Be Still

You're in the middle of a medical emergency. Heart pounding, adrenaline pumping, and hands trembling. (If you're me🙄) Your mind runs through all the possibilities and you're doing the best you know to do. Without making any mistakes. In the middle of it all, your patient grabs your bloody hand and says, "please mis, pray with me." And you stop. The words be still come to mind. And you realize that that for a moment it won't hurt to simply be still. To not do anything.  To lay down your stethoscope, strip off your dirty gloves and hold your patient's hand. I often forget that nursing isn't just about caring for their body. But for their mind and spirit too. If it makes them feel better to clutch me around the neck till I feel like I'm choking, then I'll do it😌 Nursing is hard. And down here it's sometimes quite difficult. If it's not the language barrier, then its a cultural belief or practice.  Or simply not having been educated about medical things. I so often get frustrated at how patients deal or not deal with things. But then I'm reminded that I'm lucky. It wasn't my choice or from anything I did that I was born in America where I got a full education and went beyond to become a nurse. It's not their fault that they were born here. And it's probably difficult for them to understand a white nurse who cant even speak their language properly 🙃 I have to let it go. If I've done the best I can, then theres nothing more to do. I hAve to learn to be in peace.  Not pieces.  Life here isn't all sunshine and beach trips. But it comes pretty close to that most of the time🤗❤ I've been here 8 months now and love it more each day. Running the prenatal program has definitely become my favorite job at clinic.  I'm going to put some random photos up of different things . I don't really have any wild stories to share. We've had busier days at clinic. And quite a few births and some emergency runs. Otherwise life can be called "normal". We're grateful for those of you that read our blog and support us. Even though we're not very faithful in posting 🙈 

Till next time❤

When the oceans rise and thunders roar. I will soar with you above the storm. Father, You are the King over the flood. I will be Still and know You are God. 

❤Mis Autumn 

Every day Life

 Hey everyone it's been awhile since I've posted and a lot has happened! It seems I should have no problem thinking up something interesting to tell you all but I find it kind of hard to put things into words 🙈  So here we go it was last Saturday we where in Peiti-Goave at a wedding while back home in the mountains there were two ladies in labor the one being preeclamptic, so when we got home we made the decision to transfer her out to Peiti-Goave where she would have the option of having a c-section if necessary and where we had just come from😕 we loaded up in the ambulance and prepared to deliver a baby on the way if necessary.
     Off we went bumping out the trail smashing into each other and trying to keep the mom as "comfortable" as possible, we didn't make it much more than quarter way out the trail when Emma hollered that the head is crowning so we stop the machine and delivered a baby, almost instantly the atmosphere changed inside the ambulance and prayers of thanks to God were ring out of our mouths, after evaluateing mom and baby we decided to turn around and headed back to clinic, meanwhile the other nurses were busy delivering the second baby and everything went well so we tucked them both into bed and headed home knowing we could have a good night sleep. (Thank you God)
    Here's a pic of the two babies that were born, I believe Emma is holding the one that was born in the ambulance and Kayla the one that was born at clinic.

             Here's a very proud big sister

     This past weekend with the help of Grampa Lewi and eveone around the mission here we got two pigs butchered and processed into all kinds of good stuff!

       Here's a pic of Derek and Grandpa stuffing sausage's.

               So that's just a little bit of what's been going on around here. I want to thank everyone out there for your prayers and financial support we really appreciate it!!!
                   Until next time ~Ben~

Angel Baby

Well, hello!:) It’s been a long time since you’ve heard from me- back in February I do believe, but somehow that doesn’t seem that long ago!

I thought I would share a happening from the beginning of this month that I still remember very well.



On July 3rd we had a woman in labor at clinic and the baby ended up arriving before we could get down there! Of course we rushed down as fast as we could and we found a tiny baby laying on the bed. I believe one of my first thoughts was how tiny the baby was! We had thought the mother was close to full term but from how the baby looked he had come early! He was not breathing the greatest so we took him to another room where we were able to give him breaths with the oxygen bagger and continued to moniter him closely. He appeared to be stable for the moment; he weighed a little over 4 pounds!
During our clinic day I was in the emergency room when Kayla rushed over holding our little baby boy- he was blue and not breathing at all! We immediately started doing chest compressions and giving him breaths. It felt like a long time. I know we were both praying hard. Finally, he started taking some breaths on his own again. But it appeared as though he had turned a corner for the worse.  Every now and then he would have spells where he would just stop breathing. We were beginning to think that this baby’s lungs were not developed like they should be and he needed higher help than we could give him. I sat there on the emergency room bed just holding him- watching his little chest rise and fall as he struggled for each breath. His chest would sink far in and it looked so pitiful! We decided that our best option would be to drive him to the nearest hospital with a good NICU. We didn’t trust to send him on an ambulance so the only other option was to take him ourselves. Before we left a special moment was when the mother came over to where her baby was. She gently laid her hand on him and began to pray. Her mother heart was hurting and yearning for her baby to live. We had her hold the baby, too, and it felt so right. Not so long before she had birthed this baby and now things  were not going the way any of us had expected...... Eventually, we were on our way out the trail. It took us four hours to get there and we had to give the baby breaths the whole way there. By the time we finally arrived at the hospital we could see that he was just about done fighting. The poor dear. After we had the baby and mother dropped off at the hospital there was nothing more to do except leave; we felt he was in good hands and we hoped for the best. Around midnight, Kayla got the call from his mom that our little baby had died. I think it took it a while to really sink in. The past 24 hours had felt crazy and now he was gone. I was sad. I grieved for his parents and the loss they were feeling. But I also knew that he was no longer suffering on this earth; he was well!!!! He was no longer struggling for each breath and most of all, he was safe with Jesus! Yes, it was sad, but that hope gave me something to hold onto. The Lord giveth and He taketh. Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Also, I thought I would give an update on a certain little girlie that I wrote about in February. She was the baby(Jiana) that was born at clinic not breathing and with no heartbeat. She came in for monthly checkups with her mom and we were  always so happy to see them! Every time we saw Jiana she was bigger and chubbier and just seemed to be doing extremely well! I can so clearly remember the day she was born and it was just a miracle to see her thriving! Not long ago some of us actually went to visit her and her parents. It was really nice to visit with them and they all seemed so happy. Jiana was of course the center of attention. She is certainly a miracle baby. I have attached a picture of her below- you don’t get much cuter!!!!

