I thought you'd be interested in seeing our doctor. His name is doctor Beneche, sounded out as "Benish". He comes out every Friday, the nurses try to keep the worst cases for him to look at when he comes.

A quick update on this gentleman with the large open sore on his hand, it looks a lot better already and he seems to be a lot happier, as you can see.

Do you notice how the swelling has gone down?

Baby, Stitch job, and Batel

    We'll show you the baby pictures first!

This little fellow was born Fri evening.  

Mama and baby did very well.  

He weighed 7lbs.  

 Here is a little girl who was going for water and fell hitting her head on a rock.  

(She's actually the daughter of the Aleg Kazak (judge).  

What can happen at the weirdest times around here? Well, on Thursday we got another another knock at the gate. I was in the house helping to prepare supper and Anita walked into the house. "I am going to the clinic to stitch up another wound," she told me. "Do you want to go with me?" I jumped at the chance to go especially since I had never watched a stitch job being done. When we got to the clinic, Anita got the supplies ready while they laid the small girl on the hospital bed. Her mom was with her, but she was even more worried than her little daughter. This little girl of about 4 years looked up at us with eyes full of fear and pain.  

      

Anita comfortingly spoke some words to her and started cleaning the wound. Gradually she calmed down and we knew that we had her trust and confidence. Sometimes I thought she was sleeping. She was so small but had such a brave spirit. Anita numbed the wound then she got out the stitching supplies. All the while we had the needle hid from the little girl's sight so I don't think she had much of a clue of what we were doing. At times she would hold up the piece of candy Anita gave her and look at it almost to reassure herself that this was going to be all right. After the wound was cleaned and washed, Anita started stitching. Four neat stitches was all it took. Afterward, mommy looked relieved and told her little daughter, "Say thank you."
   "Thank you," the little girl murmured.

~ Megan  

   "Good-morning, Batel, how are you?" 

   There I stand donning my gloves and there he sits trying to decide what answer to give to me. I don't know. I figure he is probably about the same no matter what he says. I've changed his bandage on his leg lots of times, and now he probably just forgets to be thankful it's healing. But no, the poor man has a reason to feel a little horrible right now. I know it is easy for me to forget the pain he could be feeling, so I try to be considerate and careful. As I began to bandage him, he or I pointed to another area on his leg, and began to discuss that. He says it hurts a lot. I feel it is plenty warm and swollen. So he is soon sitting on a chair waiting for Mis Anita to return. Sure enough, he had another abscess.  So, take a look at the picture. I did pity Batel all over again. I heard him moaning and crying as Anita helped him. Who could love an ugly old abscess with lots of puss and fluid in it?  And what are his chances that this is the last one?

~Mis Rhoda

As far as we can tell, Batel likely has a bone infection.  The sores on his upper thigh will heal on the outside, but soon another abscess, fluid pocket will show up again.  We've been treating him here at our clinic for around 2 years now.  To have something like this tested and possibly operated on would mean a lot of money, which this man doesn't have.  With the help of antibiotics and treatment of the sores and abscesses, he has done very well the last while.  

This abscess now will take some aggressive treatment again before we can sent this man off with a clean bill of health.  The infection goes very deep.  I had to cut through around an inch of flesh before I got to the abscess pocket.  Then I could actually stick a Q-tip 4 inches into the wound.  

He comes from way out by the water fall,so coming for care is more than a small hike to this older man.  

~Mis Anita

"PEEK"

A little peek of some of the clinc staff at work!!!

 

 

Vicson, he's one of the gate gaurds, he is always listening to
Bible on his mp3 player.



People sitting with a number, waiting for their name to be
called
 

Fre. Direk, he fills out the dossiers when they come in and
also where people pay.



Fre. Adolph, he weighs people in, and keeps the
the filing system organized.

These folks half been called in, weight taken and are sitting
in line waiting their turn.



We also have a blood pressure program, and whoever is on there
gets an appointment each time they come in and they come on
day of their appointment and instead of waiting they get
checked and can leave right away, Miss Rhoda's turn
this time.



Madam Leger works in the pharmacy.



Miss Anita starting an intervenous on an older patient while
Miss Megan is looking on and learning.

Madam Daniel, the cleaning lady at the
clinic.

Miss Leda doing a consultation.

Fre. Noaz is doing the daily morning devotions and singing as the clinic
opens up.

 

     "Don't fall!" I find myself trying to keep a grown man on the table as I stick a cotton-tipped applicator deep into his finger below a huge, open sore.

    "It hurts." You can imagine him moaning. 

