This and That

Here are the girls from the Ontario team dividing out liquid medication for the clinic.  

They did a great job at helping Shana around the house and compound and filling in other behind the scene things too! 

This is just a quick shot from the clinic one of the many little malnourished children we see.  He's too old to be on the milk program (Nourishing the Needy), but needs some supplements for a few months or so in an attempt to get him back to better health.  

In this case the bicycle ride didn't end up so well.  

He cut his tongue and scraped up his face too.  

Anyone remember our baby from a while back that we took to Leogane on oxygen?  She was in very serious condition.  I never heard for sure whether or not she made it, but yesterday her mother brought her in to the clinic.  I was so glad to see her doing well.  She did have a cold again, but is doing, oh, so much better!  That's always so encouraging to see.

Arlene, "the Foot lady"

We're only bandaging it now 2 or 3 times a week.  Maybe by a year she'll be ready to end her frequent visits for her foot injury.  She started coming Oct or Nov of last year.  

Updates on Two Patients

    

Here is an updated picture of Obenson.  

After not coming for a few weeks he was here yesterday.  The lady that takes care of him had still come for his supplements, but wasn't able to come with him the last time due to high water after Tropical Storm Isaac.  He is gaining weight nicely now and looking SO much better.  He was retaining a lot of fluid due to the malnutrition so before he could gain weight he had to lose.  Now he is gaining and so alert.  

"Leg Man"

I'll try to get his name, but for now we'll go by "Leg Man".  He's been coming now since April or so pretty much every day to have the wound cleaned and bandage changed.  His leg is continuing to improve, but the exciting thing is that he recently became a Christian.  He is so happy.  As I was re-bandaging his leg today he was expressing his appreciation for our "patience with him", as he put it.  

He's in a difficult situation right now as he really can't work with his leg the way it is.  When he walks too much it slows down the healing.  In a country where things are already very tight, this only adds additional struggles, but I've been blessed to see his cheerful spirit lately.  

Now

Picture taken yesterday

April

Just a reminder of what it was!

(Look up "A Major Infection" for more pictures and the full story on him.)

Softball-size rock + young head = bad situation

On Saturday the team went on a hike up to the waterfall (about 2 hours away). Steve went along as their guide, but pretty much everyone else stayed back to take it easy- 

unfortunately that was not destined to be!

Grandpa Harold was going up to Terre Rouge when he was flagged down by a Haitian man- his son had a bad cut on the back of his head and was bleeding badly. So, Grandpa gave them a ride back to the clinic, where they boy was examined.

At first we thought it would be just a normal stitch job; but in inspecting the wound we discovered it wasn't merely a cut- his skull was actually fractured! Michael estimated that (in order to do that much damage) the rock must've been about the size of a softball! The boy was coherent and awake, so his condition was stable. Since we don't have the ability to treat such a condition we needed to take him out to the hospital.

He was loaded up and taken out. The trail was rough since the hurricane, but we made it safely and he was admitted at the hospital several hours later.

In the clinic we were able to look inside the cut and see the fractured skull.

The little guy was stable and doing great.

In Ti Guave we transfered to a truck Pastor Levy let us borrow and headed out to Leogonne.

The father supported his son's head the entire 2 hour trip down the trail.

On the way the traffic was light and we made good time.

At the hospital the boy and his Dad waited as we got the paperwork ready for their admission.

Once the paperwork was done they stepped out and were taken to the ER.

We headed back to Ti Guave with the truck and then back up the trail that night.

It was a long, yet satisfying day!

Absent Clinic Workers

Hello from Haiti this beautiful sunny morning.  The title suggests something less than what the first sentence describes, I know.  Well, the absent clinic workers have been mostly the whites this time.  It started last week when dengue fever hit.  (Actually dengue fever hit a few weeks before, but didn't get clinic workers down till last week.)  

Michael came down with it first, and then on Saturday I (Anita) came down with it.  The Haitian workers, Virginia, and Breanna did an excellent job at keeping things going.  Yesterday Michael was able to head back to the clinic, and by afternoon/evening it was obvious that Breanna wasn't well.  One of our Haitian pharmacists has it too.  I'm starting to feel better, but I'm still very weak.  At least I was able to get up and out a little this morning.  

Dengue fever is spread by mosquitoes similar to malaria.  Typical symptoms are: very high fever, horrible body and bone aches, headache, pain around the eyes, stomach aches.  It's a virus so it has to run its course.  The only thing you can do is take fever reducers and of course do all the other things all good patients are to do--eat, drink, rest.  (I have to say I'm sure ready to do more than just laying around.  Five days was quite enough!)  

On my little trek out of my house this morning, I took my camera and headed to the clinic.  I didn't find any extraordinary sights, but I did find everyone doing an excellent job in spite of being 3 workers short right now.  

 Fre Direk busy making dossiers

Michael taking blood pressures since Breanna is under the weather

Mis Joselaine busy in her room

Mis Leda cheerfully filling her post

Mis Virginia filling prescriptions

Zita giving medicine to patients at the pharmacy window

One little head...

This poor little boy was brought into the clinic today by his mother and grandpa- his head was covered infected sores, full of pus and yuck.

Anita and Breanna carefully cleaned and dressed the sores and wrapping his head with bandages and anti-bacterial creme. He'll be coming back for a checkup again soon.

The sad part was that his mother seemed a bit "strange" or, not "normal". She hasn't been taking good care of the little guy (obviously) and when asked questions she always answered in a very strange way. Please pray for her and her little boy...

Some normal cases on a normal day...

Anita had a burn patient come in yesterday and today.

As she cleaned the wound, the woman convulsed with pain and jumped almost out of her chair!

Anita used some lidocaine to ease the pain... "Otherwise," she said, "She's be in my lap!"

And Breanna dealt with a man who had an accident with his sepit (a garden tool, similar to a scythe) 

It was packed with dirt and mud, so it took some cleaning out...

Once Anita got the lidocaine onto the burn patient's wound she was able to clean and wrap it.

Breanna's patient got all bandaged up too. He'll be healed up in no time!

Update on the ear surgery!

There was a somewhat nasty post we did a little while ago in which we showed a lady who's ear had been almost completely cut off.

She returned for some other ailment day before yesterday, so we snapped some pictures of her ear- it's quite amazing, because if you didn't look for it, you probably wouldn't notice the scar. Anita did a fantastic job stitching it so there's virtually no evidence of the horrible injury!

Pretty amazing, 'eh?

I had to look twice to make sure it was the same lady!

Apparently she had some problem with her head and had come in for some medicine.

Anita used her visit as an opportunity to check on the ear.

We're so thankful for God's healing touch!