Oh Sweet Caroline

Carrying on.

2011-08-16T16:07:00.004-05:00

I'm back in the States.

I HATE leaving Haiti. There is never a good time to leave and I am never ready. There are still so many needs and so much to be done. Mackens is fighting hard for his life today and I'm not there.

Thankfully, there are some who have committed their life to this. Licia will fight alongside Mackens today. The rest of the staff will continue to fight everyday for their community in the clinic, the Rescue Center, the Cholera House, the Community Group, School Sponsorhips and more. From here we can join them in prayer and spirit. We can advocate for the poor and we can give our time and our resources so they may carry on. Let's carry on.

I'll leave you with this video I was unable to upload while in Haiti. This is about an hour after Jesula was born. Such a sweet sweet memory!

Untitled from Caroline Tigner on Vimeo.

And now back to my regularly scheduled un-blogworthy life. Until the next trip, y'all....

Sunday Sewing

2011-08-14T17:13:00.003-05:00

Yanick has the education of a 4th grader. And she can suture like a boss.

*heel caught in the chain of a motor cycle

critical kids, critical prayers.

2011-08-13T13:44:00.004-05:00

WARNING: I don't have password protection capability on this blog, so I am telling you right now if you don't want to see a severe burn, please stop reading, move your mouse to the X box in the corner of this page and resume your normal web surfing activities....

Last week Licia and I were talking about how God has been so good to us because things have generally calmed down since Lori and all of the other volunteers left. We have had fewer patients and more help in the cholera house and virtually no critical kids. It was a blessing to have so many extra hands when we had lots and lots of sick kids a few weeks ago. Now don't get me wrong, God is still just as good to us as He was last week but we now have several very sick kids who require lots and lots of care. I am writing about them today to ask you to get on your knees on their behalf.

We have had several bad days with Macken, he won't eat anything and wouldn't drink anything at all so I (painstakingly) decided to put an NG tube in. He HATED it and he hated me for putting it in. I wanted to try and get some calories in and get his Kwash down and not let his sugar drop. Instead, he puked violently and could not get used to having the tube in. He got super dehydrated and I had to put an IV in his scalp because his limbs are so swollen from the Kwash. I took the tube out yesterday morning and he has done a little bit better, keeping down some liquids. He has also had high fevers off and on. Please pray specifically that Macken will start to eat.

He's kinda cute, huh?

This is Rose Marie. She is a 7 month old who was in the Rescue Center and then got cholera 3 weeks ago. She recovered from the cholera and was back down in the RC, but got really sick on Thursday. We are really not sure what is going on with her except for high fevers and severe respiratory distress. She is on oxygen and is not doing well at all, I was really shocked she made it through the night last night. Please pray for that her fevers would stay down and her lungs wouldn't have to work so hard. Also, those are frozen water bottles next to her, to keep her temp down.

Ludes was being treated at the cholera house and came down with something last weekend and is very very sick. He has had severe seizures and has basically been in a coma for the last week. His Mama and Papa have been close by his side all week. We are working with Dr. Jen on a plan for his care so will you pray for wisdom for us and pray that he would respond quickly to treatment.

This little girl came to us on Thursday night. She lives very very far away and traveled 17 hours by foot, tap tap and moto with her mom and aunt to come see us. 6 Days before she was in her house and her older brother was playing with matches. He burned his finger on a match and threw it out of his hand. She was laying on the ground with her little sister on her stomach and the match landed on top of them. She threw her sister off and her dress caught on fire, she jumped up and tried to put it out with her hands. Her mom came running in and threw water on her but not until a large portion of her trunk had been burned. They tried to treat it with some homemade medication up in the mountains but heard about a place in Cazale that helps children who have been burned and decided to head our way. Praise God they did! This burn is very severe and is showing some signs of infection so we are getting her covered and will be glad to have Dr. Jen here next week to get us going on a long term plan for her. She is really doing fantastic considering and has the sweetest spirit. When she told us the story of what happened, she said "I saved my sister, you see she is so little she would have died. God chose me to burn and that is okay." Please pray for her recovery, pray for her pain to stay minimal and pray for no complications in her treatment.

The first night she came in.

After her second dressing change. You can bet I wouldn't have a smile on my face.

2011-08-11T18:45:00.002-05:00

one day last week when things had calmed down we went for a walk.

