Sad and Happy Stories

Like most anything there is the fun and undesirable, the pleasant and unpleasant, the sad and happy.   This post involves both.  (I hope you're not getting tired of baby stories because I have more of them.) 

Baby who's mother died--held by her uncle

Do you remember the 4 tiny babies that we had at the clinic about 3 weeks ago?  Well, the one in the picture above is one of them.  Her mom was the one that was very sick, and we ended up taking her out to T-Goave.  The mother died about 1 1/2 weeks after she left here.  This week the lady's brother came back with the baby, and we put her on the Nourishing the Needy milk program.  The baby is doing well, but it's so sad that Mama didn't make it.  

Here are the twins--Deyei and Deunia

They are around 2 months old now.  Deyei is actually starting to look fat, and Deunia is looking good too.  I was so happy to see them again this week.  

Baby and "New Mom"

This case really blessed me!  There are so many malnourished children or tiny babies who lose their mom and need milk.  Formula is expensive so they often come in fed on tea and or sugar water.  It's expensive for us to buy the formula too, and we don't have enough so I'm pretty reluctant to put another mouth on the Nourishing the Needy milk program.  Well, this twenty day old baby was brought in whose mother had died, and they said a relative had nursed the baby some.  I asked if she would continue caring for it.  They didn't think she would.  Her baby was about 19 months and ready to be weaned.  I gave them just a little milk and told them to have the lady who had nursed it come to see me--not really expecting that she would.  

When the lady came with the baby a day or two later, I was hopeful.  I tried to explain that it would really be good if she could take care of the baby.  She didn't seem very willing at first.  I plead with her saying that the baby had no mother now, and we all needed to help.  To my surprise she agreed.  I told them that I still wanted them to come for checkups and I'd take care of giving the baby meds when needed.  Her willingness to help when I'm sure they know that I could have given them milk really blessed me! 

Here is a follow-up on the "head guy", Frisnel

Frisnel with a dull look in his eyes

I was gone over the time Frisnel got saved, but when I came back I quickly noticed the change in his countenance.  

This week now we started letting him go home and return each morning for bandaging.  It's a thrill to see his smiling face when he comes for bandaging.  

(For some who may have known Obes, Frisnel is a grandson of his.)

A much happier young man

More help!!!!! New born!!!!! Update!!!!!

"Anita! Is that you?" I was tempted to breathe a sigh of relief, seeing that the head nurse was home again. And, of course, there was a lady who was in labor, waiting, too. Maybe she was breathing a sigh of relief, too!
    But, then Anita said,"Are you delivering this baby?" So I sucked my breath back in again and continued praying.
    And the baby came, with a cord around his neck...and, thankfully, Anita didn't leave me in my hour of need. She stepped me right through everything, and gave a helping glove or two when I needed it.
    It was about midnight when we left for home. That was how Monday started. Blue. Because it was a boy.
     And then, another happy thing came. Remember the premie baby that came a few weeks ago? He is twenty days old now. I had given him up for dead. Not that I wanted to. I was afraid to hope for anything more than that. He had an appointment that they never showed up for. And with as fragile and frail as he was, I didn't trust it.
    But here he came. He was round-faced and so cute. Little old poochy lips, like his mom. And what a grinning, hugging reunion all the nurses had with them. And the dear old grammy was almost in tears.
    Then she told us she had been sick. But she did not make a dossier for herself. She said, "I don't have money." She made a dossier for the baby, so that he could get meds, but not for herself. I was so touched. Mis Anita said I was allowed to give her some meds for her cough and insomnia, too.
    That is enough to make up for the long hours of feeding that baby when I wanted to be home, relaxing myself or sleeping. That little fellow was just eating away like a pro. He still hasn't gained a lot of weight, but he is looking like he is headed in the right direction.
    And the dear little mama, who is mentally handicapped,  just smiles when I tell her that the baby is beautiful. Because I mean it. They blessed me. They reminded me of why I came to Haiti in the first place...