Thank you for your support and prayers! Pray for us as we strive to shine our lights brightly here in the mountains of Haiti!

Rest in the unrest

I’m sure many of you all have seen news articles and posts on social media about the current unrest and protesting in Haiti. It’s not a joke or just a big story.  I can’t promise that everything you saw is accurately presented, but it is real stuff. Real lives and real unrest. We’re very thankful to be tucked away back in the peaceful mountains where we’re basically completely unaffected by everything. Life goes on as normal, for the most part. Recently, as I was think about the “unrest” here I was reminded of the verse in Matthew “Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest”. It’s a verse that probably most of us have memorized but often forget. Rest, spiritually is a beautiful thing and very tangible and yet it’s easy to live in spiritual unrest and be more worried about the physical unrest around us than the unrest inside. Today, I’m thankful for the beauty of Gods rest in the unrest and his peace in disaster. 

I was on call Sunday, and it started out very “normally”. I had one child who came in before we all went to church. When I left, i told a friend of mine close to clinic to call me if any emergencies come to clinic. Right after church, I got word that there was someone with a machete wound so I went back to find a laceration in a girls hand. She told me her father had been hitting her younger siblings and then picked up a machete and sliced her hand open. I was completely astamished, and once again reminded of how blessed I am to grow up in a peaceful home with a very loving dad! <3 I stitched her hand, and it wasn’t very long before someone else came to the gate saying that someone had gotten injured at the Mollier school fèt (party). I found a young man sitting outside of clinic with a rag wrapped around his head that was completely soaked in blood. He and his friends told me that he’d been sitting at the school fèt when a rock that was supposed to hit someone else happened to hit him. I brought him into our emergency room and did a quick assessment. His vital signs were all normal. I started him on IV fluids and proceeded to take the blood-soaked rag off. He had two lacerations (pictures below) on his forehead. Nothing too serious looking. Skull seemed normal and in-tact. He seemed a bit out-of-it and complained of a bad headache. Shocking, huh?! 

I had just finished putting in my last stitch and was again, checking to make sure his skull wasn’t fractured when I saw his eyes roll up in his head, he turned to his side, started foaming at the mouth. He seized for a minute and I had just enough time to be very thankful for the IV port and grab some meds when he started seizing again. I pushed IV meds and he seized again, I gave more meds. He seized 4 times in that next hour. His friends were convinced that he was dying and Kayla heard their cry’s from out on the street and came to see what was going on. I wanted to transport him to a hospital with higher level care and made a lot of phone calls but there were several problems, the biggest one being that because of all the political unrest, all the roads were blocked. It was dark so I couldn’t request a med-flight, and last but not least, all of the hospitals I called said their CAT scan machine was out of order and they wouldn’t accept a head-injury patient. The one hospital with a working CAT scan said their beds were all full. 

I felt stuck. Absolutely helpless and obligated to keep him and just give the best care that we knew how to give. Kayla and I spent the night with him. Taking turns monitoring him and trying to catch some sleep. By morning, he was responding and answering our questions coherently. Praise the Lord! He’s still at our clinic and we’re keeping a close eye on him but he’s doing much better. 

 

This is a pic I took of his lacerations yesterday when I rebandaged them. 

This is the hand that I stitched right before the head-injury patient came. 

And this is a before pic. 

Pray for peace in Haiti! 

Thanks for all your prayers. They make a difference! -Mis Emma

8,000 words

Hi Everyone! Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I’m thinking I already have over 8,000 words written, right? 

Once again, I’m sorry for the delay in posts. I’ve been determined to post photos and have tried multiple times and hadn’t been able to until now. 

