Thursday, January 31, 2008

contrasts. . .

some days here are filled with such contrasts that i feel they are almost different days or even different places yet they are not. yesterday for example we had babies born, new lives that entered the world. later in the afternoon we had a woman come in severe heart failure and not breathing. the medical team here worked on trying to save her for a couple hours and were not able to. she left this world.

in the midst of that afternoon i had told one of the mothers in the nutrition program to come and was wanting to have her start on the sewing hope project. the project is to have woman sew baby blankets and then pay them when they are finished and then add the blankets to our baby layettes. these woman can hopefully earn money for their families.

today was another example of the extreme contrasts. i went through a tough experience of talking with a mother who brought her baby Israek. he is 4 months old and came with letters from port-au-prince stating that he has tranposition of the great arteries. basically he has a serious heart condition that can't be fixed here in haiti. i checked his oxygen saturation in his blood and it was lower than i thought possible. the oxygen cannula just made him scream all the more and his heart rate go up even more. we prayed with the mother and she really prayed also and stated that she knows her Savior is her only hope. what a reality that is.

in the midst of working with little Israek and his mother this afternoon mama louiska returned with the blanket i gave her yesterday to sew. she did a wonderful job sewing it. what a contrast in my mind, the contrast of a small glimpse of hope in a sewing project to help provide for your children and a mother who knows that her only hope is God healing her child from a severe heart defect. some days it is a challenge to process it all.

Monday, January 28, 2008

perspective. . .

this morning heather owen and i went to the local hospital to get one of the orphans who had been there for 8 days with malaria and typhoid. he is going to stay here and we will continue to treat him for typhoid. on the way to the hospital the sun was warm and shining, but while we were inside all the sudden there was the loud sound of rain against the roof.

after we were all loaded up in the truck and heading back to st. louis du nord the road had completely changed because of the rain. there was mud everywhere. there were children who had just gotten out from school trying to manage to walk carefully and not fall in the mud and also not get too dirty. one little boy who looked about 6-7 years old picked up his little friend who was a couple years younger and carried her along the worst part of the road. it was such a representation to me of what we are supposed to be for each other, willing to carry each other through the rough times and allow others to carry us when we are weak.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

a whole ounce!

little isaiah tonight took a whole ounce of formula from a bottle. he really is doing amazingly well!

Saturday, January 26, 2008

talk, talk, talk. . .

over the last three days, wednesday through friday i have met with most of our medical staff one on one. we took time to talk about the strenghts and weaknesses of our programs, each person's roles and responsibilities, what we need to do to improve our programs and we prayed together.

we have such awesome staff who are meeting significant needs every day. i hope to be able to work on developing more adequate resources to help meet the daily needs of what our medical programs do here everyday for this community.

i have to say that after those three days of meetings, my creole and english ran together and in the evenings it was hard to sort it out and be able to speak clearly in either langauge! i do hope these were not merely talk, but an encouragement to those who face some very difficult situations every day here in haiti.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

little isaiah. . .

meet little isaiah.he was born sunday night at 1:30 am.
his mom came and was extremely sick. so he came early, too early.



monday morning we sent him and his mother to the local hospital hoping they would be able to have more advanced care there. unfortunately, when they arrived at the hospital, there was no oxygen and the incubator wasn't working. so he came back here and his mom stayed at the hospital. he is doing great. he is off oxygen, is tolerating feedings in his NG tube. we heard yesterday that his mother died. i am not sure what disease process she had, but she had 6 children already, so if this little guy lives, his life will be pretty difficult in an already difficult country.


Sunday, January 20, 2008

out of my element

shortly after dinner last night one of our nurses came looking for the key to open our dental clinic because a person had fallen and their teeth were "broken into their face". we couldn't find the right key so off we went looking for who we thought had it. i went into the birthing center expecting to see an adult, but it was a little six year old boy whose front teeth were smashed and his lower teeth were all displaced and possibly his jaw also broken.
just a little sidenote - anything to do with injuries in the mouth totally gross me out!!

the dentist showed up and began to evaluate his injuries. she started to numb his mouth and he began to flail all over no matter how many people were attempting to hold him. so i offered to start an IV and give him some pain medicine and hopefully sedate him enough that she could get his mouth numb. of course doing anything such as that made me extremely nervous because of his injuries in his mouth and the fact that we could lose his airway. we have a pediatric nurse on this trip which it was great to have her there to help!! we were able to get him somewhat comfortable. our dentist dr. lawrence worked at removing his front teeth that were completely misplaced and pulling his baby teeth that were also crushed. (we found out that he had fallen forward going up stairs- ouch!!) so i ended up holding his arms and eventually even trying to help hold his tongue in place. let me tell you that whole experience was completely out of my element. i felt like many other must when they watch babies be born and can't handle it. i had to do deep breathing to be sure i didn't lose it!! over and over dr. lawrence tried to tie his lower teeth that were misplaced to the ones that were still intact and over and over it didn't work because we didn't have the right suture. she finally replaced his two front teeth. so really that is all he has in the front.
this little guy is stevenson. the dentist wasn't able to do all she wanted because she didn't have the right suture. so we have to send him to another hospital tomorrow. that is always a challenge due to money, but there is a group here who are all going to help get some money to pay the bill, that is if we can find someone who can do what needs to be done.


later this morning stevenson's mom said he was asking about the toys we told him we would give him while we were trying to get him to lay still. so really he is doing amazingly well and i had better go deliver a toy!!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

emotions. . .

today has been such a mixture of emotions. . .

i felt completely helpless while i talked to a mother with a 7 month old baby with a severe case of hydrocephalus, her head was so much larger than her body. i told a mother who i am sure has been told many times before at other hospitals and clinics that there isn't anything that can be done for her in this country. yet her mother keeps taking her to clinics and hospitals i know with the hope that perhaps someone, someday could help her daughter.

i feel completely overwhelmed when i see our labor and recovery room full of mothers, yet our storage room for our supplies almost empty.

i felt extremely gross when angela threw up all over be as i held her, i am pretty sure she ate too much, so we both took off for the shower!!

i feel completely blessed to hold little angela tonight as i sat in the moonlight with tears coming down my face and she looked up at me and coowed and talked and leaned in to cuddle knowing that something wasn't right. (angela is the little one who had her face bit by a rat a year ago and today is a super chubby little one who loves to laugh.)

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

i am here. . .

i arrived here in st. louis du nord, haiti this morning. i was supposed to be here last night. . . but 8 hours of sitting in the airport watching everyone else head out led to about 8 of us spending the night in port-au-prince and then heading up to the north coast with first daylight this morning. it really has been a good day of getting to see friends and tomorrow i will be unpacking. it seems like so much work getting packed and then to think about unpacking is even more daunting! thanks so much for your prayers for safe travels.