The mentally handi-capped mom, grandma and myself.

Such a joy to hold the baby and seeing that it's growing and getting enough food.

Serving

   Good day to all you dear folks out there, that faithfully pray and support us here as we serve the many needs.
   The business and constant load of the last few days have left me totally exhausted and drained, being able to sleep is a dream that is always "almost ready to come true"!!!!! Just as soon as I want to catch a quick nap, bang bang bang, goes the rock on the gate, another person asking for something, so of I go, I do have to share that I have strength to keep going that's not of myself, and I can say that about the rest of us here this week, being short staffed is not a small thing, especially when we all don't know the language well.
   Monday morning was very muddy, still raining on and off, but people came in droves to the clinic, I believe there were around 75 that came through, so I spent most of my time there helping out, some of the workers weren't there. In the meantime I was getting Stev's bobcat ready to take a lady with eclampsia to town as soon as clinic was out, so Miss Leida and myself left around 2:30 to slip and slide to town with our patient, it's interesting how rough the road is again now with all the rain, the dirt washes out between the rocks and only rocks and ravines are left, so it's a lot slower going again. Also I never quite get used to the moans and groans of the sick person, often times its exaggerated, apparently it's the culture, but I would quickly ask them, ou bien? (you well?) and they would say, "wi wi". (yes yes). Then they'd be totally quiet for a few minutes till they forget that they're well, then of they would go again.
   2 days ago, (Tuesday) was a slower day because people are at the market and then some tend to trickle in after lunch, just before clinic is out, so the day wasn't going to bad, but after 3 I took some school food, picked the "head guy" up, because he said he was bored, and drove up to Madame Pastors house with the school food, as I backed up to the house I noticed a gathering of people who were looking at an older lady sitting on a chair, I unloaded and then went to look and beheld a "broken wrist", so I radioed home, and we took her to clinic, Miss Leida said to get ready to take her to town. So of I cruised with her and her caretaker again, got to the hospital and the guard told me, "no way, we can't take her, take her to Laogone", of course it's dark, 7 o clock by now, and no Steve to call for advice, so I secretly pushed through the crowd and somehow entered the hospital where I found doctor Felix, he is Direks son, Direk works in the clinic, he is around my age, and I also found Dr. Edgar also a young doctor, both were nice and exclaimed that I was their friend, and that they appreciated what we did here in the mountains, (they've both been here already at different times) Dr, Edgar knew English well, so I told him whats going on and he said, "bring her in". I didn't dare get hopes up because nothing ever goes easy here, and sure enough nothing did, the lady told us before we left home that she had money and could pay for everything, so I didn't bring nothing with, just some personal money, so I called Pastor Levy and between the two of us, we finally scraped enough together, to pay for x-rays, pain meds, injections, cast etc etc etc. (Her money suddenly wasn't anymore, not sure how it disappears so quickly, maybe on the rough trail!!!!!!!!!!!!) So by the time we left the hospital it was around 9:30 PM.
   Just to add, this lady was even more funny then any I had taken in before, she was moaning loudly and no amount of distraction from me stopped her, she did have pain though, but I noticed that every time she seen someone about 100 feet in front of us she would shut her eyes, lift her broken hand high in the air for all to see, and just howl as loud as she could, and then when we were past the people on the road, the howling turned to moans and the hand descended and her eyes popped open and she was watching for the next set of people walking along the road!!!!!!!!!! Finally I signed and wandered for her to sing instead of howl, and she took it up, she sang in Creole, Nothing but the Blood of Jesus, I certainly agreed and sang with her in English. Ended up being refreshed!!! :)
   I was quite hungry, been running since breakfast time, Pastor Levy took me to his house for a quick bite, and then discussed whether I should go home because only the girls were home, the tires on the bobcat are bad, and having had to stop to fix tires and keep pumping them up on way in, we decided it's safest to stay at Darv's for the night and come up next day. Levy phoned Pastor Jeera and Claudney and told them to keep and eye on the mission and check things out. So I went to Darv's for the night being at peace.
   Next morning, I picked up the wrist lady and Levy took grandpas bobcat and we brought up all the med's for clinic. After running steady to get demands filled for everyone once I got home, we went to orphanage for supper and playing some games, and then came home to "finally" sleep, but that wasn't to be, a lady came knocking at 9:30, she was in labor, although not far enough that anyone had to stay there for the night. But eventually we got to bed, AND I SLEPT GOOD, (oops, I forgot that hardly ever things go as planned here)!!!  till 3 rats decided they can't sleep and needed to fight, so I spent 2 hours chasing rats, what a nightmare, they had the guts to run the whole length of the cement rod that runs through my room while I had the light on and and throwing shoes at them, and as you are probably imagining it, I DID LOOSE, they are mocking me this morning, they seem well rested and climbing a conduit pipe not 5 feet from me as I'm typing this. And I sit and stare tiredly at the 5 pairs of shoes and sticks laying on the floor by my bedroom door, screaming, "looser"!!!!! But a good looser, ;)
   Anyway I thought i'd add some flavor this morning. Have a good day.

