My First Haitian Rainbow

     "Katie or Rhoda do you have a copy?" It was the radio, blaring into our Thursday morning appointments and check-ups.
     "I have a copy," Katie called.
     It was Nate. "We have a baby who came for the milk program that we would like you to check out," he said.
    That little baby boy. He came after a few minutes to our examination room. He was moaning and groaning, while we tried to figure out what was wrong. The grandma incoherently answered a few questions and then went on a rambling row of what-nots. We could not sensibly learn much from her, except that the baby  became ill last night.
   Because he seemed to have pain in his head, it was important that we made a right diagnoses, and treated him correctly, in spite of our lack of equipment. We toyed around with possibilities: a fracture, meningitis, cerebral malaria, and such. The grandma told us he did NOT fall, so we began to suspicion it was the cerebral malaria. And then she added the fact that he had a fever in the night.

     We made the decision to transport him to Laogane, about three hours away. The little boy made the trip fine, under Nathan's watchful eye, and was admitted to the hospital facility.
    At this point the big lie was revealed. The grandma admitted that he HAD fallen. That did change the perspective quite a bit! We were still glad that we had sent him out to a place where there was the option of using x-ray equipment, and such. The grandma kept wondering if she could leave the child. It was suspicious looking. And it hurts. How could you have so little interest, so little love, so little guilt when a child in your own family is in pain?

    Then there was the rainbow. One beautiful thing to remind us that God is still there, still keeping His promises. Still loving us and all human kind in spite of their total depravity. I needed this reminder...on this day.

    Today our "mouth man" came back. He wasn't even helped. Here he is again. It is up to the Americans now, to give him money for his operation. He was given a paper with a hospital name written on it, but that is all the nurses did for him in Ti Goave. It appears that his wife has never been away from the mountains, as she is very uncertain about how to proceed with the next step in pursuing help for him. She more or less wrings her hands and paces around, not knowing how to help or what to do. We hope that there is the possibility that we can step them through the doors of a few dentist offices in the future, with the help of some funds, and some patience.
   
   
   
 

A Nosy Bean

That's what this chubby little guy had!   His distraught mother came rushing into clinic with him first thing yesterday morning, quite upset because her poor child had a bean stuck in his nose!  It took a few people to hold him down as Rho carefully went after the misplaced bean with her tweezers.  And it wasn't just a little one.  I'm still not sure how he managed to stuff such a big bean up so far into his little nose!   As you can see from his expression, he was not a bit impressed with the whole procedure! 
Candy to console...

He couldn't even stand the sight of the bean- or maybe it was the tweezers, afterwards!

 

Moral of the story:  Children, don't put beans in your nose.  :) 

 

Happiness

 It was a happy Monday. My first patient was little Retia, who was here for her last appointment in the Malnutrition program. Her edematous extremities are now replaced by healthy tissue and fat. When I gave her the last Plumpy'Nut her face broke into a beautiful smile.

 And then this dear 81 year old granny came hobbling in the door. Her face was wreathed in smiles as she told me how much she loves Jesus. Then she started a long story telling me how she fell when she was young and hit her head. Since then she blames all her maladies on that fall...Acid problems, pain, ect, ALL come from that tumble onto the rocks. =) She laughed and asked for a lollie pop before going out the door.

 Right before Clinic closed this sweet little fellow was born. It was so fun to have Ellamae there for the first time!

                                                     Ellamae

                                               

                                               Happy Nurses
                                        - Mis Katie

A beautiful little Miracle...

  I bent over a massive bundle of blankets to see little Andeline's itsy bitsy face. She was perfect. Mama's first baby. Her parents proudly told me how she was born at their house, 2 months early. I unwrapped her and just stared at her tiny preemie form. Everything was perfect. Her heart was strong, her lungs were clear, and she nursed beautifully. Thank you God! What a beautiful little miracle.

 Madam Leger peered over my shoulder and gasped...then smiled. " This is God's gift to you because little Samuel died." I smiled at little Andeline. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Thank you God.

