Prayer Request

The last few days have been a bit rough. I really don't live too rough of a life over here. Thankfully I have air conditioning and even have a pool down the road. Tuesday night I went for a quick night swim with a friend. It was absolutely wonderful! However, Wednesday my ear was plugged up. Not really sure when it began, but all I know is that it felt like my right ear was underwater still. Now many of you may not know, but I swam competitively for 15 years. From when I was 7 and through college. Therefore, I should know how to get water out of ear, right? Yeah, that's what I thought too. I was lucky enough to rarely get ear infections which is huge when I sometimes spent 4 hours/day in the pool. After trying my "usual" antics to get the water out, it just wasn't coming out. It was just annoying but not the end of the world. Figured it would drain in the night and purposefully slept on that side.

Thursday morning came.... still plugged. Now I was starting to get a little nervous. After all, this wasn't normal right? It didn't hurt, no headache or dizziness, just plain annoying. Decided if by Friday there was no change, then I would see if our Medical Coordinator could bring me to a doctor.

Today is Friday. Same thing. Not worse but not better. After trying to ear drops ourselves, we made a trip to the hospital (there aren't doctor's offices in China so you have to go straight to the hospital for the simplest things). Doctor isn't quite sure if it's an infection or if there is just water trapped in there. He gave me several medicines to try as well as a nasal drop (they think it might be more sinus related than just ear) and if after 3 days nothing is changing, I also have some ear drops to try. If that doesn't work, we'll go back to the hospital for them to try to clean it out really well (apparently my ear is dirty too.... who knew?).

Will you all be praying for me please? It is a bit unnerving when you have a simple thing wrong in a foreign country and even when you go to see a doctor, you need everything translated. Please pray that the antibiotics will help and that my ear will "pop" on it's own. It is so hard to concentrate on work when I can't hear very well. I keep praying for God to work a miracle and preferably soon. I really am feeling that this is a way that Satan is trying to distract me and it's working. He doesn't want me loving these precious orphans and this is trying to get me off focused. And to be honest? It is working. Pray for strength, perseverance, and healing.