I love being out here in the mountains where the people live such beautiful, organic lives.

Macken

2011-08-09T18:52:00.004-05:00

I hate Kwashiorkor. I hate malnutrition and I hate the poverty that causes it.

Macken and his Papa came to the clinic today. Macken lives with his Papa, his parents are no longer together and Mamma has moved on. He was seen back in March in the clinic and had mild Kwash in his feet so as procedure goes, his Papa was given all the education about what to feed him and how to care for him. He was told to feed him foods high in protein, eggs, beans, peanut butter etc. He went home and he did what the nurse asked and Macken got better for a little while. In the last few weeks his Kwash got really bad and Papa tried some herbal medicines and then took him to see the voodoo doctor. The doctor gave him no answers so he carried Macken down from the mountains to his Mama, who declared that she didn't care what happened to Macken, she is now pregnant with another man's baby and doesn't want anything to do with him. Papa told us he brought him to Real Hope for Haiti today to "see what God could do."

Macken is adorable and my heart aches for all of the pain he is going through. His arms and legs are so incredibly swollen and have open sores in many places. He was totally distraught when his Papa left today and kept walking around the clinic looking for him. I had to stop letting him walk in real fear that his feet were going to bust open.

Please, please pray with me tonight for little Macken. Pray for his little organs to recover from this severe disease. Please pray for his little heart, that he would know how much his Papa and all of us who are caring for him love him. Pray for his Papa, that his heart would be moved to know God more through this. And I'm going to pray to our big God who can do big things that his Mama would have a heart change.

Fabienne

2011-08-08T16:12:00.001-05:00

Baby Jesula

2011-08-06T19:27:00.008-05:00

Yesterday morning we said goodbye to baby Jesula and her Momma. I selfishly wanted them to stay another week just so I could hold her longer, but it was time for them to get settled back at home with their new family. We were able to print out all the photos of the birth and after for Mom who will always have them to remember God's goodness to us on that day.They made an appointment to come back to the clinic on Sept 1 for a check-up. As they were leaving mom said, "i'll come back next week if you want to, just so you can see the baby." She could tell we were a little obsessed...

I love this picture because Jesula is screaming her head off and let me tell you a scream from a baby never sounded so sweet to my ears.

Grandma, Mom, Baby Jesula, and Momma's sister. Beautiful, beautiful women!

Baby Jesula,

We love you and will always stand in awe of the way God miraculously brought you into our hands. I pray you come to know your Heavenly Father and grow into your namesake telling all the world, Jesus is here.

Jesus is here.

2011-08-04T10:13:00.007-05:00

Caution: this is graphic. If you were uncomfortable in your 9th grade Biology screening of "the Miracle of Life" let this be your warning….

At 3:00 yesterday afternoon I had a few problems. We were trying to prepare for Emily, stalking all the weather news, preparing the houses to hold all the extra people, storing enough clean water etc. Hannah (another volunteer) and I were having the hardest time covering a table in contact paper. Too many stinking air bubbles.

At 3:30 I heard Licia's yelling voice from the clinic yard, "CAROLINEEE" (a little panicky) and then I had a few more problems. Two specifically…

A mother in labor was being consulted by the momma and baby nurse, Bernita. She told Bernita that she had been having labor pains since 4 a.m. and started pushing without any progression. Her previous 3 children had come really fast so she was alarmed and had a midwife come who told her to go to a hospital. Mom and Grandma get on a moto and ride 3 hours (YES, I SAID 3 HOURS) down from the mountains. In labor. On a moto. They didn't get a hospital when they came to us, but they had nowhere else to go. It was clear by the time that she got here that her contractions are one on top of the other so Bernita puts her on the table to check her and when she does something doesn't feel right and mom's vagina is filled with poop. This is what Licia tells me as I'm running across the yard. Okay, hmm so that sounds interesting.

I like labor and delivery so I yell at Hannah to come down and help because we get to deliver another baby, yay! Let's get mom up on the table and see what's going on. I check her and sure enough poop, except it's not mom poop, it's meconium (baby's first poop for all you 9th graders). And sure enough something didn't feel right. Babys pass meconium in utero most often when they are in distress. I am not a midwife yet. I am not an L&D nurse or an OB. I know enough to know that what I am feeling is not a head or a foot, but I can't tell you much more than that. Okay, so what are we going to do here? I have never delivered a breech baby. Lori is somewhere between Texas and California. Licia knows accounting really really well and has helped Lori birth some babies in the past. Yanick is the best non-nurse suterer and IV starter I know. Hannah is a very eager, very helpful college student. Bernita and I are technically the only trained medical professionals.

