Hello again from Haiti! It
seems like the past month flew by like a flash, and here it is my
turn to blog again. Wait... I guess I was super late last time, so it
hasn't quite been a month. And this time I am determined to not be
QUITE so late. So here goes.... =)
Sometimes life at clinic
just turns into a big blur as the days fly by, and I can sit here
wondering what I should ever say that could possibly be
interesting to you all. But I will attempt to remember some of our
recent activities.
One case we had recently
jogs my memory in particular. There is a young man named Anglade who
lives right here in our neighborhood in Aleg. He is in his mid/upper
teens I believe, and well known to the community as a somewhat bad,
or just pretty ungodly, young man. He has done things publicly that
are just cruel, for no reason... and it is known he is not a
Christian in any way. He showed up at clinic one evening around 9pm,
with moderate to severe abdominal pain, and no other clear symptoms,
except maybe a slight fever. We suspected a UTI and possible
gallstones so sent him to sleep at his house after taking some meds
to help him get a little more comfortable. But... the next morning,
he returned, a little worse. This time he appeared to be starting
into shock and was still in severe pain. Kayla began to suspect
something much more serious was going on, and after some good work
the helicopter came in to get him and transfer him to an excellent
hospital. That morning found just Autumn and I working at clinic
along with the Haitian staff, due to Katie and James being away for
the day... but it all worked out, and clinic went pretty smoothly.
The Haitians were doing a lot of talking and wondered if God was
punishing this young man with his illness for some of the bad things
he has done. They were very worried he would die (which wasn't
totally an impossibility). We didn't hear much at first, but we have
now gotten word that he has improved and actually been discharged
from the hospital, though he hasn't yet returned home. James was
actually able to travel out and see him at the hospital while he was
there, which hopefully spoke to him and encouraged him. We still are
not 100% sure what was wrong with him, although it sounds like it may
have been a perforated bowel or something similar and serious.
Whatever the case, we are thanking God for how things worked out and
that he gave this young guy another chance at life. Please pray with
us for him, that God could use this experience to touch his heart and
give him a desire to serve God with his life.
Another thing that
happened in the last number of weeks is the changing of doctors. We
have a good Haitian doctor who comes in every Friday to do
consultations and help deal with all the more complicated cases we
see and need advice or help with. Dr. Felix Laguerre has faithfully
been the one to come up on Fridays for the past number of years.
However, due to his upcoming marriage in the United States, he left
Haiti the 8th of August. On his last day at clinic we had
a little “fet” (party) to give him a proper farewell and thank
you, and to celebrate his years of service here. It was delightful
having all the clinic staff together for a party when nobody was
actually running around trying to manage wild blood pressure
patients, find a dossier, or any of the many various tasks we all do
each day. We sang together and prayed together....several people
thanked and blessed Felix for his work here, and then he also spoke
and thanked everyone for all they do. It was sad to see him
leave....but with the change, we also welcome a new doctor.... Dr.
Luben (sp?). He is from Port au Prince, but cheerfully travels up
here on Fridays and in the short time he has been here, he has done
very well. So we are excited about working with him, and so far the
change has gone smoothly. I will leave further introductions of the
new doctor for some later blog post.
This past weekend ended up
being a little busier than expected, but in the end it all worked out
well... praise the Lord! A woman who appeared to be in the beginning
stages of labor showed up Saturday night around 9pm. The only problem
was, her baby was not in position to be born at all, and appeared to
be slightly premature. We were able to give her some meds and get her
labor stopped for a while but the next morning she was having
problems again. So we made the decision to take her to Ti-Guave where
they will be able to do a C-section for her if necessary. Just before
James, Katie, and I left with the pregnant lady, another woman
arrived, who had had her baby in the morning but didn't arrive til
late in the day due to coming from an area a long distance away from
our clinic. She was having some severe complications following the
delivery of her baby, and before too long it was decided she also
needed to be transferred out to a hospital to see a doctor. So the
2nd machine was on the trail not very far behind the 1st.
Both patients were transferred safely to the hospital and were being
taken care of when we left town again that evening. And after our
little convoy back up into the mountains again in the dark, we were
able to wash off the 10 layers of dirt and drop into bed again!
Now for a few pics yet....
=)
This sweet dad was just adoring his baby girl one morning after she was born. I think he was pretty much in love!
Every morning we pray
together as clinic staff before we start the day. One morning, a few
of the neighbor children sneaked in and sat with us for prayer.
Dr. Felix and his dad,
Direk, who works in the office at clinic.
The new doctor, seeing a
patient last Friday.
See.... sometimes our head
nurse works so hard she just about keels over. So she has to go
scrounge up some Mamba to eat, to help her keep working, poor thing.
=P (OK so actually I believe she was giving these to one of the many
malnourished children she sees and takes care of at clinic...something she does excellently, and nearly every day.)
That's a little update
from our corner of Haiti. God be with you and bless you wherever you
are! Thanks again for your prayer support...we always need it. =)
-Mis Sharon
