I got to Ghana Monday morning, dropped off my bags, and went straight to meet Enam and Jacob at the hospital. He was doing great, so the discharged him later that morning. The doctor said he had pneumonia, and they were covering him for malaria to be sure. Then the nurse came in and told us his iron was low and that we would need to give him a supplement (a healthier diet will help too once we can get home). She then told us he had sickle cell. When I asked if it was sickle cell disease and was this an acute chest syndrome, she said yes. I was then a bit worked up and preparing myself for caring for a chronic disease, but then I looked at the labs they drew. According to the labs he had sickle cell trait, meaning only some of his red blood cells sickle and some are normal. This is a much better prognosis! Still I'm curios if our doctor at home will want to retest him to be sure. The good news is that our hospital bill was only about $300 for a 2 night stay, x-rays and labs! W have also been very thankful for things to work out with the delay as we would be just boarding the airplane when he got sick had our first plan worked out.
Now we are just running out the clock until we can pick up his visa and hope on a plane. We will make a quick trip Thursday to his hometown to say goodbye and maybe one last look for souvenirs.
We appreciate Ghana and all it's beauty, but we are ready to get back to home life.
Thanks to everyone who has helped care for us, our oldest boys and our home while we have been out. The support we have felt has been so amazing. I'm so happy that he will not only get to have a loving family, but also e loved by such a caring community. Thanks again.
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