Sunday-On Call!

( Hello, everyone! You guessed it. A lot of visitors using our Internet, and now you won't get to hear from our world very often, until things are back to normal.)
    I will try to give you a quick peak,and hopefully, the internet will be nice for a few minutes, here.
    We have had some interesting road trips. By foot, or by vehicle...either works.
     One Sunday a friend asked us to pick up their cousin with the machine. We decided that Christ would have us do that, even though it was a Sunday- our theoretical Day of Rest.
    "It's not far," our friend assured us.
     Our machine drove and drove, until we hit too many rocks to continue. Then we stopped our machine, got out, and walked. I think we walked for at least 45 minutes down a very steep, curvy, hot trail. ?
    "So it's not far?"
    "We are going to need a helicopter to get this person back out," we joked, as the sweat ran down our bodies. Hans Hertzler, our newest prospective team member was comparing his medical run to a normal medical call in his practice in the States. "It's not the same," he chuckled.
    As we arrived at our patient's house, we realized that the family was still trying to concoct a cot to carry the patient on. Now that was fun.

    "Bring me a hammer."
     "OH, where are the nails? Get me a rope."
     "Hurry. Hey, that's crooked."
     Meanwhile, the patient was looking fearfully on. Her breath was coming a bit labored, which seemed to have something to do with diminished activity in her left lower lung. We were thankful that her stats were holding fairly normal, because it didn't look like we were going anywhere quickly, that much we knew.
     After the contraption of a cot/chair was successfully finished and inspected by the group, we headed up the mountain, where we left the lady in the hands of her cousin overnight.
    The next day we did more follow-up work, testing, and just waiting to see how her meds would work if she took them like they were supposed to be taken. Her family requested that we could help her to town where she could get more extensive testing and health care.

     Today some of our troops are out on a medical follow-up run in Terre Rouge. This patient fell and broke his back, after which he was transported to TiGoave. After a very painful ride to town on an improvised "road cot" bed, we were able to load him into an ambulance for transport to Port. He returned to his home in the mountains without a cast on his broken back.
     This led us to go to his house, create an improvised cast, and try to keep his digestive system working, even though his body is not responsive below his waist. You can pray for this young husband and father as he faces his stark future without the hope of ever walking again.
    Have a good week. I just want to rejoice in what God can do. The battle is His....which makes me almost tell another story about a 7 year old girl who God delivered from a spiritual-based sickness last night. But there are a million more stories, too. And most of them make more sense if you are here to meet the main characters. God bless your week. Rhoda for the Ahlege Team
   

The Story of Tuesday

It's Saturday again!  Let me think back a few days to Tuesday...

We had a fairly normal clinic day, a lot lower-key of a day compared to Monday, but still enough to keep us running.   We figured we saw around 90 people Monday, 16 of them being pregnant ladies which was what kept me busy most the time!  Tuesday we saw around 75 people, a little more normal, but still quite a few!  :)

The day started out with a guy knocking on the gate around 8:30, informing us that a sick person had been brought into the clinic.   I was on call for the day, so I hurried down to the clinic with him to investigate.  I thought I understood him tell me it was a sick baby, but when I got down there I was surprised to find an elderly lady and I realized that he had told me that she was like a baby cause she couldn't talk.  

Her blood pressure was 230/130, and she couldn't walk or talk.  She had classic stroke symptoms; one sided drooping of the mouth and one completely limp side of her body.   We addressed her blood pressure right away and monitored her vitals closely the rest of the day.    It got easier for her to talk as the day went on, and by the afternoon they wanted to take her home, but we kept her for the night and let them go the next day when her blood pressure was more controlled.

The rest of our day went well, and just as we were closing around 2:00, a young guy was brought in that had the fever and was dehydrated, so I put him on an IV.    He surprised me with how much English he spoke!  I had to wonder how much he might have overheard of the semi-personal conversation Rho and I had had earlier! :)  

 Just as I finished sending him home and taking the stroke patients' vitals again, Mali came running in and told me that there were two injured guys who had been building something like a rock/cement ceiling, and it fell in on them.   The one had just walked in with the help of a couple friends, and the other was down the trail a ways being carried in on a stretcher.

