“Channels only, blessed
Master.....but with all thy wondrous power flowing through us, Thou
canst use us.... every day, and every hour.”
These lines of the
familiar song recently hit my consciousness afresh, during our
morning staff devotions here. Truly we are mere channels of the great
love, mercy, and grace of our God...we bring nothing good of
ourselves, to offer others. And what an opportunity we have to be the
hands of feet of Jesus. We are reflectors, conveyors...channels... of
His love, and the Gospel, to the people around us. For some people,
we may be the only glimpse they get of God's love. I take that
seriously, and pray that our brief contacts with the many people
entering our clinic, would be true touches of Christ in their lives.
What kind of a channel am I.... are you? What are we communicating to
those we meet each day?
The last weeks have
brought us a round of cholera patients. Recent heavy rains have
helped spur the incidences of this maladi....thankfully it is usually very
treatable if the patients are prompt in seeking help. One Wednesday morning found a few of us sloshing our way down the trail to
clinic in the pouring rain ....it was just after 3am, to be
exact. Sure enough, another cot had arrived (along with about 20
other people). We got the newcomer settled into the cholera shack (a
separate outbuilding where we put patients with cholera to keep them
out of the main clinic building). He was dehydrated from severe
diarrhea and vomiting, but responded well to IV fluids and was able
to be released a few days later. Thankfully most of the patients who have
come in recently have gotten well and were able to go home before too
long. Cholera is very treatable, and it is fun to watch how fast
people get better when they get the appropriate care. But... at the moment, I pause to ask you to especially pray for a young girl in the cholera shack today. She has been here 4 days and is still experiencing severe diarrhea and dehydration. We are giving her fluids by IV as much as possible, but she continues to struggle and not progress like she should. Please pray that God would touch her with healing today.
Our 3am cholera patient
just after arrival.
Another thing we have seen
in the last weeks is a few nasty injuries that needed sutures....so I
got to try my hand at real suturing for the first time. Wasn't the
most beautiful stitch job ever, but it went well and was fun. ;) A
school girl had gotten in a fight with a boy in her class...a rock
got thrown, and she ended up at clinic. Part of it was scary close to
her eye, but thankfully she seems to be healing up just fine.
One day while I was on call, a young boy was brought in. He had been hit in the head by a tree branch the day before, and his head was split wide open. Alyssa helped tackle that job and got it back together very well. He didn't totally appreciate our help during the process (to put it mildly), but almost smiled in spite of himself, afterwards.
Before I go, I must tell
you about the little person I met on Sunday. At 4am Sunday morning,
Alyssa and I headed for the clinic in response to the knock on our
gate at the mission. We were told it was a lady in labor. Upon futher
investigation we found the lady had already had her baby at 11pm the
night before.... a tiny, tiny baby. The mother also had eclampsia and
was experiencing high blood pressure and seizures. There were some
very scary moments as the mother seized again after arriving at
clinic. The baby girl was 3lbs. 8oz. She was cold and had a low heart
rate upon arrival at the clinic. Eventually I got her warmed up and
also was able to give her some formula, as she had not nursed or had
anything since birth. After working to stabilize mother and
baby, we worked on arranging a flight for them.... transport to the
hospital by helicopter. When our attempts at that were unsuccessful
for several hours, we finally left for the trek to the hospital by
road. Bouncing over the bumpy trail with a tiny baby and sick mother
is not fun, to say the least. The mother seized again during the
trip, and Alyssa faithfully watched over her and administered more
medication. Finally after about 4 hours, we pulled into one of the
better hospitals in Haiti. It was a relief to be able to turn our
patients into such capable care. But it tugged at the heartstrings to
leave that precious little baby flailing in her crib....all alone
there in the NICU. I hadn't realized it was possible to love someone
so tiny so much, in such a short period of time. As I held her and
fed her those 10 hours on Sunday, I wondered... will she be loved,
will she be cared for? She is a fighter, but she is so tiny. Will you
pray with me that God will watch over her and bring her through? And
her mother also? The mom seemed to barely know that she had delivered
a baby... the dad was thankfully with her, but was completely
overwhelmed by the situation, and very worried about his wife. So
please lift them up to the throne of grace with us... we know the
Giver of life and healing, and I'm so thankful we can turn to Him at
any time, for every need!
Hospital bound!
Our tiny sweetheart.
That's about all I've got
on the clinic front for now, folks. I had actually written more, but this post keeps changing as I have had to wait for the internet connection to post it... so hopefully this finally will work. =) Keep praying for us, and being a
channel of God's love and life wherever you are. Thanks as always for
your prayers and support!
-Mis Sharon