Momma's contractions are getting closer and stronger and she is looking like she is going to push. Our hearts beat a little harder and we breathe a little faster and Licia looks at me and says "we're in trouble here." Great, got that. Now what? The closest hospital is a two hour drive away. We both start to talk out loud, racking our brains for what to do. We finally get a glimpse as mom starts pushing and all we see is blue blue skin. And more meconium. The out loud rambling between me and Licia goes on, something like "okay calm your breathing, let's not freak out, what can we do?" Mom is pushing and hollering, grandma is crying waving her arms in the air. The name of Jesus is then envoked thousands of times over the next 2 hours. It is all sort of a blur but I will try to piece the next few minutes together.

Basically as mom is pushing out pops baby's blue butt. More meconium. None of us can get a finger around any other part of baby. We are stretching mom and yelling PUSH! PUSH! Out pops little girl part. She pees. PUSH! PUSH! Stuck, not budging. More stretching. More hands trying to get around any part of baby to help pull her out. Shoot, this is already taking way too long. PUSH! PUSH! Out pop's a very blue, very floppy leg. More stretching, more yelling, more Jesus. Licia screams out the door of the dressing room "everybody come pray!!!!" The entire staff crowds around the room, peeking through the window singing praise songs. PUSH! PUSH! Baby girl's abdomen comes out and we see her take a breath. PRAISE GOD! Now Jesus, get that baby out. More stretching, more pushing, and nothing. I try to reach in and grab an arm but can't get ahold of anything. Baby girl's shoulders were stuck with her arms above her head. JESUS! Mom has to rest between contractions and we are just losing time. JESUS! At one point, there were multiple hands inside momma trying to get a hold of her shoulders to pull her out. One very blue, very floppy arm is delivered. Another very blue, very floppy arm is delivered. I will never in my life forget the next few moments that seem to last for eternity. Baby girl's entire body was delivered except for her head, momma was exhausted and could hardly push anymore. We stood and watched baby girl's ribs rise and fall with every breath she tried to take. It has been minutes and we cannot get the head out. We try to turn baby around. We open mom's hips wider. Nothing. Licia looks at me and says "I can't do this." We were watching that baby die before our eyes and now have a mom who is at very high risk of losing her life. There would be no way to send mom in town if we were unable to deliver. JESUS. No signs of baby breathing anymore. Mom is starting to bleed. We have to get baby out. Let's get her up, let's get her squatting and use gravity. It takes 4 people to get mom squatting on the bed. And with a few really good pushes the head comes out.

The little blue baby girl flops on the bed, nose and mouth full of fluid. My first breech and my first stillborn, I thought. We flip her upside down and I get underneath with a bulb syringe sucking as much out as possible. With the other hand we are slapping baby on the back trying any stimulation. Nothing. Thank God for the other women in the room because I completely forgot about mom. Nothing from baby. I probably said "come on little girl" 100 times. After 5 minutes or so, I was this close to saying "we're done" and then a tiny little gasp from baby girl. We stop and look at each other. Was that a breath? Licia yells "everybody pray for the baby." The voices singing praise rose and the rain came down hard. We could hardly hear each other's voices but started CPR and got a really strong heartbeat. We continued to give 2 breaths for a few minutes and she began to breathe every 20 seconds or so. We continued stimulation, warmed her up and got a the suction machine on. The gasps got closer together and before I knew it she had a steady respiratory rate. We put her on a little oxygen and though her limbs were still very blue and she had no tone, a little glimpse of hope stirred in our hearts.

Meanwhile, mom was bleeding pretty heavily due to all the ummm stretching that took place. The other nurses gave her pitocin and started IV fluids and she began to regain her strength, eyes fixed on the baby between her legs God was saving. Licia had to run out the gate to give some medicine to someone and she came back with tears filled in her eyes. There were 75 people outside the clinic gate with their arms in the air praying for baby girl. They all wanted to know if she was alive. YES, JESUS she was alive. Over the next two hours we slowly watched her come into this world. With every faint cry there was a celebration. After an hour she opened her eyes and we all cried Jesus.