    "I know," is about all the comfort that I can supply, as I focus on squishing out juicy, white somethings from the insides of his hand.

   I am hiding behind my mask, glad he cannot see the awful faces I am making. Nearby, onlookers float in and out of the room, adding comments as the occasion calls for. 

    "You should have come sooner." 

    "You need to come every day to have it bandaged."

    He soaks it up, and seems a little thankful when he can lay his head back on the bed and look at the white bandage instead of the ugly wound. So far, he seems to be feeling rather worn out from the whole ordeal.

    But he is not done yet. Mis Anita is thinking that a nice shot of Ceftriaxone could be in order, to kind of grab the infection first off...

     "So, don't get too comfy, Mister," I think as I begin to prep the injection solution. 

     When the antibiotic is lying all ready to go, the poor man bravely prepares for the worst. The worst including the fact that Anita is going to help me give my first real IM injection to a living human. It was not too bad for me. I didn't cry. I forgot to look if he did.

     So often I am reminded of the fact that healing comes from God. There are so many things to pray about in a clinic. So much sadness in hearts and so much pain in bodies...

    Like the lady who laid in our hospital room most of today...with stroke symptoms and very high blood pressure. It was very difficult to do any communicating. Her face was emotionless and her eyes were almost shut. At the end of the day, her family decided they wanted to leave. I wonder how she will do. Will she live until morning? Will they take her to a hospital in Port-au-Prince like they talked of doing? Is she ready to die? We can always pray...please join us!


(Pictures: Right and Below  It's hard to actually see the stretcher, but this is the group of caring friends and relatives as they carry the stroke patient away from our clinic.)

   

"Rocks Hurt"

   "I wonder why Steve stopped at the clinic," Delwyn asked me as we drove passed around 9:30 on the way home from our traditional Sunday evening trip up the mountain to the orphanage. 

   This little 4 year old girl had been hit by a falling rock that came tumbling down the mountain, Miss Anita figured that her arm was broken, so for the next few hours the nurses worked on putting a cast on her arm and making her comfortable. She was very brave.

   She stayed in the hospital room overnight and this morning Delwyn and Michael, took her and another patient who was in labour out to Ti-Goave.

Notice the swelling and the hand not quite looking normal.

Miss Anita rolling on the cast. Was fun helping, brave little girl.

All Fixed Up, Although only for a trip to town next morning for x-rays.

All in a day's work

Well, the babies have continued coming with amazing frequency in comparison to our normal 4-5 births a month.  By the 15th of March, we had a total of 7 births at the clinic.  This past week 2 of the deliveries came on Mis Leda's day on call so this is her with the last baby.  It was a little boy whose mom is only 17.  Mama and baby did well.  

Mom, Madam Daniel (janitor at the clinic), Mis Leda, and baby.  

One of the many stretchers that are carried through our gates. 

This lady seemed to have a stomach ulcer which had gone untreated for quite a while before they finally brought her in.  We sent her home after giving her medicine for the ulcer and an IV because of dehydration.  

Megan getting vitals right after the stretcher arrived

Rhoda bandaging one of our many bandage patients.  

It can seem like an endless job, but also encouraging as we see people go home after weeks of care with a healed wound.  There is so much lack of understanding when it comes to keeping a simple wound clean and covered.  A small cut or scrape quickly becomes a nasty infection that takes weeks or months to heal.  

Just a cute shot of a mother with her year-old twins

Here I'm preparing to drain a large abscess.  

It turned out to be more than just an abscess.  I drained large amounts of puss out, but the smell was nearly unbearable.  It appeared to be more like an abscess that spread into cellulitis as well.  As far as I know it originated from a tooth abscess.  

After draining the puss out, I put her on strong IV antibiotics.  Today we are sending her out to T-Goave.  It's obviously extensive, and with it being in her neck, I'm not just going to cut into it to see how extensive.  Also it seems that her body isn't really fighting properly as she has no fever and a round of oral antibiotics last week didn't seem to help.  

As a personal note, I want to say, "Thanks SO much to all who pray for us and support us in so many ways."  We need it daily even hourly.  There is an incredible demand on us as we go out at any hour of the day or night.  We have so many opportunities to touch a multitude of lives with the love of Jesus and speak to them of what He wants to do for them.  There are moments when the spiritual fight seems rather intense.  We got weary physically and at times discouraged spiritually.  Your prayers and encouragement are SUCH a blessing!  

Another Little Angel

    "Now this IS a cute baby!"I told Anita. I am just washing the curly head of a new baby.
    "You almost always say that," she reminded me.

Little cutie!