Lady with the broken wrist, and her care taker.

It's good to have a doctor friend!!!

Waiting for x-ray results. We came into the room and found the doctor
that does the x-ray's, sleeping on that table, I was wondering about his
choice of bed until I noticed the air conditioner up in the window!!!!!!!

This is the picture of her wrist.

Got back around 11 Wednesday morning. 

Unloading Med's

"""DE-STRESSING""" at the orphanage!!!!!!!!

Playing "scrabble" if I remember right.

Another glimpse into the clinic.

    " Are you feeling well enough to go to work today?" This is the question we asked in the sunlight of Friday morning. After that initial question was answered in the affirmitive, we could then begin to ask about the patients in the hospital.
    "How are the twins and their mom? How is the boy with the head band on? How is the little Grandma that doesn't eat? How is the lady who just got an IV during the night and was having abdominal pain?
   It was an end-of-the week Friday. That kind. Steve and Shana were in town shopping for meds. We needed them. I mean the meds. We needed Steve and Shana, too, but that couldn't be helped too much right now. So we prayed as we sailed into the day. Figuring the doctor was going to arrive sometime in the day to assist us, we saved a few questions in our minds for his consideration.
   The twins mom seemed to be holding her own by all medical standards. She still had various spells of stubborness in which she decided not to feed her babies or take her meds. These happened at one o'clock in the night or during the day. Since we suspected hormonal or spiritual issues were the cause of these outbursts, we were hoping she could go home after clinic Friday afternoon.
    Since the Grandma with the bellyache was feeling better, too, we also wanted to send her home. Her daughter asked if we could assist her with transportation to Grafu. We had not yet seen the doctor, and clinic was closed, so we kind of figured he wouldn't arrive anymore.
    I called Delwin on the radio and we decided to take them all at once...
    It turned into a major event. The mom threw another thrashing fit, and made it difficult for us to be positive we should send her home. But her stats held stable, and Mis Leda was certain that we should send her home.
    What a running, flying, shouting, shoving mass of people. It was rather interesting...and loud, as such Haitian send-offs are. The machine was becoming fuller and fuller. A full five days worth of living needed to be hauled off...kettles, blankets, medicines, and food.
    And then the people needed to be put on, too. The Grandma, who was feeling better, along with her daughter, were up front holding the twins, and the dad was in the back, holding his wife and the boxes carefully under an umbrella.
     As soon as we were done waving our good-byes to the people in the machine, we needed to make sure everyone was comfortable in the hospital. The new lady, a pregnant woman, with no known medical malady was given entrance. Throughout the remainder of the day, she was prayed over fervently, and many people came and went to help sing or pray with her. She would stiffen her body and thrash around strangely at times.
    Friday night we were called down once more to see if perhaps any physical problem could be detected. We found none. Another prayer service was conducted. We looked at the old Grandma again. The prognosis looked very sad for her.
    Saturday dawned. The Grandma was taken home. I felt a sense of loss when I realized that she would probably never be back.
    Sunday comes after Saturday. It usually does. What a gorgeous, gentle morning here in Haiti. But the twin's dad is back. His wife is still throwing her spells...what is wrong? Can she come back, he wonders.
    Delwin and I jump on the machine and go to check her. She is still medically fine...as far as we can tell. So we came home and went to church to sing and pray.
    Thy pregnant lady asked for prayer during church service, and wow, all the pastors and deacons were praying over her and the whole congregation broke into a pleading for her spiritual welfare, that the demonic influence of her would be released.