After a couple hours she was starting to pink up and gain a little more strength. Her cries became louder we decided to call our favorite and very available pedi guru, Dr. Jen. I had not been able to think past getting her to breathe so we wanted her help in knowing what to do next. She suggested an IV with some fluids with a little dextrose, since you know, little girl had been under a little bit of stress today. By 8 pm last night you would have never known what little girl had been through, she looked amazing and was even smacking her lips to get her momma's breast. I woke up every two hours last night to check on them and was continually amazed at how well she was doing. Mom was gently holding her and feeding her as she cried. A scene only hours before I thought was impossible.

This is the beautiful, perfect, non-bruised face of a baby who did not come down the birth canal head first :) Instead she has tons of bruising on her butt and shoulders.

All day I had been occupied by the impending storm and though the sky looked like this outside, inside the dressing room Jesus sweetly whispered to me "Child, I've got this."

In all the madness yesterday, Yanick suggested that we name this little girl Jesula, which means Jesus is here. Because He is.

You can read Licia's version here.

more calm, less storm please

2011-08-03T13:48:00.002-05:00

I was thinking gosh, the last few days have really been calm, what should I write about? And then I remembered all the things I haven't told you yet.

On Sunday night, just after the sun went down, the heavens opened up and a big storm blew through. The thunder and lightning kind of storm. The only nurse who was working up at the cholera house called and yelled into the phone come quick, a 7.5 month pregnant lady is having pains and pushing already. Lori and I ran around like idiots trying to grab the necessities like shoes, a light and all the birthing stuff. The truck got stuck going up the road the night before because of rain so we knew we would have to hike. We threw on ponchos (which turned out to be kind of a joke) and set out across the river and up to the house. Before we got out the gate, the nurse called again and said the baby had come but to hurry because mom was bleeding a lot. We were hurrying as fast as we could but again with the jokes as it is raining so hard I can't see my hand in front of my face. Mudslides everywhere and guided by the light of a little headlamp. I laughed out loud several times thinking how can I actually be living this right now? I got up to the house first and found a crowd on the porch hovered over mom and baby. I was shocked because this woman had been in the cholera house for several days and was very very sick (on her 47th bag of IV fluids) and we had no idea she was even pregnant. I grabbed the clamp, cut the cord and started working on baby, who for only 7.5 months gestation looked to be decent sized, but had a very poor cry. Lori worked on mom to get her bleeding under control. We moved them into a small private hallway and got settled but the baby was not looking great. It was clear that his lungs were underdeveloped as he struggled to breathe. We made the very hard decision to not bring the baby down in the storm knowing his best chance was to be snuggled up close to mom. He would be freezing cold and wet and the most we could do would be to give oxygen that his little lungs wouldn't even be able to circulate. We left them peacefully resting and the baby died not long after in the arms of his mamma and pappa. It's pretty crappy that the severe dehydration brought on by cholera is causing all these moms to go into labor.

Monday was spent getting lots of work done in the office and caring for the little 4 pounder that was born up at the cholera house last week. He was not looking good and clearly have some GI problems, he died early Tuesday morning.

Erline, who I posted about here, had been released from the cholera house but was in 2 week quarantine before going back to the Rescue Center and she died suddenly this morning. We thought she was looking better, and although dehydrated, she was up drinking from a bottle this morning and then just died. The combination of the sever Kwashiorkor and cholera was too much for her little body.

I'm pretty much over you, cholera.

Anna and Lori left yesterday for California (where Lori is going to skydive!) Licia, Hannah and I are left to hold down the fort and so far, so good. Other than that whole Emily thing...

Clearly, we need your prayers in the next 48 hours. We are far enough in from the coast so we have to worry more about flash flooding. Most of the mission's buildings are down in the valley, but only about 50 feet from the river. We have plans to have everyone moved upstairs tonight and we will move the Rescue Center kids, who are next door upstairs as needed. I am most worried about the cholera house that is across the river and higher up on the mountain. They are not protected from the wind, especially the 30 or so people who are out in the tent. We are trying to send as many people home today as possible and will put people on the floors in the house if we have to.

Licia has been trying to talk to the staff about the storm coming and they keep saying "oh, you silly white people, don't you know that God is going to send the storm away. Something else that bad cannot happen to us." Let's pray they are right.

Seriously, let's pray.

