Hello once again. It is a beautiful day here in the mountains of Haiti. Hiked to the pine Forest and so will try to do a little update on what's been going on while it's quiet and can think.
An 18-20 year old guy came into the clinic one evening about 11:00 at night with signs of tetanus, his jaw was locked tight and his arms were a little rigid too, no history of a wound though that we could get out of them. The ambulance was down, and they were willing to wait till morning to go down as the excursion was going down with a load of people anyway. We gave him antibiotics and muscle relaxant and they stayed at a friend's house in Oriani there for night. Well they never showed up the next morning for the ride so didn't know, did he die or get better? A couple days later he shows up at the clinic a little worse, the excuse was he got better so why go down to a hospital? We gave him more antibiotics and fluids and kept him in the little clinic house for the day and night, offering him a ride down the next day. That evening the father wanted to take him home for night and bring him back the next morning, it was all very strange, and we were sure he was wanting to take him to the witch doctor. Todd and Matt talked with the family and explained that we don't mix our treatment and the witch doctor treatment, if they take him home they didn't need to bring him back to continue treatment here. The father swayed the group and they ended up taking him home, we were sure that was the end of him unless we had been able to give him enough medicine to start his system working again. Kept asking about him and one story was he was worse but what do you know a few days later he shows up at the clinic and is totally well, except he said his head was spinning, he hadn't eaten much for a whole week so of course your head would be spinning! He doesn't remember much of what happened that whole week, claimed to be a Christian and agreed with the thought that God had saved him and given him another chance. Very glad for him as it seemed like his dad was the one pushing the witch doctor thing and he was out of it enough to not make his own decision.
A sad case we had this week was a 2 month along pregnant lady came in with severe stomach pain, low blood pressure, all signs of an ectopic pregnancy but with no ultrasound… how do we know for sure? We gave her IV fluids and by the time we got a ride arranged she ended up dying 30 minutes later, actually right at the turnoff of where she would go to go her home, so they just went a different way to take her home. That made everything more traumatic for everyone as the deceased mother's little children were wide eyed and staring and couldn't figure out what was going on. It’s hard to think of them not having a mother now. Kind of haunts me, but it helps to remember this is God's work and we are just helping him, and He loves those children more then we can. Several cholera cases lately...the natives are surprised as the sun is shining and no rainy weather yet... hopefully it's not a sign of what's coming.
Bethany's parents came to visit! They were kind enough to invite me the beach with them and Matt's were kind enough to let me off two days! It was awesome! Decameron is an awesome place, seemed like plenty of people there though, I was surprised as Matt's said when they were there once they wondered how it could keep going as not many people. Awww smoothies, sunshine, ocean waves pounding, relaxation, gives you courage to face the work again.
Several more suspected tetanus cases. We need to keep on vaccinating... trying to be more proactive with that.
Dominican Republic bound! We headed to the DR in the ambulance because it needed new tires We felt very redneck in the DR driving around with that rough looking vehicle, surrounded by all the nice vehicles on nice roads. We spent one night at Joe and Monica Withers, went to a church member’s place for evening service. The next day headed to the capital and did some shopping. Slept at a motel there that night and then toured some of the old part of the DR the next day. For Friday night we headed to Andrew and Melissa Koehns the other missionary couple, so made many new friends. Saturday, we headed back across the border...once again a breeze and back to Oriani. Sunday Fre Willy preached in the morning about how Jesus arose for us and how are we living for him. In the evening we had a singing and testimony service.
Now this week has been busy and normal I guess, today we saw a 5-6 month pregnant lady with sky high blood pressure, 260s/160s. The baby’s heartbeat was very slow so once again the long slow process to get them ready to go down to Port au Prince. Quentin ended up taking them in the ambulance once they finally regulated all their affairs. Todd's are going to spend several weeks on the West end in Jeremie area again so us girls, Bethany and I and Se chalet will go spend some time holding their house down, I think it will be fun to have a girl’s party there for a while and Matt's can have some nice family time.
And here it is again a while since I've written anything. Sunday morning at 6:30 was awakened to a man knocking and states the lady we saw yesterday still hadn't had her baby, could we check her again? Chrystelle and I go check it out and it seems like it's time for it to be born. At 10:00 or so a healthy yelling baby boy is born! Quick cleaned up and went to church yet to catch the tail end of Sunday school and the rest of the service. Matt's had also had a baby delivered at the house in the back of a pickup! They came from a long way away, Barrassa, and it's born just as they pull in.
Amanda, (Karlins teacher) came to spend the weekend this last weekend and so us girls took her back Sunday evening. Just as we left Oriani, the NEW tire on the ambulance let out a loud hiss and went flat, we had hit a sharp pointed rock wrong and there went that tire! Jenel was close by, a very handy man that works for Matt's and he started putting the spare on. Matt came on moto and brought some tools to finish it. Today Matt and Sheri made another trip to Port au Prince with patients to doctor’s appointments, mostly goiter surgeries that need done, and one with oncologist appointment. Those days are extremely tiring and sometimes it feels like you don't accomplish a lot, but it sounds like maybe this one was fairly successful.
Miss you all...love Charlotte