Update on Eifadel

This is the little boy who was "Near Death's Door" 

Eifadel is progressing slowly, but he is progressing!  He now often gives a bright smile as I enter the hospital room.  I had hoped he'd have gone home by now, but even though the worse spot has improved greatly, his left knee is still quite sore and swollen.  I think if we could have kept him on the medicine we had him on originally, he probably would have recovered fast.  Since he was allergic to them and would have likely been allergic to penicillins as well, we opted for the second best instead of running the chance of another allergic reaction.  

Eifadel

So much better!

Eifadel and his mom

     "Knock! Knock! Wake up Nurse Anita!"
     So, Nurse Anita does. She walks up to the gate expecting to assist a lady to the clinic. But she is surprised. The lady is smiling.
     "While I was knocking the baby came." she explains easily.
     This is the start to our Friday. It is about 6:30 when I join Nurse Anita in the clinic. It is mostly quiet.There is one patient resting in the hospital room as I walk by. I did not stop. He is still resting.
     I look for the baby. He is adorably sweet. He still needs bathed and Nurse Anita tells me I can have the job. It is a good way to begin a day. The sturdy mother sits over in the chair to the side, clucking to herself when I fuss over the cute baby. Does she actually know what I am saying? She seems to, because she smiles and smiles.
     And after we have grabbed a few pictures and wrapped him up in some clothing huge to his proportions, she jumps up. In her arms is her new treasure. She seems proud and full of energy. Before her daughter who accompanied her knows what is happening, she sails out the door and begins her walk home, where ever that is. I go to the entry and stare after her dumbfounded. Did she just have that baby? Or did she not?!! Maybe it's worth having a baby if they come that easy and that cute, what do you say?

Here is the cute little guy!

The older sister baby and mother

     Nurse Anita and I go for some coffee and try to finish waking up. Before we begin clinic, Nurse Anita unclogs my eardrum so I can hear. It hurt pretty bad, but at least it will get better now. I forgot to ask for the bill.
     For me, the normal has become checking people's temperatures and taking their blood pressure. After that is done they will wait until a nurse calls them into her room. I am glad they all look at each other, because that makes less talking for me to do. I can usually survive on one or two words and they kind of figure out the rest. Sometimes they go on big rows of words, explaining their malady. I usually nod sympathetically and they eventually catch on that I'm not very helpful to their problem.
     Meanwhile the real nurses are busy checking people's bandaged wounds, giving out blood pressure medication, or prescribing medication for other illnesses. The Creole words sail out of their mouths like so many butterflies.

     I find little things to do when I am caught up with the line of patients waiting for consultations. Sometimes I cut gauze or chop up small squares of gauze to make alcohol swabs. I do that in English, because it is one job that doesn't matter which language you do it in.
     When I decide my hands are too germy, I go to the jugs at the sink and pour water over them. I can hardly wait until we get moved to the new clinic where we will have running water.
     Sometime between noon and three o'clock, we will probably walk out of the clinic, with its white tarp dividing walls into the fresh air. By now, we pretty much like the thought of food, and hope that no one knocks at the clinic gate for a while.
    But don't relax too much, this might just be a day when someone gets a rock thrown at their head, or a baby decides it's his birthday, and you will unlock those doors and roll your eyes as you laugh at the unpredictable turn of events. Haiti?! Yes!
   

   
   

Babies, Babies, and MORE Babies!

You all were promised an update on the births that we had last week, here it finally is!

Tuesday we had a girl come into the clinic in labor.  She had a while to go, so we gave her a bed, and kept tabs on her throughout the day.  In the afternoon, another girl came in, very close to delivering.  I was responsible for the births as Anita had other things going.  The second mom progressed steadily and delivered a whopping 8lb 12oz baby boy.  He is a really cute little buster, and his mom and uncles and aunt were so proud of him.  I don’t think the little guy has a dad that claims him.  It is so sad how many babies are that way. 

