.... back from the near dead

Hello.. let’s just say my last post “back among the living” was premature…. To say the least! The past 30 hours have been really interesting for the deployed Lyman clan.
I woke yesterday feeling pretty chipper compared to the day before when I was sick to my stomach. We had a hearty breakfast at the buffet, and hit the road with our travel group to see the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Summer Palace and such. Pretty aggressive schedule for healthy folks, and I knew it would be tough for my still nursing my abs that were used for carving practice by Dr. Orlando just 4 weeks ago. We had a wonderful morning… Jordan enjoyed the sites and we were able to start getting acquainted with our travel group families (more about them later though). Midway through the day, we stopped for lunch at a pizza/pasta/Chinese food buffet which was actually pretty good.
But before I go to far, let me digress to the start of the day again. Brushing my teeth at the start of the day, (which is not a strong habit for folks here) I noticed that my eyes were a little yellow in the white areas… hmm jaundiced? That is an interesting development and coupled with the next discovery (skip this part if you’re squeamish), I also notice my urine was very dark and looked like it was bloody. Yikes. That’s not normal is it… so I jumped on internet, skyped Tyler and asked him to contact my surgeon. Then we left for the day… back to the Chinese food buffet at lunch.

During our lunch, Liniker, our Chinese national Guide from AWAA got a cell phone call from Anna back at AWAA central command. She was passing on a message, which subsequently resulted in me talking to her. It seems Tyl had talked to the surgeon, and he said “go to the doctor, get xrays, check for retained gall stones”. So being the smart man that I am… I finished the day touring and then when we got back to the hotel, I took a nap while everyone (except Beth) went to dinner. After dinner, Helen, one of our other AWAA in country adoption commandos said she would take me the hospital. I had done my research and had decided that I would go the hospital that the foreigners went to and not the national hospital (socialized) that she recommended since it was less expensive. I wanted an English speaking staff to complain too!.
The hospital was a very bumpy and semi painful 15 minutes away. Once in the door the first thing they do is run your credit card for “pretreatment” authorization. The ER doc was great. His name was Joe Pessenante and he was from Chicago! As we talked, he asked where we were from… He said “ wow, small world, I was just checking out the skylakes medical center website, I am looking for a stateside ER gig”. Really small world! From 1930 hours, till about 3 am the next morning, they did a little bit of everything, ultrasound, blood tests (x6), CT scan consulted with Dr Orlando back in Kfalls, brought in a surgeon, you name it… they did it. Long story short, I needed another test called a MCRP which I could not get at this hospital, in fact it could be 2-3 days out to get seen at the hospital that did have it available. So… after talking it over, they kept me overnight for observation and pumped fluids and vitamins in me all night. It seems after being sick the day before, and the traveling, I was a bid low on fluids. 8 liters of IV later… I had to finally take a leak again. Guess I was kind of low on fluids.

My billyrueben was still high this morning, but urine was clear, everything else normal… so they released me with instructions to get back to the states ASAP, see my surgeon and get tested. So we will see where this all goes over the next few days. Please keep praying for our (my) health and strength as we go through the next few weeks of travel. After we got back to the hotel, JP was hiking the great wall, I got on line and consulted with my sister Faith (the RN) , and my old family Dr. Chris Edwardson. Wonderful to hear him confirm the thoughts of Dr Joe and Dr Tee SheeWen (the Chinese surgeon). Except for coming back to the room and sleeping for 7 hours, that pretty much wraps up my Saturday and Sunday here in Beijing. Tell me, how was your weekend?? 
It is about 23:14 here in Beijing, so I am going to bed again. Have to be up at 4am to get going and go get AJ in about 12 hours. Love you and talk with you guys soon. By the way, if you don’t have SKYPE, get it. It is free and if you have a webcam, we can video chat and tomorrow you can see AJ! Send me an email with your contact info (skype name) and I will try and get you online. My skype name is paul.lyman2009 .
Thank you for your love, your care, your concern and your prayers….
Take care and God Bless