A World of Contrasts

Monday after clinic some of us took a hike to visit some friends way up the mountain.  It wasn't a clinic related hike, but I still wanted to share a little about it.  For those of you who also keep up with the Haiti Life blog, I think it'll be on there too.  

The scenery was amazing.  We probably climbed between 1000-1500 feet up out of the Aleg valley.

Many little trails  

This one is actually pretty flat and straight--unlike most we hiked that day.

This is the young couple we went to visit.  They come to church here in Aleg.

It took us about 2-2 1/2 hours to get to where they live.  

I didn't know this lady lived up in that area.  She is a clinic patient, and I was excited to see her.  

People in their garden planting beans

Again, viewer discretion advised

This is the same lady that was on the Monday post, and here are some more details and pictures.  Her eye lid and the surrounding area were very infected.  The skin was totally dead, and puss was oozing out.  It stank like crazy!  She had been in about a month ago and even went to T-Goave, but then went home and waited till it was in HORRIBLE condition to return.  I had my doubts as to whether her eye could even be ok under all that infection.  I cut away the bulk of the dead and infected skin and did a general cleaning.  The deep cleaning it needed was beyond me, but I wanted to at least clean it a little.  I didn't use anesthesia at all for what I didn't because she didn't have feeling where I needed to cut.  That's how dead it was.  After cleaning away a lot of the puss and dead skin, I did take a peek at her eye.  She could actually still see out of it.   I then gave her a transfer paper to go to T-Goave hospital.  Today I called and talked to her and the doctor in T-Goave, and he said she needs to go to Port as there isn't a surgeon there in T-Goave to do what needs done.  I just HOPE she actually goes and gets further treatment.  She has high blood sugar so of course that is complicating things.  

The mask was mostly for the purpose of keeping out a little of the stench.  

This is how it looked after I was done.  There was still a lot to clean, but with it being so near her eye and brain, I really didn't feel qualified to do extensive cutting and cleaning.

All bandaged up

This lady is only 38 years old