We were getting ready to take the first lady out to Leogane, her blood pressure was rising, she was pre-eclamptic, terribly anemic, and not progressing the way we thought she should be for the contractions she was having.  I had checked her right before the little boy was born, and she still had a ways to go before delivery- I thought!  Anita was over in the hospital room taking care of the boy with the leg infection, and she hollered “The baby is here, bring me a bulb syringe!”  So Michael and I ran out and there lay a tiny little girl, 5lb 6oz, not breathing.  Michael grabbed her up and started smacking her feet and rubbing her briskly while I hooked up the oxygen.  Her heart was beating but she didn't want to breathe.  We ventilated her and shortly she took off on her own.  She was very sluggish though; I’m a little bit worried about her brain, because she seemed to be early.  The mom had no milk, so we gave the baby some formula and sent her home the next morning with more.  I haven’t heard back from them, I hope they are well. 

The little boy I saw again today when the mom came in for a checkup.  He is so cute and big.  He has gained a whole pound in one week!  I think he will grow up into a big man, I just pray he is a big man for God.  I always wish that I could raise the babies I deliver, so that they grow up knowing of God and influenced by righteousness.   

The next morning I got out to clinic, and found that Anita and Breanna had delivered a little boy already.  They both were leaving that day, Breanna to go home for a few weeks, and Anita for just a few days in town.  So I was glad that they took time to do that birth! 

Thursday morning I was called at 7:20 by knocking at the gate, and there was ANOTHER lady in labor.  I checked her out and she had a ways to go.  So I went back to the house to get breakfast and get ready for clinic; at 8:40 someone came running saying the baby was born outside on the ground.  I jumped and ran, and sure enough, a little girl was wrapped in a sheet yelling quite lustily!  The mom had gone out to go to the bathroom…. at least the baby was healthy.  She had had 2 children already, and sometimes, things can go really fast!

That made 4 babies in 39 hours.  I was praying there wouldn't be anymore for a while.  There wasn't- till today.  This afternoon a 17 year old girl came in; she had come two weeks ago and was disappointed when Anita told her she wasn't in labor and needed to go back home and wait awhile! 

 Baby #1.  

Someone said this little fellow has a big mouth?   (I'm just glad he was using it!)

Devon Cooper helping clean him up.  She was here on a team.

Happy mommy, cozy baby.

Baby #2

Michael was keeping her warm until she could come off the oxygen.

We were so glad she was ok after being on oxygen for just a short time!

Dosei Cooper holding the girlie before she went out to her mom.

Tired, but happy mommy!

  -Mis Virginia Rudolph

Happy Birthday

When the clinic staff's birthdays come around, we try to make it special.  This week it was Direk.  (He's the one that takes down basic information on the medical charts for patients, and he collects the payment for treatment.)  We keep it simple, but they really enjoy the "party"!    

Direk with his cupcakes

Rhoda serving juice

(She recently arrived to work as a nurse at the clinic.)

Near Death's Door

Sunday morning dawned, and I was up in good time and eager to get to church.  Then I heard some commotion at the clinic and got a knock on my door.  Till I got there, I had 3 patients.  Two were minor, but this little fellow (below) was in bad shape.  His only complaint was his badly infected leg and fever.  It didn't take long to see that this was no small case.  As far as we could tell, the leg was the cause, but he was in serious condition.  He was running a fever of around 104*F, heart rate was high, as were respirations.  It was clear he needed attention before his body gave up the fight.  

Instead of heading to church, Breanna and I got him situated in the hospital room, got an IV started, administered fever reducers, and got antibiotics started.  It took most of the morning till all of that was done.  We went to our house for a bit and then eat lunch before returning to open up the hugely swollen foot.     

Before we lanced the leg

After

I barely cut the surface of the skin, and the puss started just gushing out.  We must have gotten 16-24 oz of fluid out that first time.  

In the days that followed, we kept the wound open to drain and continued to give him is medicines.  It seemed he was "out of the woods", but Tues morning just after his antibiotics were given, he started showing signs of shock.  His oxygen saturation dropped, he was trembling, and not looking good at all.  We stopped the IV antibiotics, got him on oxygen, and monitored him closely.  Micheal was ready to administer some medicine to counter an allergic reaction if things continued to get worse.  He stabilized and started to improve.  It seemed quite apparent that it was the antibiotics that he reacted to so we had to switch to something different.  

