A major infection!

A few weeks ago a man appeared at the clinic with some cloths wrapped around his lower leg- he was limping and seemed to be in quite a bit of pain.

When the cloths were taken away this is what they found...

The man's ankle was being eaten away by a huge infection- his whole leg (beneath the knee) was swollen, rock-solid, and the flesh was slowly rotting off.

As you can see, the infection had progressed to such a degree that we feared for his entire leg.

Apparently it started as a small infection higher up on his leg and was never taken care of.

That was 2 years ago, he said!

The nurses decided to begin treatment immediately and have him come in each day to have it cleaned and redressed.

Here, Anita cleans all the rotten flesh off and begins to cleanse it.

She wrapped it with gauze and told the man to come back the next day.

After several days Michael cleaned it off and trimmed more dead tissue away.

There was a marked difference, already, in his condition.

Each day he came in to have it cleaned off with anti-baterial medication and rewrapped it.

This picture was taken just yesterday when he came in for his daily appointment. 

After just 2 1/2 weeks of treatment the swelling is almost all gone and new skin is forming on the open wound!

It's amazing to see how much he is improving and we are praising the Lord for healing this man thus far.

Please be praying for his physical recovery and also his spiritual condition- I don't know if he is a Christian or not.

Malnutrition...

I have seen many pictures of little children from African, India, even Haiti here, sitting in the streets, or in washtubs, severely malnourished with thin arms and swollen bellies- but never have I seen one up close with my own eyes- until now, that is.

I was in my office doing some paperwork when someone called me outside to photograph a little child. I assumed it was one for our Nourishing the Needy program, so as I grabbed my camera and came outside you can imagine my shock to see Heidi washing a little boy in a kivét on our front porch. He was the stereo-typical malnourished child from a 3rd world country. I've seen some children that were small for their age down here, but none this severe.

He was so thin- his bones seemed almost ready to poke through his tightly stretched skin. His face and stomach were swollen and his eyes had that all-too-familiar sad and droopy look of a child in need of nourishment. Yet, his mind seemed to be sharp; he was 3 years old and tried to say his name to us, though couldn't- he was too weak.

We learned that his mother (supposedly) is in Port au Prince and doesn't really care about him. A lady (a friend or relative, I don't know) was currently taking care of him. We gave her nutrition packs and instructed her on how much to feed him each day.

I hope and pray that the dear little guy can recover from his condition- how sad to think of a mother and father who don't care for their own child and would rather ignore it and let it die than come to its aid; but, this is one of the realities of life down here.

Pastor CJ took a liking to the poor little guy and carried him around for a while.

He then took it upon himself to speak with the caregiver about giving him the attention he needed to improve...

Update on the "Deformed Foot"

Back in February of 2011 this boy came to our clinic with a severely deformed foot- a short while after that we sent him out for major reconstructive surgery.

They came back the other day to show us his progress- and what amazing progress he has made!

(See the original post here)

A Sad Case of Neglect

This child's mother came to the clinic some time ago with what appeared to be congestive heart failure.  She was very sick and because of her illness had stopped nursing her baby.  We saw the baby then, but she seemed to be doing ok.  Now just recently they brought the baby in.  The little girl was in deplorable condition--basically starving, and a very bad infection coming in it's leg.  It was obviously a sad case of neglect.  

Notice the swollen area on her left leg.

The lady holding the baby is actually her sister.  The mother seems to care very little about the baby.  These pictures were taken the 3rd visit so the baby is starting to look better.  

The leg infection became a big abscess.
Friday when they came, we opened it up and drained it.
There was a lot of puss removed .    

Michael flushed it out with iodine.

"It's a painful process. . . 

but it's worth it, little dear."

So many empty faces, so many pleading eyes, so many souls that don't have Jesus.

"...Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
Matt 25:40

100 people!!

Today the clinic's previous record of total consultations in a day (just over 70) was shattered, as the total amount of people seen today reached 100!

When the nurses came to clinic around 9am there were already about 50 people waiting outside- 

and more on the way!

Amazingly enough, things went smooth for everyone and they were finished by 2:30 in the afternoon!

This picture was taken around 1pm- usually there's nobody left by now, but there was still good 30 people sitting around!

Inside there were even more people waiting their turns for consultations.

As you can imagine, the pharmacy went through a lot of medicine today!

In the waiting room Noaz (left, standing) calls people in to being the check-in process.

Anita did a fantastic job keeping up with the amount of people that were there.

Her and the Haitian nurses saw more people today than they have since she's been here!

The woman's children wait as their mother gets checked out.

Direk (at the desk) does the paperwork as people come in.

Breanna had a busy time keeping up with the constant flow of people coming through.

She takes their temperatures and blood pressure before they go into the consultation rooms.

Impatient patients (that sounds interesting, doesn't it?) waiting outside for their turns!

People were sitting all around the courtyard because we didn't have enough seats for them!

A boy came in to have his stitches removed- he had fallen about a week ago and came into clinic.

Now he's all healed up and ready to go!

Update on the "More than a Rash" baby!

A little while ago we had a post on a baby which came in with a rash, malnourished and a mother who didn't know how to take care of it... click here to see the post, if you don't remember.

They came back for a checkup yesterday and what we saw was wonderful!

The little one has improved so much! 

We were all shocked how well it was doing and so thankful for its progress!

Unusual and slightly strange...

Today, when I came into the clinic to see how things were going, Michael called over to me. Saying that he had something that might interest me, he led me into one of the consultation rooms; inside was a lady which had (what looked like) a small hole on the side of her head. Mis Leida was shaving some hair off around this hole and Michael directed my attention to a strange object he held. 

It was a strange, curved, skin covered object that resembled a small horn. He explained it was a rare type of wart which grows out and begins to curve around like a horn. They had removed it because it kept getting in the lady's way.

It was very fascinating. And slightly strange.

***

Other than that, the normal things were going on in the clinic today...

Anita gave consultations...

People waited their turns...

And the pharmacy workers kept busy dosing out medicines.

A man with cholera...

Saturday morning (5th) an elderly man was brought to our gate by a group of about 20 people; Michael went out to see what was wrong and they told him the man had a seizure.

So, we took him into the clinic and, seeing that he was severely dehydrated, gave an an IV or two. However, as Michael questioned the people more, he came to find out that the elderly man reportedly had diarrhea since Wednesday, and on Friday night collapsed in his garden while working. Since then he was writhing around in pain.

It sounded like a typical cholera case, so he was transferred to the cholera containment tent outside the clinic. As soon as his body regained fluids from the IV's, all the symptoms of cholera began to return and Michael began treatment.

The man was from an area called Quiquit; a good distance from here. Today we had a few more people come by with cholera- we sent them on, up to the clinic in Besace, for treatment.

The man arrives with the group of people...

Michael tried to question the man, but he was too weak to speak clearly.

As he tried to get some answers from others, the elderly man slumps down in exhaustion...

Having been carried into the clinic courtyard, he awaited his transfer into the hospital room.

Michael immediately started an IV and, after a little while, a second one.

As the life-reviving liquids flowed into his body, he began to regain strength.

Michael checks his vitals and is pleased to find the man stabilized.

After 2 days of treatment we were able to send him home! 

We were thankful for his recovery and that the disease doesn't seem to be of epidemic proportions in his area!