 I was glad Marcile had just come down to the clinic too, and we called Rho right away too since there were two patients and we didn't know how serious they'd be.   Mali and Marcile took charge of the first guy, who had a wound on the back of his head and was pretty sore, but thankfully not hurt more seriously.  

The second guy arrived shortly, along with a crowd of family, friends, and onlookers.   He came in lying on his belly, covered with a white sheet.  I didn't see any signs of bleeding, and he was fully responsive.  I was going to have them move him to the bed in the emergency room until I pulled back the sheet and saw his back!  I had a sinking feeling that he would never walk again.  His middle back looked distorted and was majorly swollen.  He couldn't feel a thing from his waist down.  We decided to put him, stretcher and all, on the bed.   We applied ice packs and gave him a pain pill right away, but that was all we could do.  Rho arrived and talked to him about the Lord, asking him if he was born again.  He said he was.  We were pretty concerned about the possibility of any internal bleeding putting him into shock, so we kept a close eye on his vitals.  We were relieved to see only stable vitals, but still quite worried for the guy.

We started making plans to transport him to the Ti Guave hospital, but Donny was on his way back from Port (picking up a group from the airport) and Grandpa was the only guy around.  He had just gotten back from a long day in town himself, but he insisted on being a big blessing and driving the guy out for us!   Mali and Marcile kindly offered to stay and take care of the other patients, so Rho and I could go along. 

It took us awhile to figure out how to transport him, since of course we wanted him to move as little as possible.  We got him strapped in on the back of the gator, and then Rho and I rode behind to help hold him.   The rugged trail made it impossible to keep him perfectly still, but thankfully he seemed relatively comfortable and hardly cried out at all. 

When we got to the hospital, we ran into another dilemma cause the hospital wouldn't accept him there, but long story short, they finally put him on an ambulance for us and sent him to a bigger hospital.  After that we met up with Donny and the crew (Julien and Janelle Hege, their cousin Joel, Darwin, Paul Lapp, and Hans Hertzler) and traveled together back home.  

We've had a lot of good full days like that this week!  Yay for a lower-key Saturday!  :)   Rho just came in and said two laboring women showed up at the clinic, so that'll likely key up our afternoon a little!   We were just discussing yesterday how long it's been since we've had a birth, wondering when we're going to get one of those knocks in the middle of the night, so we're happy they're coming so early on a Saturday...:)   

Clorox Kills-Jesus Saves

     We had just jumped out of bed. Our gardener came, a bit agitated, and told us that a friend had drunk Clorox. Mali ran and grabbed the hospital cot, so that they could bring the lady the rest of the way to the hospital. We threw ourselves somewhat together, and headed out the door...

    When Christela, our patient arrived, her mouth was clamped shut, and she was "out cold". 

     Our IV insertion was a bit difficult, but we finally got one in. We weren't having success pulling her teeth apart, so we got prepared to send her out to town. We kept asking her why she was crying, but she couldn't say. 

    Her family arrived one by one, and then her husband. The story continued to unfold. This morning, Christela's father-in-law spoke terrible things to her.That did it. That was too much for Christela. The next thing the world knew, Christela was lying down with a Clorox/Klerin bottle beside her.

    About an hour later, her husband returned from feeding his animals, found the bottle, and hurried to the hospital. He was clutching the bottle in his hand, pacing the tile emergency room floor, telling the story, while we worked over her body.

   Brother Daniel prayed a prayer over the bed of the invalid, and then we hoisted her onto the waiting machine. Was it Good-bye forever to Christela?

    When Donovan was about in town, Christela threw up. Oh, thank you, God! Donovan turned around and came home. Christela was now talking. Mali spent awhile talking with her and she said she would like to pray.