The twins mom with the babies. Pray lots for her, that whatever spiritual
hold back there is or seems to be, would come out of her and she would
be made totally whole.

Making a house call Sunday morning to check out the
twins mom.

This is the old lady after they brought her in, she passed away a day or two
after we sent them home, we aren't sure but it seemed a lot like she had cancer.

    

Physical and Spiritual Healing!!!

  Well it certainly feels like I haven't written anything in a long time, that's why I want to say hi to everybody again.
   It's been quite the long hard battle for me the last week or so again coming down with and pulling through with another virus, It did feel as if there is nothing that isn't wrong with me, but praise the Lord I am sitting here and feel a lot better.!
   As far as everyone else, well, it's been about the same, some have had a touch of it and some quite hard and some not at all. But working together and everyone pulling a huge load God has for sure given a lot more strength then we would have had to keep plugging along. I have to say the amount of people we've put through these past two weeks at the clinic and more so the amount of intense demanding situations have been sort of on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 as the worst, its been around 8. So it's definitely been interesting learning how to cope and learn from the many different situations.
   It seems that the devil is really working hard to destroy mankind more then ever, we have had more then a few patients coming in that seem to have spiritual issues, but I say this only to ask for prayer because it seem there is raging battle against the work here right now, the physical needs are being cared for and it seem the more everyone works with the people spiritual health alongside the physical at the clinic the worse the devil sits and pounds. But what power has he? Defeated foe.
   I would like to share about the "head guy" as we call him, if you can recall a few weeks ago, we sent him out to a hospital where he got surgery done, well it turned out that the american doctor that was there for that week didn't end up needing to scalp him at all to fix the problem and clean his head, he is staying here in the clinic since then and will be until he is deemed well enough to go home. Each day one of the nurses takes the "bandanna" of and he has a couple holes at different places surrounding his head, basically for drainage of any fluid or puss that is forming in pockets. So they slowly go over his head and drain out all that stuff at the drainage holes, "sounds like a commercial building sight"!!!! and then they sterile pack the hole to keep them open as well because of some accumulating puss and fluid that still needs to be released, the holes themselves are healing nicely and as of yesterday the nurses were very happy with the overall healing progress they see. They had him on IV until yesterday but is now on oral medication intake, which is a good sign to.
   On his part, well, he's 18 years old, and is quite a mischievious one at that, whenever I come down and he's sitting outside or on his bed he winks at me and then pretends he's sleeping, so when I walk up to him and shake him a bit he is "surprised" to see me, he does badly want to go home though, but knows he can't, I'm glad that he is not hard to convince though cause he needs the constant care to heal properly. He also didn't like the IV one bit, and he would always be fiddling around with it, even turning it of. When the nurses are redressing his wound he is in very great pain, and needs to be held down, but there again, he'll half cry and half laugh and pretend he's wiggling of the exam table. But good thing the candy jar is always there to  give immediate relieve from the pain!!!! Also Katie was always telling him to drink lots and after she got sick he turned that on her and now whenever he sees her he tells her to drink lots of water.
   Last week Thursday one of the gate gaurds, Fabia, walked down there and gave him gospel tracts and a Creole Bible to read, and talked extensively to him about the Christian Walk, he had told him that he already has been thinking of getting saved, the love and care he felt and people praying with him and hearing Fre. Noaz praying and preaching each morning had somewhat prepared his heart already, so Sunday morning, being to weak to walk to church I asked if I could take the four wheeler, and when almost ready to leave Delwyn had to take Rhoda on a quick medical run up the trail and we got this idea of me taking the head guy with me to church. Praise Jesus, we had a visiting Pastor here and he preached a message on being born again, truly born again and staying under the Blood, how Jesus is coming back for a pure Bride very soon, and since he fully died and freed us, we must be fully dead and fully alive and without one spot or wrinkle, in order for Jesus to except us into heaven.
   He told Pastor Levy during the message he wants to get saved, and "YES"!!!!! it didn't take long after the service, and he was a changed young man, made whole because of the BLOOD OF CHRIST, HALLELUJAH. What a thrill, after having spent lots time praying for him, and spending time with him playing checkers to help him pass his days. HE HAS GLORIOUSLY FOUND REST.
   We covet your prayer for him in the coming days, that he would grow and that we would be there for him, last night his grandpa was staying there with him, and he was reading Isaiah 53, his grandpa was leaning over his bed looking at the Bible, so I watched a bit, and I noticed he was actually reading that chapter to his grandpa.