And this is why we press on.

2011-08-01T18:02:00.000-05:00

Longing for the day

2011-07-31T17:57:00.008-05:00

this is ugly and honest.

3:23 am and I popped up in bed, something wasn't right. It was a cooler night because of storms so the fans were off and it was silent. Silence...and the sound of rain drops on tin. The hum of the oxygen concentrator I have heard for two weeks was gone and so was she.

Friday night Marilice began vomiting and it was clear that she was bleeding internally, maybe an ulcer. It was a steady downhill fight from there with a seizure yesterday afternoon and her sugar dropping to 42. We spent a good hour trying to get an IV in but her breathing became more and more labored. We fought to put her ng tube back in but she was vomiting profusely. I went to sleep knowing deep down where the night was going. Anna woke me up around 12:30 because she was bleeding from the only IV site we had and couldn't keep anything down. She had that same longing look in her eyes and begged for more water from a syringe. The palms of her hands blanched white, a sign of severe anemia. I offered no help to Anna as there was absolutely nothing more we could do, just love her in those last hours. I kissed her forehead for the last time and went back to bed. Anna held her as she struggled for air for more than 3 hours. It is an unexplainably painful honor to give love and dignity to a child in their last moments. When I awoke at 3:23 I ran down to the clinic and found Anna taking care of her body. We both marveled at how long she really was and how tall she would have stood. She was placed back in the crib where she has spent the last two weeks until she could be buried today. Her body was put in a small white box and laid in the ground this afternoon.

I have never wanted death and life in the same moment like I did for this child. I don't know how to explain the frustration of not knowing what is really wrong with a kid. She was so very sick and I don't know if the extensive care we gave her prolonged her suffering or not. I don't know why she didn't die two weeks ago. The alternative is to do nothing and that I can't imagine either. Yet, I wanted her fight to end. She will never have to know the betrayal of a friend, the heartbreak when a boy doesn't treat her right and the misery I see in so many lives in Haiti. What were we saving her for? In that same breath I wanted this precious little girl to live forever. I don't know how to understand these things but the beauty is that I don't have to because tonight, she is perfect and her arms cling tight around the neck of her heavenly father.

I can't understand His timing or why she suffered so long, yet I turn to Jesus and I understand what he did on that cross thousands of years ago. God loved us so much that Jesus had to give His life to make this right. All of our burdens and our pains and every way that our sin has messed this world up were justified and made right. Because you see if that's not true, then all of this stuff, it's meaningless. If this is it, this life is all we have, then what's the point?

The point is in Christ we hope. We hope for His kingdom to come. We hope for the day when we live with God in beautiful harmony, the way He made us to. He promises to make us all whole and because of that we press on. We press on to save the other 79 kids in our care tonight. You and I press on to love one another in spite of failures, to speak truth when it's hard, to care for our neighbor and forgive our debtors because it was all justified that day on the cross. And we joyfully hope for that day we are all whole.

I love you little girl and I'm thankful, for your life has made me love my Jesus more. This heart longs to see you in heaven.

I will love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say, when the death-dew lies cold on my brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I'll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I'll sing with a glittering crown on my brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

Friday, Friday

2011-07-29T18:42:00.004-05:00

I wish you could just be here. I wish I could remember everything that happened so I could tell you.

Marilice had a really good night last night. All of the below things we prayed for came to fruition and the fight goes on. Her bum is really really raw and so she is in a lot of pain from that. At one point today, one of the ladies yelled for us to go into the dressing room and there was a pool of blood under her diaper with a few clots and I was terrified for half a second until I realized that she had just scratched her bottom until it bled. Her vitals are stable so please continue to pray for those things, as well as for her pain level to go down.

Lori and I finished up the Healthcare worker training yesterday with some role playing. We were the cholera patients, it was hilarious...

My baby just died and they were breaking the news.

Another time I passed out...

And then Lori passed out.

They will be starting the 12 oral rehydration posts all around in the next few weeks. Hoping to see big changes in the communities with this program.

This baby passed through the clinic this week with a very very rare genetic disorder called epidermolysis bullosa. Their skin is so fragile and peels off any place something or someone touches it. This is the second family that Lori has seen in Haiti with this disease. The baby is not expecting to live very long. It's crazy to me that I get to see stuff here that I probably wouldn't ever in a lifetime in the States.

