Monday, November 22

Giant exhale.

We made it through another day. Me and lori and all the staff and all of the patients. It was such an emotional roller coaster. Dehydrated kids might be some of the scariest patients I have taken care of. What beats a sugar of 29? That would be a sugar of 24. They are so hard to manage when you have very few resources to assess their status. Then they are up and playing and acting great so you finally give them their antibiotics to treat the cholera and they projectile vomit ALL OVER THE PLACE. It's awesome. Sometimes things were totally under control and I had time to do some charting and then Lori leaves me for 2 hours and I promise I will only call her if it is and absolute emergency. Well it was.


I am alone with the staff, with whom I can hardly communicate with and someone knocks on the gate. I run out to see a crowd of people with a patient lying on a bed. Words cannot describe to you what I saw. This girl looks like a skeleton with skin draped on it. Her eyeballs were so sunken in her head that her eyelids were detached from them. Her tongue was completely furled and her toes and fingers looked like she had been dead for hours. I didn't even give them time to bring her inside I just started working on her right inside the gate. I could not find a single pulse in her body. Absolutely one of the scariest moments in my life. Her veins were so flat and fragile that it took me about 8 sticks before I could get a line in. It had a small leak but I didn't care I just had someone squeeze the bag and get in as much as they could. Then she projectile vomitted about 1000 cc of yuck ALL OVER THE PLACE. I got another line started in the same hand and by that time Lori had run all the way up the mountain to rescue me. She got another line in at the same time and we pushed 4000 cc of LR in about 30 minutes. Y'all, I will never be able to describe to you what happened over the next hour. This 15 year old girl came back to life. She opened her eyes and was able to talk. She even kept telling us how hungry she was. Of course, we did not let her eat :) Lori and I sat down to watch her and we refueld with a diet coke and laughed at the thought of trying to tell anybody about these things.


I didn't get a chance to take a picture of her but here are some shots I took during some down time today.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

There are several patients who need serious prayer tonight.


This is Mireline, who I wrote about yesterday. She had a better day, but still isn't great. Continue to pray for her healing.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

This is Fleurilis. I briefly wrote about him above, bad sugars, super vomitty and can't keep anything down. I am really worried about him tonight.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Diueverson (sounds like Jefferson) has been here for 4 days and is hardly making any progress. We have tried almost everything but it is not really clear what is going on with him. He continues do have diarrhea and now having difficulty breathing. Please, please pray that God would give us wisdom with his treatment and that he would be healed!


Two older girls, including the one who came in this afternoon are having continued vomitting and cannot keep anything down.


And praise Jesus for another great day with Moseline! One of her older sisters came to visit and they had a great time.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic


Image and video hosting by TinyPic

"He will swallow up death forever.
The Sovere
ign LORD will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The LORD has spoken.

9 In that day they will say,

“Surely this is our God;
we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the LORD, we trusted in him;
let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

Isaiah 25:8-9







6 comments:

DeDe said...

Praying that the people you're serving will see Jesus in your actions and love! I know you've got to be exhausted... see those people with His eyes and He will give you rest. Love you!

Sonia Graney said...

This is the first chance I've had to sit and read all your posts. You are an angel to these people - truly the hands and feet of Jesus! We continue to pray for you and for Haiti. The Lord will continually bless you and all the relief workers with stamina and faith to continue your work there.
I too have been reading Isaiah and love this one about the future glory of Zion (Isaiah 54:11-14) . . .

“Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted,
I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise,your foundations with lapis lazuli.
I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.
All your children will be taught by the LORD, and great will be their peace.
In righteousness you will be established: tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear.
Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you.
If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you."

We will pray this for Haiti!

Sonia Graney

Anna Kagstrom said...

You. Rock. Love you and praying for you.

cindi tigner said...

Many are praying for all of you. Love you, Mom

Bobbi and Kat said...

Wow. I had chills all over after reading about the girl who came back to life. What a miracle! Thank you for blogging so much. You all have been on my mind so much and I hope you can feel the prayers. My heart is heavy for the people who are so sick, but we are SO thankful that you all are there to make their suffering less. Keep at it rockstars! God is obviously using you in amazing ways!!!

Karlie Crosby said...

I love moseline's sisters shirt!
I am praying for you caroline! I love you