Interesting week...

Email sent Monday 26 July 2010

So this may be a shock to you, but last night i was admitted into a Ghanian hospital for four hours. This is true and not a joke. haha and that actually intails why it has been such an interesting week. Ive been telling you guys that i have been having headaches for a long time, but that wasnt the reason i had to go to the hospital.

(The following is a summary in Mom's words of the details that Quinton shared with us.)

"ha so last monday after playing football i started having pains. i thought huh so maybe its just like a normal pain or something and that it will go away. i went to sleep that night and thought it would be better in the morning. well when i woke up it wasnt, but it wasnt like a terrible pain. Then all that day it just kept getting worse and worse till eventually i had to tell elder lunt we had to come home from proselyting because it hurt. so we came home and i called Sister Sabey, because that is what were supposed to do when we have illnesses. she said it was actually a common thing, and told me to start taking 800mg of ibuprofen 3 times a day, and then if it didnt get better we would have to figure something else out. So i started to take the ibuprofen but it wasnt working and it actually kept getting worse and worse.

Yesterday we had church and then afterwards we had interviews with President. at church i couldnt even stand up for very long because it would hurt so bad, so i had to either stay sitting down or laying down. When interviews rolled around i talked alot more to sister sabey about it and she emailed the mission doctor about it because it was seriously bad, and i was even getting a fever as well, so something was wrong. The doctor called back and said that they should take me to the emergency room because we didn't want something bad to happen. I thought, oh no, not Ghanaian hospitals, they will not do surgery on me in this country! haha So after interviews we scooted on over to the KATH hospital in Kumasi with president and sister sabey. it was like six o clock so i was actually worried about being able to get in and actually see someone, but President has done stuff like that before so after a little bit of coertion and some broken skulls we got into the emergency and saw someone, i lied about the broken skulls part, but if needs be we could have done that. Elder Lunt was a cage fighter back home... haha seriously he was though.

So they took my temperature and my vitals and stuff, i had a fever of like 101 degrees, my resting heart rate was 102 bpm, which is like 40-50 bpm over what it normally is. and my respiration rate was actually really high as well, plus i could barely stand up because it felt like someone was stabbing me. So long story short, after four hours in the hospital, which was actually alot nicer than i imagined. It was kinda like an american hospital, except for the fact that they had like half dead people just in beds everywhere, maybe thats how emergency rooms are in America i dont know i dont remember. so ya back to business, after having a physical examination...awkward... and a urine test and some other things they determined that i had the infection. they said that they would give me some antibiotics and that that should clear it right up!

So ya after 4 hours there, most of which were wasted waiting i was discharged and president sabey gave us a ride home, i took the antibiotics and went straight to bed cuz i was exhausted. So this morning i woke up, suprisingly i feel like a whole new person, i think this infection is what has been causing all of these problems, because i have been tired all the time lately and not alert at all, i feel better today, my head is also more clear today and not as much of a headache, i dont have the fever anymore, and im pretty sure my heart rate is back to normal ish, and the best part is it doesnt hurt as bad. i couldnt stand up yesterday, and today i just played 90 minutes of football. crazy how fast the medication worked really. so im very happy. i hope that you have enjoyed this story, i felt i needed to inform you of everything. and yes melinda it was all necessary to tell, so dont get mad :) haha"

back to a normal letter now. we are doing some sweet service projects right now, we are helping two different people actually build houses! pretty much from the ground up. its really sweet, i havent been feeling to good lately and havent been to gun ho about it, but now that im feeling better im pretty stoked. This email has taken along time to write actually so i wont tell you a ton about it right now, but next week ill give you the deets on the project and also on some of our sweet investigators that we have right now! deal, ok deal!

Im slightly angry that Contador won the Tour de France again, i would have rather had Andi Schlek because i don't much like contador and i think he is a doper, i mean look at his teeth they are crazy crooked and that is a side effect of EPO and some other performance enhancing drugs. im also sad about lance, too bad. oh well he is still awesome and i dont care what anyone else says.

Mom you should have fun in Portland, i hear that that place is really sweet, but you should try and head up to Eugene Oregon (Quinton loves running and Eugene is where Steve Prefontaine went to college and set numerous running records), thats were the cool stuff is. and i will go there when i get home sometime.

Dad im glad you enjoyed water skiing, i cant wait to come home and go again, i miss being fully submergered in the water, cant wait, well only a year!

Brandy your awesome and im way proud of how you did at the Des news 10k, you almost beat all american girls! so sick, you speedy little devil!

Melinda, have fun in the heat, im enjoying it here :)

love you all

Quinton

Email from Elder Joseph (former companion)

how are you doing and the family i hope all is well for me this week has been a wonderful one and i hope the same for you and your family

Last week we were able to accomplish our part of the mission goal and that was a wonderful experience and my prayer is that our heavenly father should help the other to fulfill their part

have a wonderful week and greet the family for me