Clinic this last month has been very busy. This past Friday was our biggest day with a total of 133 patients. I’m so thankful for Gods strength, grace, and love in our hearts when we feel like we can’t deal with one more patient. Without Him, we’d never be able to do it. 

I’ve got quite a few random photos from the past month. I was having such a hard time uploading them, that I kinda went crazy with the photos once I was finally able to do it. :)

This boy came in one afternoon a week or so ago. His friend had sliced his foot open between his toes with a pick while they were working in their garden. 

These two pics are of a ‘lil boy that spent several days at our clinic. He was very ill. I was thrilled to see him doing so well on Friday when he came back for his appointment! 

This is a baby I delivered a couple weeks ago. She had a long-ish labor and I ended up spending a lot of time with her and build a friendship. I was really happy to see her on Friday when she came for her post-natal appointment. Mom and baby are doing great so I didn’t have a good excuse to keep them. ;)This photo isn’t necessarily clinic-related but it’s of all us nurses and Mim (our wonderful cook and cleaner and much more) and Brea, a girl who’s visiting for several weeks, yesterday when we went visiting a friend of ours. She’s an older single lady who lives all alone and seems quite lonely. We had a really fun and relaxing couple-hours at her house. A definite fun break from clinic. ;) You might recognize this foot. Check out Ben’s post, several posts back. The one with the really nasty wound photos. This is that same foot and as you can see, to our delight, the wound is almost completely closed now.Here is Kayla and Kara with a baby that Kara delivered!We have a “milk program” at clinic for babies without a mother or who’s mother doesn’t have milk for them. We provide the milk and give appointments for every 2-weeks to keep an eye on the babies’ growth to make sure they’re actually getting the milk. Kayla had been responsible for the program but I took it over this month. I’ve been enjoying all the babies. The photo is of me with a set of twins who are on the program. 

Thanks so much for your prayers and support. We feel and appreciate it greatly! -Mis Emma 

 

     So it's Friday about 3 weeks ago and we have plans to head off to Jess and carols for the weekend (friends of ours) we want to leave as soon as clinic is over and what do you know a beautiful stitch job comes in just as Clinic is about to close, so I sat down and got to work trying to hurry and do a good job at the same time. So how this happened is he was out cutting grass when he slept and fell slicing his hand open with his sepet. (Which is a tool that use to cut grass)
 

Thankfully no tendons were cut and he had movement in all his fingers.
       

     His hand was very stiff so we had him come back to do some therapy

Here's a little guy who came in to Clinic weighing 10 lb 6 oz and he's already 16 months old. Kayla started him off on antiparasite medication and vitamins she plans to see him again next week, pray that he can make up for lost time and maybe grow into his diaper a little.

Here's kara doing a small Stitch job. This man received a cut down close to his foot. He lost a lot of blood so they gave him IV fluids and kept him overnight.

One afternoon about 2 weeks ago a man comes hobbling into Clinic with one leg all wrapped up, you never know what you're going to find under the bandage. Here's after a week of bandaging it.

Here's after 2 weeks he's on antibiotics via IV

This man is not a Christian but seems to have an open heart pray that through loveing and ministering to him his heart would open and that he would receive Jesus as his savior. He will most likely be staying at the hospital here for a while.

(Here's a verse that spoke to me today,)

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

What love that is he has for us!!! And what a good reminder that the strength we have does not come from our self but it comes from our father who loves and cares for us.  

Keep praying for us and everyone we come in contact with your prayers are not in vain. ~Ben~

Time flies saver each moment.

    Wow time is flying! Have I already been here 5 months? seems like time is going way too fast! I've really been enjoying the work here! Today I took our friend with the foot wound home, it almost seemed like saying goodbye to a staff  member since he had been at clinic for so long. We are all happy to see him doing well and to get back to life as he knows it.
  
The other man who was staying in the hospital room with him passed away, after we did everything we could and saw he still wasn't getting better. We talk to them about transferring him to a different hospital because he was in need of cardiac surgery, they couldn't see their way through that, so they just wanted to go home. He lived for about 3 weeks and died. Some of us were able to go to the funeral, It made his madam very happy to see us!
    The past two weeks we've had a dentist team here, they were pulling teeth, (lots of teeth!!!) doing fillings and one of them was making dentures. They were a great team and got a lot of work done!
      Just lately I was blessed by something we as humans might tend to call a smaller thing. One day as going about our normal clinic duties a wrinkled face smiley old man came in to get a bandage for a wound on his leg which was very old and smelly!! Sometimes you're not quite sure how to feel about a person and if I based the way I felt about him off of his smell and the way he looked I wouldn't have wanted to be around him! but the thought hit me what if I got to do this for Jesus? I would love to do a stinky smelly bandage like this for Jesus! I thought a little, I am doing this for Jesus, how different it is seeing things through that light! I noticed his feet were very dry with deep cracks in them so I got some lotion and lathered him up. He sat on the bed with the big smile on his face and then he looked at me and said "Dr I'm very happy". It made my day. I pray that I never see people as insignificant. We see patient after patient, I want to see each one as special and unique and help them to the best of my ability. (Ben)