A little patient with a big cut...

This little guy was riding along on a horse with someone else when the animal went out of control. He ended up crashing to the ground, hitting his head on a rock.

They rushed him down here, where Michael stitched him up.

Two boys came in...

We had two little boys come in, both with serious conditions. 

The little boy in the yellow shirt had a "strangulated hernia". Michael realizd there was nothing he could do for the little boy, and that he needed to be taken out to town. So, last evening, he took the little boy out with his parents.

The second little boy (with the two I.V. lines) came in with an infection throughout his whole body. It had begun, the family said, with a headache, then a soar throat, and then the little boy was refusing to eat or drink. As of now the little boy is still over at clinic, and being carefully watched under Thea and Virginia's superb care, and seems to be doing much better.  

Thea and Michael were examing the clinic chairs looking for bedbugs the other day. We are in need of new chairs, because these are becoming so worn and full of insects!

Alex and Virginia after a birthday party for one of our Haitian nurses.

Here is the boy with the hernia. He was in much pain...

Thea, setting the IV to the correct drip rate.

Here is the boy with the infection... looking better!

Searching for the infamous bed-bugs!

Mdm. Celeste and her baby...

Some of you might remember one of our gardeners, Celeste. His wife had a baby the other day, so we wanted to share it with you!

Everything went well with the birth. It's a cute little boy, very healthy!

Mama and baby resting and doing good!

Typically Haitians wait a little while to name their children,

so we're still not sure what it is :)

One happy mother, one contented little guy, 

and two joyful nurses!

Another safe delivery

After our previous birth cases Sat and Sun, we had yet a third lady come in labor Sun around noon. This lady was expecting her third child. She was carried in from out toward Fort Gary--5 hours hike or so away. When she arrived things looked fine, but she was at a stand still. We waited all afternoon for labor to pick up again, but it didn't. Since it had been so long since labor had started and her water had broke, we decided we should augment labor with oxytocin. We started it slowly, monitoring to make sure it wasn't causing the baby stress. Toward the end, heart tones seemed low so we put the mother on oxygen, but baby was soon born and didn't take long to breath well and cry! And cry he did! It was a strong little boy weighing 6 lbs 11 oz.

Mis Virginia and Michael dressing the baby

Mis Anita with baby--happy but tired at 1:30 am!

The happy mama with her baby!

More babies over the weekend, plus the man with malaria

Over the weekend there were several expecting mothers that came in. One of them had the baby before she could make it here, so they had to grab a stretcher and carry her from the trail. Once she arrived, the baby began to have seizures because of extreme low blood sugar. Apparently it wasn't born with a "reserve" of glucose in it's system and therefore had to be fed a special solution immediately. Once it had some in it's system, it did very well. Baby and mother were both sent home safely on Monday.

The other woman had to be picked up on the trail also, but thankfully we got to her before the baby arrived! Once we could get her into the clinic to examine here, the nurses realized that there were some serious complications. So we sent her out to the Ti Guave hospital, where they have all the necessary equipment for situations like that. We haven't heard how she turned out yet...

Also yesterday, a man came in, borne on a stretcher, unable to walk. He had a fever and back pains. It was determined he had malaria, in addition to an inner infection. He was treated and sent home to recover.

This is the first mom with her baby boy :)

The little guy's blood sugar levels were extremely low, 

so we gave him some special formula in addition to his mother's milk.

See how he's holding his bottle? Pretty cute little guy...

The second woman that came was brought by one of the machines.

Because of some serious complications

we had to take her to Ti Guave on Sunday.

The man that came in on the stretcher...

He was very sick with malaria.

A whole crowd of people accompanied him;

Some were friends, some helped carry him, but many just came along to watch.

After he was treated, they hefted him up on their shoulders once more, 

and carried him home.

A small cut in the head...

Today a boy and his mother came to the gate, needing help... it was another head injury.

This one wasn't too bad though and only required a couple stitches. 

The poor little guy was very small for his age, very dirty, and not in very good shape.

He had blood all over his shirt from the cut.

He seemed very scared, 

and didn't respond very well to us talking to him.

Katie Jo tended some sores he had all over his legs, 

possibly a bacterial infection of some kind...

After that, Virginia started the stitching process, with Katie's aid.

It didn't take very long, since it was only 2 stitches.

Once they were done, Katie gave him a cookie... 

He seemed to enjoy it quite a bit, though he hardly cracked a smile the whole time...

Susannah had some new clothes which were sent down to bless a child in need,

so she gifted them to this little guy... his mother was beaming, and he seemed very pleased too!

He had such sorrowful eyes, it was very heartbreaking to look at him.

Lord, help us to continue shining your love to the people of Haiti...

A ministry of love

For the last few months we've been doctoring a dear lady's foot which was infected.

The infection had become so bad her foot was literally rotting off on the one side (Don't worry, no pictures of that...). After sending her to Ti Guave for treatment she has returned. Each evening she comes to have her foot re-wrapped at the clinic, where one of the nurses carefully pulls off the bandage and cleans the gaping wound, putting new wrapping on afterwards.

I have been blessed over and over by seeing this "ministry of love" being demonstrated by our nurses, in essence "washing" this lady's feet over and over. It is a picture of what Jesus has done for us... we were rotten; we were ugly; we were uncared for; we were dirty and unclean. But He stooped down and washed us, cleaned our wounds out, and put healing balm on us, restoring us by His life giving blood and renewing us by His Spirit.

Consider these things as you take a look at the pictures below... God loves us THAT much!!

The man with the gashed head...

It was dark. Supper was almost ready when there was a knock at the gate.

As someone went out to see what the need was, they were greeted by a man with blood streaming down his head, dripping down onto his shoes.

His colleague's speech was slurred with drink, and neither of them could walk in a straight line. They were admitted into the compound and led to the front porch where his wound was examined.

It was a large gash on the top of his head: about 2 inches long and almost down to the skull. At first he claimed it was from a rock, then from a piece of glass. He was too intoxicated to remember anything.

Thea, Virginia, and Susannah doctored him, cleaning out and stitching the wound.

The operation done, Susannah sat down in front of the men...

"Ou bezwen Jezi. Ou pa bezwen Prestige!" She told them. "You need Jesus. You don't need Prestige (beer)!" After a few more words of admonishment, she left them.

We can only pray they understood and will remember...

Dressing the wound.

Thea begins the stitching...

Examining the suture before cleaning up...

A job well done!

Susannah spoke with the men...

"Ou bezwen Jezi!"