Update...

Just spoke with Dr. Burton, what a relief to get that call and his good news.  All tests came back with good results.  They did an echocardiogram and blood tests; no damage to his heart, no bad indications with the blood tests.  The infection is definitely bacterial, not viral; the diagnosis is still "cellulitis".  He said that Garrett's leg was looking much better (according to the doctors at the hospital), and that he had just talked to Garrett and he sounded really good.  They will probably release him tonight or tomorrow, and they'll keep him on strong antibiotics for a while until he's fully recovered.  Dr. Burton said he will keep in close contact with him, and if the cellulitis flares up at all he'll most likely send Garrett to a more modern hospital. 

A huge relief to hear all of that, what a blessing! So grateful for his improvements and that they are able to send him back to his apartment.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers...

The mission doctor (Dr. Burton) in New Zealand called me a couple of hours ago.  Not much of an update, but he did let me know that they are still waiting for the results from the blood tests, which he is expecting no later than tomorrow.  He apologized for not getting with us sooner, and basically passed along the same information we got yesterday.  He said he's been to this hospital and knows the doctors that are taking care of Garrett and he has no worries about their capabilities; he was very gracious and kind and put me at ease.  He said he will call me back with an update as soon as he gets the results from the blood test. Otherwise, Garrett is still in the hospital receiving antibiotics intravenously.

Interesting note:  I asked Dr. Burton where he is from, and he told me Heber, so then I asked if he is Dr. Neal Burton, and he said yes.  We both got a little choked up when I told him that he delivered Kyndra 23 years ago - because I insisted on going to him, even though we lived in SLC at the time.  He said he coudln't wait to share this information with Elder Hanke!

There are no coincidences.... of this I am a firm believer....

Finally an update...

I finally broke down yesterday and called the mission president, who referred me to the mission nurse, Elder Whiting.  I was able to speak with Elder Whiting for about 10 minutes last night and get a fairly good update on the situation.  (I still have a lot of questions but I guess they will be answered in time.)

Garrett did have an infection in his tooth, which they were able to take care of with antibiotics.  He didn’t get a root canal because of the other problems that surfaced, which they have been trying to take care of for a few weeks now.   They diagnosed Garrett with cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection, a couple of weeks ago, and at one point he was hospitalized for a few days in order to receive antibiotics through an IV.  Apparently the infection was in his right leg when he was hospitalized, and after he was home for a few days recovering the infection moved over into his left leg. When I talked with the nurse last night he told me that Garrett was back in the hospital for more tests because the antibiotic didn’t seem to be working, and that the mission doctor (Dr. Burton), who is based in New Zealand, has been in constant contact with the doctors that are treating Garrett.  He emphasized numerous times that Garrett is in good hands and is being well taken care of.

Elder Whiting also told me that he has talked to Garrett several times, and that Gar is in really good spirits.  He also said that there is a senior missionary couple in the same area and that they have been checking on him daily.  When I told Elder Whiting that we hadn’t heard from Garrett for three weeks he told me he would contact the senior mission couple as soon as we hung up and ask them to take a laptop to the hospital so that Garrett could send an email.  So here’s the email, what a relief to hear from him!

Mom…. Hahahahahaha….

How is it going?

All I can do is make a big apology for this whole situation, ha, but I must say there is not very much that I could do about it.

So I heard you talked with our mission doctor and he told you about the sickness and about the hospital and everything, so I don’t think there is a whole lot that I can say about what’s going on, haha.  All I know is that you shouldn’t worry about me, it’s really fine.  They’ve got it figured out, it will just take time to get it taken care of and recover, but honestly I’m fine.  There’s nothing to do with the situation except wait it out. My guess is just that during this whole time the people are just getting more prepared for me to teach them when I bust loose out of the hospital and the members are preparing by getting a lot of food ready for me so that I can put some weight back on.  That’s the second most frustrating thing is that I’m stinkin’ skinny and it will take a few months to get back the weight but oh well, what can you do…?

So other than that there is nothing really to tell, ha, but I will be emailing you this Monday for sure, so don’t worry anymore.  I know, though, that struggles we go through are for a reason and that Heavenly Father prepares us in our weakness.  I also know and so do you that there are many more in much worse situations than this and they are the ones we should really pray for.

Thank you for freaking out too much.  Sorry for the trouble.

I love you.

Peace and blessings,

Your son

So…. I’ll try to chill out now, but I’m definitely grateful for the update and for the email! 

Love to everyone, thanks for your support.

No email from Elder Hanke... again...

At this point I'm just going to cross my fingers, say my prayers, and look forward to a call on Christmas. 

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!  It was great to see those that we were able to catch up with.  And Congrats to Dallon and Natalie! 

Have a good week...

Happy Thanksgiving...

No email from Elder Hanke again… L

 I am, however, very thankful for all of the love and support shown for Garrett and his mission.  Very grateful for all of our family and friends. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

No email from Elder Hanke this week... so....  I hope he was able to spend his P-Day getting his root canal taken care of.  (i.e., I would consider that a good excuse for not writing!) 

Yesterday Kyndra and I went to a farewell for Garrett's last friend that will be going on a mission.  Elder Dillon Peterson, who was called to the Rapid City, South Dakota mission, which encompasses parts of South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Iowa, and Montana. (Whew!) It was great to see all of his friends there (those that are left anyway).  What a great group of kids!

Hope everyone has a great week...

Eight months in.... one-third of the way already....

What’s up out there in America?

Do you realize how blessed you are just to stay in a place that nice? Haha, I'm gonna give you a little insight and you can see the difference between the places.

1^st, ha, our mission doctor told me to go see a physician in Labasa. The lady, who was actually really nice, told me that I had an infection and to go to a dentist, so I went on over to the best one (supposedly) in Labasa.  He told me that he could fix the infection but the real cause was one of my teeth. He also said that I would need a root canal and that he would do it for 180 bucks (about 90 American) haha. So sometime soon I guess I need a root canal, but I will definitely need to do some looking around for the best place, but no worries.

2^nd, the doctor I went to gave me some random pills from her office in a grocery store and told me they would work on the back pain.  I dunno what they were but she was wrong, haha. So I'm not sure what’s going on right now but my body and Labasa aren't getting along but it should all be fine soon.

As far as my week goes we went to Suva this weekend for the mission tour.  Elder Watson, an area Seventy, came and did our training as well as the Stake Conference in Suva. He was an awesome, inspired man who has had some very awesome callings in the church, mainly being the secretary for the First Presidency for a long time.  He started working in Salt Lake at the age of 27 where he started with the Prophet Joseph F. Smith, and was the secretary until just after President Monson started. Part of his calling was to take the minutes of all the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve’s meetings together (no big deal) but in those meetings there was just twelve Apostles and the 3 in the First Presidency, so he was the 16th man in the room for all those years. Pretty cool. He gave some great talks and shared some awesome stories with us about Prophets he served. Lots of awesome stories that one has.

The rest of the tour was fun and it was the bomb being around all of my boys from Suva that I haven't seen in a few weeks. Ha, great times.

Anyways we had one of our investigators receive her baptismal interview today and she passed so we'll have a baptism coming up real soon, probably next week.  And we have 5 more dates already so the work is going great here now, if I could just start feeling better things would be perfect.  But I know everything will turn out just the way it is supposed to.

So peace and blessings until next week,

Elder Hanke