From Dr. Harston:
Brother and Sister Anderson,
Thank you for visiting with me yesterday. As
mentioned, I am Elder Dennis Harston, a family physician licensed in Utah who
is serving as a full time missionary in the missionary training center here in
Mexico City. I have been looking after Elder Anderson over the past
three days. He is doing better. But for a while he was
quite miserable.
As you know, when he seemed worse yesterday, we sent him and his companion to
the emergency room to see a qualified gastroenterologist. He is in
the Angeles Linda Vista hospital, a fine modern and clean hospital that is a
private facility that the church uses. I have had
missionaries there before when they became ill and they have always received
first class care. As I mentioned last night, Elder Anderson
is staying in the hospital for a few days as he was not able to comfortably eat
or drink, and the doctor there has recommended he rest his stomach and bowels
for a few days, getting IV fluids with antibiotic. I just called
and spoke with Elder Avery, his companion, who reported that Elder Anderson is
now able to drink some clear liquids, that his fever appears gone, but
that he continues to have stomach upset. I think he is doing the
right thing by being there and we hope his stomach will get back to normal
soon. President Stanton Call, of the MTC mission presidency plans to
visit Elder Anderson in the hospital later today with his wife.
I will also call daily or visit until he is able to return to the
MTC.
He seems to be maintaining a good attitude in spite of not
feeling very good. The GI specialist told me yesterday that
the tests so far have not shown anything unusual such as dystentery with
salmonella, shigella E Coli, or parasites. At this point it appears to be
enterocolitis, probably from a viral infection. I will let you know if
more information clarifies why this happened. Thank you for
your concern and your support of your son, Elder Anderson.
________________________________________________________________________________
From Josh:
Hey
so I just got done talking with mom on the phone and I have some time to email. I have
some pictures of my journal entry which is kinda funny haha and a pic of me in
the hospital. I want to see a video of Brock playing football and i will be
praying for emory! I will put her on the temple roll this tuesday. I am
feeling a lot better today! Although I probably won´t be showing off my soccer
skills for awhile. We are about to start our fifth week which is crazy and
exciting because after week 6 I go to the field. After being in the hospital, I
feel so confident in my spanish because my doctors only talked spanish.
Conference was amazing there were so many good points. President Monson didn´t look
so good in his last talk though, I hope he is doing good we don´t get much news
here. My companion and I were excited to recieve a newspaper in the hospital and
we were drooling over the new iphone! Ha! The new
apostles are studs and so incredibly humble! Well anyway I need to go rest and
practice more spanish love you all! I hope you guys are getting my pictures (:
Oh
also in the hospital President Tenorio and his wife along with President calls
wife came to visit me and president tenorio gave me a blessing! A few of
my friends got to give me blessings before I went to the hospital. I can´t wait
for the opportunity so I can give my first blessing. Love you, Josh
__________________________________________________________________________________
From Dr. Harston:
Brother and Sister Anderson,
Elder Anderson continues to do better. I
visited with him on Saturday and he definitely looked like he was returning to
normal. I am still concerned, however, as he lost a lot of weight and we
need to be sure his bowels are really recovered. He is to
return today to be reweighed and to let us know if he is getting back to eating
normally. I will give him a copy of his lab
tests. The blood tests were normal including electrolytes, renal
function, liver function, lipids, white blood cells, hemoglobin, febrile
agglutins, and other tests. The stool tests were also normal without
showing a dysentery such as salmonella, shigella, cholera, or E. Coli.
However the doctor caring for him thought he still might have had an E.
Coli infection so his treatment was intended to cover such an infection.
We have not found any other missionary with a food related
infection, though we are continuing to monitor that possibility. We
think the problem was a particularly severe form of viral gastroenteritis
or enter colitis.
Again, I hope to see Elder Anderson later today. So
far he is doing well.
Elder Harston