Katie is sterile packing the drainage holes.
It's very painful.

Delwyn playing checkers with him.

Just a quick pose with him.

Freedom, Hallelujah!!!! Imagine if we hadn't taken him
to town, imagine if we had given up on him and sent him
home to die like we thought would be the best option,
often it's is the only option because the cost is so huge
and the cost of care afterwards for the clinic here is a big
amount as well, and we don't have funds available for
all the needs like this, but I stand in awe again, mixed
emotions, what if we hadn't scraped together money for
his surgery, what if? His soul would most likely be
in eternity without Jesus. 

It was worth it all, just to see this smile and the him exclaiming about the
peace in his heart. 

Sunday night after church, he is reading his Creole Bible. Pray much for him.

Full and Overflowing, By Megan

   Maladies, more maladies, and more maladies! Blood pressures, pulses, and temperatures! Meds, meds, and more meds! And today, nurses who were giving out and prescribing meds were the ones that needed meds! And all the hospital beds are full, so no more maladies please!

   Last week there was one day where the hospital room was completely empty. The cleaning ladies cleaned the room and it finally smelled good. That didn't last long though, as the next day, we got more sick people. Since then, we have been getting people in and the hospital beds have all been full most of the time. We even had to run one expecting mom up to Basis to the hospital there because we were so full that we couldn't fit any more people in the hospital beds! There was the mom with really bad edema in her legs, then there was the mother of twins who had eclampsia and experienced seizures. There was also the lady that came in this morning with high blood pressure also who could not walk because she was so weak, and there was the guy that came in on a stretcher that needed an iv. And last but not the least, the teenage boy with the infected head is staying at the clinic for a while yet.

   For a few of the nurses, the past couple of nights have consisted of going to bed with the alarm set for an hour, then getting up, going to check on people in the hospital room and making sure they took their meds, then finally crawling back into bed for 5 more hours of sleep before they need to be up again and ready for the next clinic day. So you can imagine what it looked like today: nurses with eyelids at half mast trying to keep a cheerful look on their face and a positive attitude even with a flu bug going around. Thankfully, all the people we have in the hospital room now are all stable and not looking too bad so hopefully we won’t lose any more sleep over them during the night.