    Christela prayed the Believer's Prayer, but she is still very weak, and seems depressed. We hope to visit her tomorrow, and keep praying for her, that she could be a light in her dark family. 

     If Christela's story had ended in death, only God knows where the killing would have stopped. These kinds of things show what God can do when He performs a miracle through love and prayer. I praise the Lord for the chance that He is giving this family today, and I hope that Christela begins a chain of life and hope, instead of the Hate and Death that Satan intended. 

     (Just a note of interest...before we sent Christela out to town, our local witch doctor swept in, spent a bit of time over the bed, and then left. I really feel God wants to show His power in this situation, and I rejoice in the God that we serve.)

     Shortly after our day commenced with normal consultations, we had a little girl walk in with a finger about cut off. We noticed a piece of bone in the piece that was about to fall off, so we cut that out, and stitched her up. With antibiotics, a small splint, and, the beautiful healing power of the Lord, we hope for the best. 

     God bless your night. Let's keep strong for God!  Rhoda and the Ahlege Team

    

    

Sugar Highs and Rainy Skies

Have we written about Monique?  Or maybe you remember Alexi, the man that died a few weeks ago?  She is his older sister, 33 years old.  

When she first came to the clinic a couple weeks ago looking like little more than a skin-covered skeleton, Rho asked her if she was a Christian, and she said that she had been but that she had left the Lord.   Rho asked her if she wanted to return, and she said she wanted to pray right away! 

She has such a peaceful countenance now.  I always enjoy seeing her smile when she comes.  

She's s'posed to come every day for an insulin shot cause she has terribly high blood sugar.  So high that our little reader, which stops reading at 500, often just says HI when we check her sugar levels!   

The problem has been that she's too weak to walk here, and she can only come if they can find an animal for her to ride, which isn't usually every day.  But we're excited cause yesterday one of her cousins who lives close by her said she'd be willing to give her the shot every day!  

Last week we had a mini vacation due to a rainy spell when hardly any patients dared to venture down the slippery trails to come to the clinic.  

The first day the sun shined again, a small crowd of brave people tried the trails, one of which came needing stitches from falling.  Those trails were just a little too slick!

Another stich job the same morning!  This guy, Aneol, misplaced his machete a little and ended up with a gash on his anterior wrist...fairly easy fix with ten stitches!

We enjoyed having extra time to do some deep-cleaning at the clinic that we rarely find time to do, and planning some more "relaxation-al" things.   Like Tuesday evening when we had our Haitian nurses down and made a special Haitian supper together...:)

Our vacation ended the next day when the sun came out again, but we were ready to get back to work and see our patients again!  This week looks like it'll be extra busy cause two of our three Haitian nurses left for the week.     Please keep praying for the Haitians here, and also for us working here at the mission.  It can be overwhelming and tiring at times, finding the grace to give to others day after day when you feel empty yourself.  I've been very aware lately of the powers of darkness attacking in my own life, but also of the reality of God's saving grace.  And I don't say 'saving grace' because it's the thing you say, it has saved and continues to save my life in Christ.  I realize that for all of us living as Christians, our spiritual victory lies in simply believing the promises of God.  And sometimes it's a constant battle, choosing to resist the lies and doubts that Satan would love for us to believe, but God's grace is even more constant!   And so...we press on the upward way!  :)

Her Heart Touches My Heart

    She came in a orange shirt. I thought she was pregnant. But she had a two month baby along with her, so that ruled out that possibility. She just looked so unwell, that she stuck out to us. We told her to jump the line and come into the consultation room.

   She didn't complain of any pain, but her pulse and chaotic heart pulsations are making us sure that something crazy, and, maybe, septic, is happening.
    We put her on IV, Ceftriaxone, and Metronidazole, and watched her all afternoon...praying, hoping, and analyzing. We started attacking the fluid with Furosemide. We have added a few other meds since then, specifically to target her anemia, and tachycardia.

