Mèt Claudener's little girl...

Several (or maybe even many) of you would remember our neighbor, Mèt Claudener. He and his wife live right in front of the mission and have four children- all boys :)

His wife came into the clinic the other day in labor. The nurses weren't expecting any complications, but everyone was hoping the baby would be a little girl. Both parents have wanted a little girl for a few years and were waiting in anticipation for this baby to arrive.

When the baby was born, the nurses called out that it was a girl! Claudener would hardly believe them :) They were so happy. He just sat there, holding the baby on his lap, looking at it...

Usually Haitians don't name their children right away, but they didn't miss a beat- they named her Lydia right on the spot. I suppose they've been thinking about having a girl for some time :)

Breanna, dressing little Lydia.

Husband and wife, proud parents of a little girl now :)

Claudener sat, staring at his little girl...

Of course, we can't forget the happy nurses that assisted in the delivery!

We all decided that Lydia was one of the cutest Haitian babies born at the clinic...

Another foot guy...

Well, I forgot to post this story earlier on this week, but better late than never, right?

For those of you that of a more squeamish constitution, I regret to tell you that we will, once again, delve into the realms of yuckiness :) Some of these cases are (admittedly) not for the faint of heart! But don't feel bad if you can't stomach it- I couldn't even watch an IV get put in when I first came here...

This man came in saying his foot was hurt. Asking him about it, he said a rock fall on it 10 days prior, and he "knew" it was getting bad because it began "leaking water" :-/

By the time he made it to the clinic it was severely infected and the flesh was beginning to rot... not pretty!

Here's the foot before any operation. 

You can the the large bubble of fluid on top- that's where everything was rotting...

Anita began by cleaning it off and relieving the infected area of pressure.

At first she tried using a syringe to remove the fluid.

After that failed to remove all of it she took a scalpel out...

Yes, it was disgusting and it smelled really bad...

She removed all the rotten flesh and proceeded to clean it out...

The operation was taking a long enough time they decided to move him onto the operation table.

It's easier on the back that way...

Here it is, all cleaned up! A nice sized crater left, eh?

The nurses packed it and wrapped it and told him to come back the next day for a checkup.

So, he went on home, all bandaged up and on the road to recovery.

It would have been nice if he would have come earlier- then the damage wouldn't have been so substantial... but oh well. Many Haitians know very little about infections and hygiene, so it's no wonder things this severe are so common. 

A little one in need of oxygen

Finally! A break from the nasty, yucky and bloody cases that almost always come in!

Yesterday a father brought his little 11 month-old baby to the clinic. It was wheezing, coughing and had a fever of 103 degrees. They checked out its o2 sat... it was in the low 70's! They immediately put it on oxygen and gave it some glucose and milk. It hadn't eaten or drank anything since the day before. Even before that, we could tell it was badly malnourished.

Baby and father, waiting for recovery...

The poor little baby was in such bad shape at first. The nurses were worried it might not pull out of it.

But within a few hours they could see a marked difference! 

The recovery went so well they actually were able to release the little one the next morning!

Pig-bit...

I've heard of "hen-pecked" but what do you do with someone that's been "pig-bit"? :)

Apparently this guy was in market, hanging around the pig pens when one of the swine must've taken offense to his presence. It lashed out, lacerating this calf-muscle and making a mess of it. He came limping into the clinic in the late morning, needing stitches...

By the time I came into the clinic with the camera they had already propped him up and were beginning to clean the wound.

 Here he is...

 And there is the gash... It was about 3 1/2 inches long- not very deep though, thankfully!

 Anita, numbing the area before stitching.

He doesn't look too impressed, does he?

He was actually a very good patient!

 Anita began by closing the wound with 3-4 stitches, widely separated.

The observers/audience.

 More local anesthesia was needed at one point...

After Anita stitched the first few sutures Breanna finished it up.

It was her first "official" stitch job! 

Great work!

The man has been come back at least once for a checkup. 

Everything seems to be progressing well and healing up!

A bump on the head...

Another day, another bump!

Some youngsters came around the other day, one of them needing a bandage on his head. What they did, we're not entirely sure, but they were working ("ap travay") in their family garden when it happened. The result was a small puncture wound on the top of one little guy's head.

They were both very cooperative and somewhat excited for being in the clinic, so it was kinda fun to work with them :)

Breanna was on call, so she did the treatment...

 We had to shave around the wound; that was the band aide would stick!

 Here they are...

The injured's buddy was fascinated by everything that went on :)

Putting the finishing touches on...

They both had a grand time- I'm sure, not only for being in the clinic, but also for having a break from their evening work! :)

Update on a patient...

Remember that young man that jumped down a tree, landing squarely on his machete? 

Well, he came back the other day for a checkup and things are looking great!

Seems like it is healing up very well!

Michael and Anita examining the cut:

They decided to keep some stitches in, since it was still wanting to separate in a few places.

We expect him to make a full recovery!

More picking being done...

There have been so many incidents with picks you would almost wonder if there was a serial-picker going around, causing mayhem and panic amongst the inhabitants of Aleg.

Well, it turns out, there is no one person inflicting all these injuries: with everyone working their gardens, it's just Murphy's law in full motion! :)

As you might have gathered already, this person came to the gate with a pick-inflicted injury. This time it was on one of his fingers...

Breanna was on call that day. When she was called out to the clinic she found it to be a little much for just a band-aide. They decided it needed to be stitched!

Anita cleaned the wound further and got ready to stitch. 

Wow. Laid open, clean to the bone!

Further cleaning, getting dirt (and such) out of the wound and sterilizing it.

Team work!

Anita and Breanna work together to get lidocaine into the syringe...

Stitching...

Unfortunately the man was slightly drunken and kept moving his arm around.

So Breanna held his arm still!

Finally they finished!

Good job, team!

After bandaging it up, the man was able to go home!

He has a checkup scheduled soon for his stitches to be taken out.