    "Oh, I know." I shrug and giggle. "Some just really are," I excused myself. "And then some aren't." This is the normal after birth type of talk, while we clean up.

Jackson, Natacha, and Baby

    Jackson and Natacha are in the hospital room now talking happily. The baby is breathing after a bit of a bumpy start. Now how did we get to this point?
    It all started with a knock on the gate at one o'clock. Anita and I groggily chose some scrub tops and I grabbed my flash light that doesn't work. Then we joined Delwyn in the courtyard and stepped along to the clinic. We better not miss this one!
    After a check-up, Anita and I decided we better plan on a night at the clinic. We went home for some hot water for the delivery, some coffee for us, and some pillows for the dust to settle on.
    After bothering the dust on the pillows and having a rather small amount of success, we warmed up to the birth of Jackson and Natacha's baby who arrived around six o'clock.
   Things looked a bit precarious in the first few seconds of the baby's entry into the world, so while Natacha rested for a few minutes, Anita gave the baby some oxygen and used the electric suction on her.  (Baby was all tangled up in the cord, and there was lots of meconium.)
    Before long, things were looking a bit better, and we breathed a bit easier while we cleaned up and cozied the baby into a couple layers of cotton and covers.

   
   
 

One of those jobs

Sterilizing

Normally you see these instruments in those bloody stitch job posts.  After a few weeks we accumulate quite of stack of dirty instruments, and then it's time to dig out the sterilizer, roll up your sleeves and set to work.  (I have to say it's one of those less favorite jobs.)  

Here Rhoda and Megan are doing the initial scrub

Spreading them out to dry off and sort into instrument sets

(That is: birth sets, stitch sets, and stitch removal sets.)

Megan and Marcile packaging the sets

 

Since Jon's office is close to where we had the sterilizer on the gas range, he was asked to watch it for us.  Here he is studying the instructions.  

Rhoda now packaging it all in layers in the sterilizer.  

Some M&Ms and chocolate help us through the job!  :-) 

A few hours later, all the packages are sterilized and laying on the table to dry, this time clean and ready to make their rounds again!  

   This little boy came to us yesterday with all the signs of not receiving the proper nutrition.

   He is around 7 months old, and he was on mothers milk for only the first month of his life, after that they had him on regular milk, which is not a good thing to do, about 3 days before they brought him to us at the clinic they were feeding him boiled leaves, water and sugar.

   His weight is exaggerated because as you notice his cheeks are all swollen already, we really don't know what his real weight is till he gets the proper nutrition and his body start getting back on track.

   We gave them milk for him, and now what usually happens is he is going to loose more weight and will look a lot skinnier.

 

"The Mystery" !!!

   This morning when Anita and Rhoda came to the clinic there was a gentleman waiting for them by the name of Christian Gabriel. Hmmmmm, don't often hear that name.
   What we could gather from his wife and those with him, he had fallen on Saturday night sometimes, details are few because no one seemed to know where and how and why he fell. They also told us that they left at 2:00 AM this morning and got here at 7:00, so they had quite a ways to walk and it sounded like they didn't have any road except a trail to walk on.
    The obvious symptoms though, are that the left side of his head and his left hand are a swollen and bruised. What the nurses can't figure out is why he is going in and out of consciousness, and although he appears to be sleeping peacefully he is actually unconscious.
   Pastor Levy stayed here over night, (he lives in Ti-Goave) and is now getting ready to head back to town, so Anita is getting Christian ready for a rough and tumble ride to the hospital where they are able to perform more tests and hopefully diagnose the problem.

Christian and his wife by his side.

  
  

More sweet babies

Baby boy 6 lbs 3 oz, born at 3 am Friday

Baby girl 6 lbs 3 oz, born 1:20 am Saturday

The tired nurses with the little girl

Baby girl 6 lbs 12 oz, born 4 pm Saturday

Now if you noticed the times, we had 3 babies born at the clinic in a 37 hour time period.

The first baby was born at 3 am Friday.  Since we were short staffed for clinic on Friday, Rhoda and I still had to go to clinic even though we were up a lot of the night.  Of course we thought we'd catch up Friday night and then we'd have Saturday to sleep in.  :-)  Our plans were altered as a second lady came in during clinic Friday.  We were awake a lot of the night, the baby finally came at 1:20 am.  We were SO glad it was Saturday, and headed off to our beds at about 3 am.  To our shock by 9:30 Saturday morning there was yet a third knock on the gate saying a 3rd lady in labor had come to the clinic.  We monitored her throughout the day, and baby was born by 4 pm.

The nurses better get some sleep now before they are sick and needing help!!!