It was amazing because Breanna went back in the room 5 minutes after the IV was started to check on something when she noticed that he wasn't doing well.  If she hadn't gone in then, it could have been too late till we noticed or were notified.  God is SO good!  

We also had 4 births at clinic this week--2 on Tues, 1 on Wed, and 1 on Thurs.  We'll try to post about them soon.  

Bandaging!

This post is about...BANDAGING! 

So if blood and wounds are not for you - scroll down slowly to give your stomach time to process the sights. :)

While Anita, the two Haitian nurses, and Michael perform consultations, etc. I typically clean and bandage most of our regular bandage patients.

Here are some wound care patients that came into the clinic over the past couple days... 

Above, is a picture of (now known as) the "First Leg Guy's" leg. :) Remember him?  He has been coming daily for several months to be bandaged for his leg infection. It is slowly improving. His real name is St. Luke. He recently was saved!  That was exciting. He comes into clinic so cheerfully and we can definitely see the light of Christ on his face now.  He recently brought in another person two days ago with the exact SAME problem he has!

Above is "the second leg guy" when he first arrived. I could hardly believe it was the same thing!  Perhaps it's good that pictures cannot communicate smells...!

This man has two bandages as you can see. Any ideas of what they could be from? The front is covering up an entrance wound - on his back, it's covering an exit.  He was kidnapped and shot in Port-au-Prince, and came to us then to have his stitches removed.  I uncovered his prior bandages and removed the stitches they gave him in PAP, and was finding his wounds to be unlike anything I've seen before. So Anita asked him for his story, and it is really very amazing he is still alive. He was kidnapped in a market place in PAP, and  was brought somewhere out in the country where they tried to suffocate him (breaking some of his teeth), and then shot him. They left him to die, and "then God loosed him". We don't think he knows how he got to the hospital. In the picture above, Virginia is giving him some medicine to aid in his healing process. 

This man is supposed to come every day for an abscess in his hip. Sometimes he does - sometimes he doesn't. :-/  He lives quite far away. Here he's getting his wound packed, a relatively painful procedure. 

Above is a wound caused from tuberculosis. 

Above is a young lady who was hit on the head with a hammer by her husband. Her head was very bloody when she arrived (the day after it happened). Her skull was cracked and we could see the blood pulsing inside. We cleaned her up a little, bandaged her head, and then sent her to Ti Goave to the hospital for further treatment. 

This young boy cut his thumb with a machete-like tool.  I did the initial cleaning, and then Anita did a great job at stitching him up!

A few days ago, this lady had a lump on her head filled with pus.  Anita inserted a needle into the lump and began to drain it. The lady was initially sitting up in a chair, as it is mostly a painless procedure.  However, Anita stopped for a minute and set her needle and syringe on the table. The lady took one look at it and the liquid contents which had been emptied from her head and began to say, "M'ap kouche! M'ap kouche! M'ap decompose!" (I'm going to lay down! I'm going unconscious!). Well, that sent us into immediate action - supporting her, and trying to keep her upright. She's an unusually large lady for a Haitian and she began to sink lower and lower to the ground as Anita, Virginia and I tried to keep her upright. This lady was totally letting herself go mentally.  We tried to get her up on the table, but she would offer no assistance, and she became some form of feigned unconscious.  We asked for help from the other clinic workers (and half the people in the waiting room got up to watch), and finally got her up on the table where Anita was able to finish the process. She was fine when her head was turned and she could no longer see the "instruments of torture". :) 

So...those are just a few of our most recent bandage jobs in the past couple days! 

Breanna Keller

Cute little guy

A lady came into the clinic in labor Monday just as clinic was ending.  Almost all afternoon on Monday we had other after-hour patients in between checking on the lady in labor.  It was a first baby, and things progressed slowly.  Her labor slowed down overnight, but by morning she still hadn't really progressed so we started her on oxytocin.  Things still progressed slowly, and I was getting pretty concerned about baby.  Fetal heart tones dropped some, and then I was really concerned.  By 4:30 pm Tuesday the baby was finally born and was soon breathing.  We were SO grateful once again for God's hand of mercy in a situation that looked pretty bleak.  

Breanna and I with the little guy

L-R  brother of mother, father, baby, and mama

They were so proud of their little boy

cute little man