                                                   

                                                            Happy Parents

 This poor women came in with a terribly rotten foot. She sat in her house for months before she came in on a stretcher this week in terrible pain. She moaned and groaned as Ro cleaned away dead tissue. One of her toes was dead-black. We sent her to town for an amputation. She had such a cheerful attitude, smiling and laughing through all the pain.

                                                         -Mis Katie

Bitter and Sweet Changes

A lot can change in a few weeks' time!    Some things for better, some for worse.  We see a lot of both here at the clinic.   It's always a special encouragment to get to see good changes-   like babies gaining weight, wounds healing up, and pain going away...
And then- there's the disappointing changes.  Like a tiny baby that you helped, hoping and praying that he'd live, and he didn't. 
A couple weeks ago we sent out two very sick little boys to the hospital in Laogonne.   We hoped they would make the trip there.  Today one of them came back.
"Whit! You have to come see this baby! The one we sent out with Samuel..."    Kate was very happy to show me the now healthy, happy baby boy.    We were all amazed seeing how much better he was! 
A couple weeks ago...   Notice the flaky skin on his hands, and the sores all around his mouth.

 

Today, looking much more like a baby should!

But what about the other baby?  Our cute little club-footed Samuel...we learned today that he died last Saturday.  It brought a bittersweet mix of emotions to see the one baby thriving, and hearing that Samuel didn't make it.  But we know that we did the best we could and God had other plans for him.  It's a comfort to know that he's safe in the arms of Jesus! 

On another note, last Thursday I had a very shocking and exciting suprise show up here.  My brother Aaron! :)

He came down for a week and worked as a handy man- helping with a painting job, fixing some wires, and getting in on some various clinic work. 
On Wednesday it was pouring rain and we had quite a few patients come anyway and not as many staff, so he helped fill in by weighing patients, taking blood pressures, and then mopping up all the muddy floors after the day was done. 

We really enjoyed having him here! ;)

Everybody's and Anybody's

      ... But God loves everybody. And wouldn't He be blessed looking down on this sight? There was dear Miss Katie, bathing and combing this poor deserted lady. It was such an angel's work. Clinic had just finished, but Miss Katie was not finished yet. She could not stand to see this poor little lady go home with ripped up feet and dirty clothing. But it couldn't be done without a fight. All the Haitians were saying, "Don't give her the shoes. She will throw them away. Don't give them. Someone will steal them." But...
    God loves everybody. So Katie kept at it.

     The two doctors came today.  It sure helped get the people floating through our doors faster on a full Friday. And we were sure glad they were here when a man came with a broken wrist. The only problem was that we didn't have the right casting supplies. So that meant we had to rip and tear up a few odd things we found in the depot. It was fun to watch the doctors create something that would work until they got out to town to give him an X-ray. It was also amazing to see them trying so hard to keep the man in his chair. The pain was almost more than he could bear. And I can only imagine what his swollen wrist was saying to him. "Ouch and stop. Stop and ouch."

    Nate is working on getting our ultrasound machine ready for locomotion. It was so fun to see him diligently measuring and stitching up a sturdy vinyl cover for it, to keep it safe and clean. Now one of these days we hope to move it into our clinic and make some good use of it.
   

   
         Have a good week-end, everyone!
 

Of a Strange Growth and a Sliced Ear...

 It's a cozy, rainy, afternoon. Ro and I ran through the rain to clinic this morning, with big mugs of hot coffee. Due to the rain, numbers have been down... but since the rain makes the steep trails more treacherous we've been seeing ugly gashes. And today- a sliced ear.

 This poor little girl was trembling from head to toe when she came this morning. She was petrified when she saw all the blood, and cold from the rain. I wrapped a blanket around her and cleaned her up while Ro stitched her ear back together again. She was so relieved and actually smiling when she went out the door.

 I was in the middle of the normal morning scurry when Mis Joseline called me to take care of
an abscess. I called the man into my room and opened his swollen mouth with an applicator, fully expecting the normal pussy, bloody drainage. Instead, I saw a whole mouth full of a strange growth. He told me a thief in Port au Prince elbowed him in the face 2 months ago. I couldn't see HOW he left it so long without seeing a doctor. It was a huge 'gummy' mass totally filling his mouth and only attached to the side.

-Mis Katie