In Need of Oxygen. . . and more stories

 We were in the midst of our day at the clinic when Fre Noes came in and told me that a child had come who was seriously ill.  I told him to have them bring the child in, get weighed and temperature taken, and I'd see it for a consultation.  The little girl was breathing very noisily but had no fever.  I suspected it could have been viral, but we have no way of testing.  Upon listening with the stethoscope her airway didn't sound good, and her heart rate seemed almost too fast to count.  The mother said that she hadn't been nursing well since yesterday morning.

We soon got her on oxygen, and it didn't take long for her heart rate to slow down.  After a while I was able to switch her to a nasal cannula and she nursed well.  

Here is the mother holding her in the hospital room      

She did will throughout the afternoon so we turned the oxygen to a slower flow rate.  They'll stay yet overnight and hopefully go home tomorrow.

At around 11:00 am, while clinic was in full swing, we had a lady come in in labor.  We monitored her during the remainder of clinic, and she delivered a healthy little girl at 12:30 pm.  Everything went well, and we soon had things cleaned up and headed off for lunch!  

   New baby, Mis Breanna, Mis Rhoda, and I

Exciting news!

Many of you by now are familiar with the "foot lady", Arlene.  She has been coming for wound care on her foot that she injured over a year ago now.  She is diabetic so the healing processes is slow, but her sore is almost completely healed.  

But that's not the exciting news!  Last week one day, toward the end of clinic, some of us got to witnessing to her.  Some of the Haitian clinic workers were there, a sister of hers who is a Christian, and I.  It didn't sound like she was really ready to take that step, but I was pleasantly surprised on Sun when she came and told me that she got converted!  

I decided that I wanted to try to visit her soon, encourage her, and give her a Creole New Testament.   Today Breanna, Virginia, and I had the privilege to do that.  I figured she probably couldn't read as many her age can't, but usually there is a younger person in the household who can.  After arriving and visiting a while, I asked if she could read.  As I expected, she can't, but she said her daughter can.  I then gave her the New Testament.  I wish you could have seen her daughter's face as she handled the Bible and tore off the wrapping.  She was SO excited, and soon exclaimed to her mom, "It's in Creole!"  See, much of their literature is in French, and I really wonder how well even the moderately schooled understand it.  You actually can't find Creole Bibles readily.  I think she probably expected it to be in French, and was delighted to find it in a more comprehensible tongue to her.  Breanna, Virginia, and I were all thoroughly blessed to see their eagerness for the Word.  The daughter isn't a Christian so she can learn as she reads it to her mom.  

You can see in the first picture how happy the daughter is holding the new New Testament

We enjoyed a short time of sitting and visiting before we needed to head home so we could arrive before dark.  

Our visit to see Arlene took us right past Vickson and Gertha's house so we stopped in to see them briefly.  This is a picture of their sweet girl from today!  Her name is Angel.  Isn't she cute?

The view as we hiked!

Babies

There are 16 month old twins boys, Fred and Fredo, that have been coming to clinic lately.  They are way under weight and malnourished.  Their mother died some time ago, and their grandma is caring for them now.  One day this week she brought in Fred, and he wasn't doing well.  I gave him meds and supplements, but the grandma told me that she lost hope for this one.  I'm hoping Fred does well and will come back for his appointment on Friday.  My heart really went out to the grandma as she is trying to raise these babies.  

Fred and I

Grandma feeding Fred some of the supplements that I gave him

A New Baby!  

Little cutie!

Do any of you remember Vickson and Gertha, a young couple who lost their first baby girl?  Well, today God gave them another baby girl.  This time healthy and very cute!  Their first baby was born last year Dec 4th (a Sunday as well)--2 days less than a year after their first one.  

Baby, Vickson, Gertha, Gertha's mom and sister, Virginia, Rhoda, and I

They both really grew in the Lord this last year after losing their first child, and it was so special today to see their joy as they received their healthy little girl.  

The other side of The Coin

     By now, I fear, some of you will never come to work in or visit at this clinic. Why would you after seeing all the red, smeary, battered legs, arms, and heads that we faithfully post?

     There is the other side. There are the mornings, even in November, when the flowers bloom so bright as you walk to work, that you grab a couple to look at all day.

     There are the moments when you walk in to say hello to the patients in the hospital room, and after seeing their maladies, you get the brightest smiles, and think hopeful thoughts of health and recovery. The first picture here is a man who seems to have suffered a stroke. The other little princess of a girl is the top half of the foot picture you saw on our last blog. She seems to like her little Bible story book pretty well.

