.  They just giggled.  They said they liked it though.  Emuli was so happy to be with our kids.  He loves Luka!  Emuli is VERY quiet and doesn't even interact with his mother, but when he is with the kids he smiles and talks and laughs.  I love seeing that.  It was quite funny to see him eat spaghetti and smile with all his food.  He is so amazed by everything that the ladies have to hold his hand otherwise he would just wander away looking at everything.  In the hotel his little face was just pressed up against the window looking out and fogging up the glass.  The ladies are in awe of the city too.  Kate lives and works here but she works all the time and goes nowhere.  She had never been outside of the area of her work.  (She works for a family and cares for their kids.)  Margaret said she had lost hope that she would ever see Kampala (this is her first time).  She was very happy to see Kampala before she dies.  They were COMPLETELY amazed by the elevator!  They just laughed and laughed about a tiny room with a door that shuts, then shakes and opens in a new place.  They talked a lot about that.  Emuli didn't really notice because he was watching the buttons that Josh pushed and lit up.  It is really neat to hear their prospective on life in the city and things they have never seen before.

Wednesday they all went back to the doctor at Corsu with all the reports.  He confirmed that Emuli's brain is exposed or coming out of the half inch hole in his skull (the bridge area of his nose).  That means he, a plastic surgeon, can't do anything.  Emuli needs a neurosurgeon.  So we will be taking him to Cure Hospital in Mbale.  The good news this is only an hour and a half from our home.  It is still all shocking though.  Here we were helping a boy with an eye problem and it ends up being a hole in his skull and the brain exposed.  What does this mean for him?  What will be done?  Will anything be done?  Can they do it here?  Lots of unanswered questions yet.  I wonder what Kate things.  Does Emuli understand anything?  We hope to stop at Cure on our way home tomorrow to talk with the doctor and show him the reports and see where we go from there.

After the meeting with the doctor, Josh asked them if they would like to see the international airport since they were only a few miles away.  They said yes!  When Emuli saw Lake Victoria on the way to the airport he just made noises of excitement.  Josh stopped at the gas station next to the airport and they overlooked the airstrip and looked at all the airplanes.  Then a plane landed in front of them.  Emuli was very excited and the ladies loved it.  How fun that they got to see so much for the first time in their lives.  I would love to hear what they say when they get home!

Thank you for praying with us!  We need your prayers for strength and wisdom.  Emuli needs your prayers for healing and comfort in all this.  Pray for a wise, caring, and certain doctor so we know what to do.  Continue to pray for God to use this to work in Emuil's whole family and their home.  Thank God for Margaret to help us and others who care and pray with us.  Thank God for answers and for providing the doctors we needed.