BUSY BUSY BUSY. Post By Rhoda, Pictures by Jon

     I had just arrived at the clinic for my after noon on call Wednesday, when a something knocked on the door. Or someone. I went to check which.
  Two very tired ladies looked up at me as I exited the building. One of them was pregnant, and so I told them she could come inside. After Anita and I had both checked her, and I had spent a couple more hours in the clinic, we decided I could go home for the night. It definitely looked like a long time until a baby would be born. In fact, so much so, that it was not the first thing on my mind when I woke up the next morning.
     Steve came to the door and said that a baby had been born during the very bad rain storm last night. The reason the lady had not come and told us about it, was that she afraid of the rain or the dark, or something.
    I grabbed my coffee, and headed for the clinic. After finding the baby alive, although enrobed in a very bloody sheet, I went to work.
    "What is the baby?" I asked, "A little boy or a little girl?"   "I didn't yet check," the Grandma said.
    Before long, Mis Megan showed up with a camera. I was very glad for her presence and assistance with clean-up. The Grandma watched and  helped where she could. She told me she prayed during the night and acted very thankful to God for the safe arrival of her newest grandbaby.
    Before long, after clinic had officially started, Anita realized that the baby seemed premature. The mother was mentally challenged, so it was difficult to get accurate information from her, as to when the expected arrival time of the baby should have occured, etc.
    A long time was spent warming the baby and getting him to drink. By two o'clock or later, Anita felt he was gettting warm enough that I could take over with his care. I am now spending a lot of time, trying to get that cute mite of a thing to eat. It is hard. Hard on the patience, hard on the back, hard on the mom, and hard on the Grandma. It means we need to go down to the clinic at night time hours. It means we need to sit there for up to an hour, coaxing milk and medicine into a little mouth. It means we sometimes need to warm him back up on the heating pad a couple times a day But if we all survive this hardness, that cute, four pound mite of a thing might turn into a healthy, handsome little fellow who can help his mom a whole lot.
     In the meantime, we are trying to train the mom and the Grandma how to care for the baby well enough that they can take him home and continue life-giving care in their own house.
    While this mom and her baby sit in one corner of the hospital, another mom sits in another corner with twins. She came in with a very high fever. And then, in another corner is the boy who we blogged about the other week, with the huge abscess on his head...he is waiting for daily bandaging. And do you see another lady? She is not there now, because her extrememly bad adema is not improving fast enough. Maybe she has a heart problem. We are not sure. We sent her out to another hospital. Hopefully, she can get help there. Her baby seems to be doing fine at one month old.
    So, yes, it feels like we have been seeing enough of excitement around here for awhile....please continue to pray for the patients, and for our patience, too.  God is good, and we want to remember that He never sends us more than we can bear. I'm not sure that He promised that He wouldn't send more people than our hospital can hold, though...

Rhoda patiently urging the one baby to drink.

Jon holding all 4, I think I understand what a tired mom feels like after the
last few nights.

Even Alex helped hold the babies at times.

Mis Anita and Katie starting the third IV on the
one lady.

Believe me, the hospital room was "FULL"

This is always a high light for us, holding those bundles of love.

All Four of the babies, twins are in the center.

 

The chart for the baby that Rhoda was babysitting and at times, "exhorting" to drink.!!!!!

The twins sleeping, and the "head guy", as we call him. He is forming more
puss again it seems like, pray that it won't get worse again.

Loaded up and ready to go to Ti-Goave with the one
lady and her baby.

The burning sunset over the Fort Garry mountain, as we came back home
from taking the lady to Ti-Goave Saturday evening.

Surgery Team

   A team of surgeons and nurses flew in from the US this past week, to do around 40 hernia surgeries, at the Lacolline, hospital about an hour south west of Ti- Goave, we had 5 patients from Allegre that need the surgery to, so Steve and I took them out there on Wednesday, only 2 showed up before we left and we picked another one up on the trail after we left the mission.

   We dropped the boy of with the broken arm, at the hospital in Ti-Goave, then headed to Lacolline. After we got there and dropped the patients of, we were invited to watch Dr, Philip remove a large infected growth from a 17 year old ear, that comes from ear piercings, they were a little more then half the size of a gold ball.

   After that we went into a nice air conditioned room where Dr. Wade was performing a hernia surgery, but as we were watching the electric catter machine blew a resister, and because of the infection that could come from an open wound they sewed the person shut, and Michael went searching for another machine, a couple hours away in Cayes, on the south shore. That machine is used to cut and at the same time in singes the blood vessels and there is next to no blood loss whatsoever.