The stroke victim

The foot girl--what a cheery smile

     Or you might be taking blood pressures in a noisy, crowded, smelly waiting room; and there is this little cherub of a child, fast asleep. It might be worth soaking the sight up...

The little cherub

     And then, you are just about to walk out the gate and head for some rice and beans. Who is that chubby, healthy baby? Remember her from a blog way back?!

A previous patient looking very healthy now

     She didn't look quite this way a while ago. That's why you need to wait. Look at the other side of the coin. Only God knows what the outcome of a day's worth of looking at wounds and illnesses may turn out to be. Maybe there will be a bonus smile or a chance to speak a word for the Lord. If not, stick on the band-aid anyways and wait. Good things take time! 

     

A girl with a really sore foot...

Warning: Viewer discretion advised. Images below are graphic and potentially disturbing.  

Tuesday morning, I came into clinic, I happened to be the first one there.  I noticed a girl sitting on a cot - a whole group of people had carried her into clinic. They showed me her foot - it was wrapped up in a piece of gauze. I could see her one toe was completely black and dead.  Her foot was further infected, but I wasn't sure how bad. The other nurses arrived shortly, and we brought her into the examination room, wondering what we would find under the gauze. We peeled it off, and the second picture down is what we found. 

When we first brought the girl into the examination room (above)

Her foot as soon as we peeled off the bandage (above)

We found out that this wound started about a month ago - she fell and injured her toe.  Two weeks ago, it had progressed so far that she couldn't walk.  The family was actively taking her to some "bush doctor".  Evidently, they finally decided it was time to come to the clinic because that doctor couldn't do anything more for it.

As you can see from this picture, it is so rotten that this instrument can just be stuck straight in (above)

Michael removed excess dead tissue last night. She will be taken to a larger hospital down the mountain for further care and amputation as the doctors there see fit. Currently, the road down the mountain is closed due to road construction. In the meantime, we are trying to prevent the spread of the infection until we can move her on.

At Work. . . .

Here are some sites you'll see on a normal day as you walk into the clinic.

Direk at his desk where he writes up the patients' charts for the day 

Waiting room full--Rhoda busy in the background

Fre Adolph weighing a patient

Fre Noes at his post--He gives number cards to new patients as they come and helps keep order

Mis Breanna doing a consultation

Mis Virginia, Madam Leger, and Zita in the pharmacy

Busy outside the clinic too--on the left patients are waiting for their medicine at the pharmacy window

~Mis Anita

A Delicate Stitch Job

This girl came in a few days ago with a wound on her eye lid.  The story was that she fell out of bed and hit a rock.  (We were suspicious that the story wasn't true.)  

Cleaning and preparing to stitch.

There was this glob of tissue that needed removed before I could stitch.

All stitched up!

A few days later when we took stitches out--see the stitches on the gauze?

Almost healed

What a busy morning!

Bright and early, Anita and I were up and about, drinking our coffee, and preparing to go to clinic to dismiss a cholera patient we had allowed to stay in our hospital room over night.  When we initially kept the patient, she did not have a confirmed case of cholera.  However, close to evening we discovered that indeed, she did have it. We choose to let her stay the night even though we are not prepared currently for such cases. It could potentially have meant her death to send her away. 

So the next morning after that affirmation, Anita and I were up and ready to send our cholera patient on the road to another hospital and bleach down the clinic and room as fast as we could before others arrived at around 8:00am.

Before we got out the door of our apartment, we got a message that there is a woman in labor at the clinic waiting for us! Oh no! We ran over there and quickly got her into our clean examination/consultation room.  Our cholera patient was quickly sent off.  The hospital room she stayed in, and everything else she may have touched was thoroughly bleached, as were our shoes, etc.  

We no sooner got her sent on the way, when baby was coming! Fast! It was a great delivery, and baby was fine - despite the fact that the cord was wrapped around his neck two times!!  Anita always does a wonderful job at midwifery and God is definitely good!! Below are two pictures of the nurses and mom with baby. 

The nurses and baby

Mama and baby

Notice the hole on the heel

Later that same morning, a boy came in with an abscess on the bottom of his foot.  His foot was very sore obviously.  In order to let pus and infection out, I had to cut through tough callous on his heel with a scalpel.  That was the first time I'd seen an abscess on the bottom of a foot like that!  

~Mis Breanna