Debates, Equipment Trouble, and School, oh my!

Last week's entry concluded with me being exhausted after several days of evangelism. I was hoping it would pass quickly, but that wasn't the case. Along with not feeling well, this has been a week full of challenges on various fronts.

As a quadriplegic, I can't control my body temp and it is highly dependent on my environment. This past week was nice for outdoor temperatures, but my room stays on the toasty side. It gets cool when the air runs, but then pops back up again. With that, and just generally feeling run down, I had several nights where my temperature was over 100° and a few over 101°. Doing my skin checks, I also noticed a large rash on my upper right leg. An impromptu visit to my dermatologist resulted in a few med changes to combat a likely allergic reaction to something. Finally, I also am suspecting a bladder infection and started an antibiotic "just in case" while waiting on test results. That's a lot already, but just wait, there's more!

Tuesday was my fifth grade school visit. I debated about going due to health, but I didn't want to cancel with not much school year remaining. The combined 3rd/4th grade class was fun to work with and the students like seeing Mr. Joel. Several pictures were posted on the school's Facebook page and said they enjoyed the visit. I was thankful I made the trip and it turned out well.

I have had my hospital bed for almost a year. In that time, I've had a lot of trouble with my bed rails getting loose and needing tightened. Sunday, one rail was nearly falling off, but the bolt was stripped after too much tightening and would no longer adjust. It took two days' work, but dad was able to make a solution that works, at least for now. Early Wednesday morning, the machine that monitors my heart rate and oxygen level started making unusual alarms. My nurse worked with it, but the annoying beeps wouldn't stop, even when unplugged. It was sequestered to the next room under towels until it behaved, but it rarely did. A replacement was brought late Wednesday morning and the trouble-maker taken for maintenance. The new monitor works well, but has a very loud alarm on it. If my numbers drop, or the machine thinks they dropped due to a muscle spasms, the entire house can easily hear it. Hold on, one more item from this week awaits!

Two weeks ago, I posted about videos I was doing on world religions. The first three didn't much response in the comments. However, the latest video did not sound correct with one person who watched. He (I'm guessing, not sure based on name) brought up multiple points of contention of where Christianity is wrong. I carefully researched his points and gave answers to each and a resource to check. Not long after my response, an additional reply, plus another, came with many more points and problems. Amidst everything else going on, I tried to give daily responses to every 1-2 rebuttals each time. I want to see everyone come to saving faith in Christ, but I have to remember that it is a spiritual body we're fighting and isn't up to eloquent replies or what I do. I am trying to give it over to the Holy Spirit and pray this person (and many others I'm in contact with) repents and comes to Jesus alone while they have time.

It has been a busy week in the quad life and I hope this one ahead is calmer. I'm scheduled to see two schools and attend a wedding. I pray those will be the main events with little else going on.