   In the mean time we headed back to Ti-Goave and waited there for Michael to find a machine and if he didn't we wouldn't have gone towards Port, to look for one we could borrow from a hospital, but after not finding one in 3 hospitals in Cayes, he finally found one in the fourth that they borrowed to Michael after some much explaining. We are thankful though that the surgery's could go on.

The entrance to the hospital where the surgeries were being done.

Dr. Philip working on removing the infection. 

Nicely stitched up and ready to go home now.

Dr. Wade and his staff working on the hernia patient.

Michael taking the machine apart.

Notice the small round resister just a bit right of the center of the picture?
You can see a small black line, that resister blew, shutting the surgery down.

Broken Arm/s

   This young boy came in early in the morning, one of the first patients, he was heading to school and somehow slipped and fell, who knows where and how far and we'll never figure out either, but anyway the result of the fall was a clean cut about 5 inches behind his wrist. Anita decided to put on a splint for now and tomorrow Steve will be taking him out to town for x-ray and a full hard cast.

Can you see where the break in the arm is? It's pretty bent right there.

Anita, Delwyn and Megan, hold the splint and the arm,
waiting for it to harden, it's a temporary splint
to keep it in place,

Steve asked Alex to come with us to see the little boy, and maybe tell him
it's all going to be alright, they both look no to impressed.
Alex your my little buddy!!!!!!!!!!

There is a team of surgeons here from Florida with AFH, (Aid For Haiti) Michael picked them up on Sunday and they are going to be doing around 40 hernia surgeries at a hospital 1 hour or so west of Ti- Goave, so we are taking 5 patients out there from Aleggre that have hernia's as well.
After that we head back to Ti-Goave and Pastor Levy is supposed to bring back the young man back from the hospital in Karfu, where he had his scalp removed and all the infection cleaned, I believe he had two surgeries to get everything fixed up, now we're bringing him back and we are thinking we will have him here in the hospital room at the clinic for quite awhile to continue giving him care and make sure everything stays clean until he is well enough to go home.

Anthrax

Yes, I know that's a scary word. . .  But as near as I can tell, that is what one of our patients has at the clinic right now.

Here is one of two spots on his skin

He first came in on Fri, and we started him on treatment.  Today he still wasn't doing well so I hospitalized him so I could give him some meds IV and keep closer tabs on him.  By this evening he is feeling better.  I'm hoping to send him home tomorrow if he still seems stable.

Resting in the hospital rom

As I say, "You just never know what you'll see in a day here."

*******************************************************************

Then on to our neighbor Moise. . . my heart is continually grieved as day after day Mis Katie faithfully bandages his rotting foot.  The infection continues to spread, and if and when they take him to the doctor again, they may need to amputate even more than before because they delayed so long.  If they procrastinate too long, there will no longer be a need for amputation.  Left untreated it will take his life. This would be a very miserable way to die--simply rotting to death.  We have made the bare facts very plain to them, and yet they won't take action.  They are always waiting for something--some child that doesn't want them to do it, etc.  Always it is going to be soon.

We wonder how much of it is that they are waiting and hoping that the devils will intervene.  It seems there has been a fair amount of praying and ceremony-type stuff going on over there lately.  It is so devastating to think that they are trusting in a god who will only do them harm but lead them on to think he's helping them.

Just as Moise's foot will only get worse and worse unless treated so his soul is very dark and seems would only be getting darker as he continually refuses Christ's call.  Pastor Levy asked him recently about his standing with God, and he said that he's not ready to become a Christian yet.  I think it was more of a polite way of saying, "No."

It grieves to see so many people every day whose lives are dark and hopeless, but this is our neighbor!  We so wish we could do something for him, but we do what we can--pray, bandage his foot, shine some light in the darkness as we go to their compound.

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And I couldn't help but add our last birth at the clinic. . .

And last weeks picture of the twins. . . 

Aren't they dear?