    Now, as night falls, I wonder if you could kneel down for a minute before you fall asleep and breathe a  prayer for the life of this suffering woman. God knows, and He can heal!
    Thank-you everyone, and Good-night! Rhoda for the Ahelege team
   

Random shots of Clinic life....

     If you love diversity, work in Aylgue Clinic!!! Sometimes after work is over we just have laugh at all we see and experience.
 "Mis, are  you going to let my foot soak again today???" says the old blind grandpa that uses a match to hold the back of his baseball cap together. He is blind and loves to soak his feet in Whit's Epsom salt that is wonderfully scented. His foot has about 7 little pus filled pustules that are kind of strange. He sits on the bench with his foot soak, and claps ,sings and sways to the music playing over the speakers. It brings a smile to our lips every time. Thank you Lord for funny people that cheer up nurses.!!
  Here is a picture of one more "foot problem" He smashed his foot really bad 2 years ago and went to Tit Guave to get it fixed, he tells me wincing while I apply pressure to release the pus. Right now it looks slightly different, the top is open and there is a 3/4 in. deep and 3 in. long hole. Thanks to Whit's Epsom salt I don't have to plug my nose anymore while cleaning it out. :)

While cleaning the hospital room the other day this man offered to help me. I was slightly shocked. They usually sit on the beds or chairs and watch the "blans" do the work. He picked up the broom and made the dust fly literally!! He moved all the beds and cleaned every corner!! Cheers for willing workers! 

 This little lady walked into the clinic gate and fell to the ground. She had been beaten so badly by her uncle. Her body had bruises all over and she wouldn't talk at first. A little later I came to the room to check up on her and make sure she was ok. She started talking and telling me the story. So much suffering. We have so much to be thankful for.The man who beat her was there and ummmmmm it was hard to treat him with love. But his dark,evil soul needs Jesus just as much as his beat up niece.

 

Wishing you all a wonderful week!!!

-Mis Mali

Picture Our Day

Is it that bad being a twin? One of our pregnancy program ladies had a surprise of twins born in her house. Everything went well, and at this point, the babies look great. Whitney and Marcile got to bathe them, and choose some cozy clothes for them.

      Two of our patients this week, were preferring being helped outside.  One is a very serious diabetes case. Her brother Alexis was the man who we just blogged about, who died with the demons in his body. When his sister came to our clinic, only a week and a day later, it sparked a lot of interest in our minds. We had heard that his sister had gotten demons thrown out of her, and so, when this teeny little mite of a thing showed up, our hearts went out to her.
    I decided to ask her about the demons. She said, "No, she doesn't have any on her, but she did stop going to church. I asked her if maybe this was the day that she would want to return to God, and ask for pardon.
    "Any time," she replied, looking seriously into my eyes.
    "Shall we pray now?" I asked.
    It was so precious to hear her ask God to forgive her sins. Her smile was so sweet when we were done.  Every time I poked her for a blood sugar check or an IV, she was so patient. I couldn't help comparing the peace in her body with the fear in Alexis' eyes.

    Everyone knows Joe by now. We tried to take him to the big hospital in Mirebalais, but it didn't work out. His family wasn't supportive enough, and by now, he is too weak to go again. But we wonder if God has him here for a reason. He is so popular, and everyone knows about him. But it is because of his terrible, rotting body, not because he says a lot. We decided to give him his own little room in our old storage shed. Mali, along with a bit of help from the rest of us, spear-headed spreading some paint on the dismal walls and cleaning up the place for Joe's last days.

 Please meet Marquise, our very trustworthy new Haitian nurse, who is working while Mis Leda is on maternity leave. We love her already.

And here is our "student nurse", Saintilia, who dreams of working here full time some day. She is standing beside MARCILE.  Marcile is labeled nurse of the day, because she went home this morning, and brought each of us white nurses coffee and cupcakes. I would say that she knows something about helping nurses cope with a busy Tuesday, wouldn't you?

Our team thanks everyone for their prayers. We just want to bless God for all He has done for us today! -Mis Woda, for the rest