An update in Martin's words

Hi everyone,

This is a short update on my family and myself. We have had quite a month of trials. Yet, we have come through it and we are still standing. We do have some battle scars though.

About 4 weeks ago, we had to take our daughter Tessa to the emergency clinic at the hospital. She had a virus and it was starting to cause dehydration. Our family physician had recommended that based on her observation of Tessa during the doctor's visit. Fortunately, once we got to the ER, Tessa revived and was able to keep some liquid nourishment down and did not need an IV. We were blessed to have a very helpful nurse who knew what to do. We were discharged after a few hours. Tessa recovered in due time and was back to her usual self. As parents, this is quite a test to wait on the Lord.

A week later we were at the same ER again. This time it was my wife. I had to call for an ambulance. She had a miscarriage at 12 weeks. The physical and emotional aspects of this were quite intense. The loss cannot be described. We were blessed to have a good doctor and nursing staff who took care of Traci. Traci was discharged later in the day and able to go home. We stayed with her parents so that she could rest. We have had to reach into our memory bank and apply divine solutions to the human problems and seek comfort in the Lord's provisions and His plan for your life. For both Traci and I, this is an incredible test, yet we can find the comfort we need in the Word of God and His promises.

Last Sunday afternoon, the left side of my face became very swollen and painful. My jaw mobility was reduced to about 1-2mm. In the process of trying to open my mouth to remove my mouth piece, I heard a load crack or pop. At first I thought I broke a tooth. When I did not find anything, I then realized that it was something else. I assumed that I had re-fractured my jaw. I went of an xray at the MDA ER which did not show anything. The doctor on call thought that the swollen tissue was a result of my "breaking" some of the scar tissue or fibroid tissue while trying to get the mouth piece out. Hence the loud crack or popping noise.

I am scheduled for more tests at MDA today and next week to determine what the cause is. I also am scheduled for a panoramic xray of my jaws so that we can with confidence rule out a fracture.
In the meantime, I continue my routine and am using ice packs and compresses to keep the swelling down.
As I find out more details, I will provide an update.

Some have asked about my hyperbaric treatments and I completed 32 dives. I will not be doing any more "dives". I accomplished what I had hoped for which was to reduce or eliminate the infection in the back of my mouth.

I left out two small minor details that happened in the last 2 days. The first was on Tuesday afternoon when I had the whole family in the van. We were waiting at the intersection for the light to turn green. It turned green and I proceeded across the intersection and was 3/4 of the way through when we heard tires squealing...I looked in the rear view mirror and saw a pickup who had run the red light and missed us by 2 seconds. Had he hit us, it would have been square on right where all the kids were. I told my wife that obviously it was not our time to go to heaven. Yesterday while I was in the ER, my wife called and calmly told me that while putting gas in the van, she heard what sounded like water running and then realized that all the gas was running out on the pavement....the fuel line was compromised...kids all in the van...3 gallons of gas all over.... She was able to pull away and wait for our mechanic who came out to take care of it.

Thanks again to everyone for your prayer support

Semper Fi

Martin, Traci, Gunnar, Winston and Tessa