Of Clorox and Charcoal...

  I ran to the gate yesterday...and found my friend Juataz in a frantic state of mind with her arms wrapped around her little boy. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she told me he had drank clorox when she wasn't looking. After much coaxing and bribing we got a whole cup of charcoal water into his little belly. I was covered in charcoal...HE was covered in charcoal, and everything anywhere near us was splatttered and blotched with charcoal. But after I scrubbed him off and gave him some sweet juice he was runnning around happy again...with a very rumbly, black-stained, tummy I'm sure!

...And I'll add one of my new bandage patients this week. It's not too easy to hold down a kicking, screaming, 4 yr. old while trying to sterile pack her neck abscess. Poor little dear! 

 Mis Katie

Welcome Back Mis Rhoda!

After being home in the States for a visit, Rhoda arrived back in Aleg about 9 pm last evening.  It is SO good to have her back!

This little guy arrived about 11:40 pm--like he was just waiting for her.  

The lady in labor came in yesterday morning and made little progress all day, but when things started for real, it didn't take long.

This makes a total of 4 boys and 2 girls born at the clinic so far this month.

A picture is worth a thousand words

Not many words needed  

 She is such a cutie

The Dad, Mom, and Baby, just ready to leave.  

They are the parents of 9 children-5 girls and 4 boys--a very sweet family.

A wonderfully, normal day

Yesterday the clinic staff had a nice, "normal" day, with no real emergencies and difficult cases. Extreme injuries make for interesting blog posts, but they're unfortunate for the individual and when so many come in so often, it can wear a person out!

So it was great to have an average, uneventful morning at the clinic. It was the perfect way to end the week...

Anita and Megan discuss a few things as a patient looks on, 

awaiting her diagnosis.

Over in the pharmacy, Madam Leger and Madam John Marc were doing what they do best-

Filling prescriptions and talking about the week's events.

A few people in the waiting area, dossiers in hand, preparing to go in for a checkup.

Mis Anita, researching a treatment, while writing out a prescription.

This little one was born about 2 weeks ago. He was very healthy and normal at first, but his mother brought him in because he wasn't getting enough to eat.

His mother and relatives were there, learning how to feed him and take better care of him.

The poor little one had lost about pound since he was born...

It seems like they're on the right track now, so we have high hopes for him!

Mis Katie, taking care of the blood pressure patients.

The people often have a hard time understanding the concept of diet and habit changes,

so it takes time and patience to help and educate each individual...

The waiting line, outside the pharmacy.

Ah, yes, a very fine day it was!

And, on a day like this, one can actually take time to stop and smell the...

Well, they're not roses, but the next best thing, maybe!

A misdemeanor of the femur

      Today was Mis Katie's day on call. And it was quiet...at first. The first one and a half hours were spent chatting with random Hatians who passed by on the trail or stopped to talk. Occasionally, conversations were interrupted by the words, "Bon swa, zomi mwen." (Good evening, my friend.)
      All at once, what should we see but a stretcher being carried up the hill by a group of four men. The gate was opened for them and they walked in and placed the injured man on the bed in the mis's room. " A big rock fell on him, and he broke his leg," The injured man's friends explained. His leg was twisted inward just above the knee and it was obviously a couple inches shorter than his other one.
       Mis Anita was called down and her brain immediately started whirling in full speed as she tried to fugure out how to make a traction splint out of materials that we had. First she took a long board from the shop and using a hand saw she had found there, she cut it shorter and formed notches in both ends. One of the men watching exclaimed, " You were mis...now you are 'gwo boss'...big boss!"
     

       After readying supplies to splint his foot and degashaying to make a traction splint, we applied traction to the shortened leg to straighten it. It was painful for the poor guy laying there but by the time we were finished straightening and applying traction, the injured leg was actually a little longer than the unhurt leg!
       His crowd of sympathizers was huge too. The caring and loving attitudes of his relatives and friends were touching. After his leg was splinted and wrapped up, his wife came and fed him Hatian spaghetti.  The smells of sweat and spaghetti and splint supplies all proved to provide an interesting combination.

     It was very interesting to hear the Haitian's opinions on the whole ordeal. Mis Katy had applied an IV and they thought that since the IV was supposed to be empying into his stomach, he shouldn't be fed much food. We all laughed at that as Anita told them how it really worked.

                                        He waited outside then to be taken to the
                                                             hospital in Ti-Guave.

  
















            Mis Megan

Time to smell the roses

It's been very refreshing the last few days to literally have time to smell the roses!  After 2 months of what seemed an extreme amount of emergencies and births, we're getting a little break.  I'm sure the hospital room will be full again soon enough, but for now we'll enjoy the opportunity to visit friends or get some things done around home.  

I know this isn't clinic, but I felt like sharing it anyway!  

The bud. . .

Then the flower! 

This was actually a rose sent down from the States for my birthday--color especially chosen!  I've sure been enjoying it.  Thanks, Elissa!  

Red Eye Reduction

This afternoon the nurses were summoned to the clinic to check out a little boy who was complaining about a bad cough and bloodshot eyes. His mother said he had the cough for a long time and had been coughing up some blood- now, however, the blood "moved into his eyes" she said. 

The poor little guy looked worn out and tired. His attitude was very good though!

You can see how severely bloodshot his eyes are!

His cough had been so bad over the last few days that he had burst blood vessels in his eyes and face- 

amazingly enough (though it looks really bad) he wasn't suffering from too much pain.

After the physical examination, Katie gave them medications for his cough

-and some candy!

In a few weeks his eyes will return to normal and he should make a full recovery!

I suppose this could call this "red eye reduction"!

Apparently his mother had a similar condition, because one of her eyes was bloodshot also.

She was pretty much over the sickness, so she didn't need any medications.

They went happily on their way, with the promise to return next Friday for a checkup...