Fabienne is doing really well. Look at those eyes! Can you believe the change in her face that a little protein and some TLC has made in just two days??? She is freaking cute...

Numbers are down to 58 in the cholera house tonight, Praise God! An older man died on arrival at the house this morning. I went up to cover for one of the nurses for a couple hours today and it was amazing how much easier it is to care for 50 less patients :)

We are closely watching Marilice tonight and also have a tiny newborn that was born up the cholera a few nights ago with us. Mom is having trouble feeding and the baby got very dehydrated.

And lastly, go check out the big news over at the RHFH blog...

Fighting

2011-07-28T13:36:00.002-05:00

I was going to tell you that she died. I was going to tell you about how with clenched arms around my neck and her head nuzzled under my chin, she suffered through her last hours as her little lungs gasped for every breath. Up and down, up and down, much too fast to count, I watched her ribs waiting for the rhythm to skip a beat. She buried her face in my chest and wouldn't let me help her breathe just held tight around my neck. Countless times I went to measure her oxygen sats and she lifted her sweet little finger and placed it in the machine, a routine we have done over and over the last few weeks. 56% 55% 54% 51%....I turned it off and I gave up. A sucker punch to the gut. I stopped trying to rack my brain for anything else we could try and I prayed that Jesus would take her fast.

But instead, I'm going to tell you that she is in the room next to me fighting. She stabilized overnight and Anna stayed up with her making sure to keep her fevers down and her oxygen up. We got a faintly positive malaria test on her yesterday so we have an ng tube in and have started her on malaria meds as well as TB meds since she has yet to respond to anything else. Please, please pray specifically for these things.

- Malaria meds to work quickly
- Fever to stay down
- oxygen sats to stay up
- heart rate to stay down
- a new IV site, she has been stuck so many times that we can't get an IV in.

just some things.

2011-07-26T18:13:00.003-05:00

thallie died yesterday afternoon. after seizing for a day she began to bleed out everywhere and died while her mom was here visiting yesterday. she is very pregnant with another child, which is why she took thallie off the breast that led to her kwashiorkor. it was heartbreaking to see a a caring mother grieve for a child. life here is so messy.

another baby was born at the cholera house last night. apparently, the stress of cholera brings on labor.

a child died this morning in the cholera house.

marilice is up and down, up and down. we can't seem to get her temperature controlled, her hydration stable, or her oxygen sats up all at the same time. i'm just totally in love with her and i'm more attached than i ever let myself get to a critical kid. you can pray for wisdom for us in her treatment. thinking about possible TB at this point...

meet Fabienne. she makes 79 in the Rescue Center (we just took #80 a few mins ago). she is so freaking cute and had us all wrapped around her finger at first sight. her kwashiorkor is so so bad and she has a veerrry long road ahead if she is going to recover. you can see the massive swelling in her eyes and hands and the splitting open of her feet. she is crying in miserable pain but wants to be held all of the time. please pray specifically for the next week as they are very critical for her.

We got some TOMS shoes donated and gave them out to some kids today. I found it interesting that the shoes they give out are not the same that you can purchase, maybe the rubber sole is better?

Some of the other 79 faces of the RC.

and in other news, Trey lost a tooth.

and Ameyah is the cutest kid alive.

as I went to post this, we got a call from the nurses changing shifts at the cholera house that they were running down with a kid that was dying. we all jumped up and ran through the yard and next door to take Marilice off the oxygen for this kid and as Licia was running up the stairs the child died. she was the daughter of one of the ladies who washes the laundry at the cholera house. lori is in preparing her body now and she will lay her sweet little life in a white body bag much too big for her. i can literally hear her parents wailing from the room next door.

4 of this little girl's siblings are up at the house sick with cholera. there are 109 other patients up at the house right now. cholera is wreaking havoc on the lives in this community and it needs to stop. Jesus, come.

No rest for the weary

2011-07-24T17:26:00.004-05:00

Late last night I tweeted that a woman was being brought down from the cholera house who was having trouble breathing and unable to hold her neck up. They rushed her down and as soon as I assessed her it was clear she was fluid overloaded. Her Spo2% was in the 60s and her lungs sounded like she was breathing under water. We quickly got an IV in and pushed lots of lasix, cathed her to measure her output and as a last resort tried and albuterol/steroid treatment. She improved significantly within a couple hours so I left her with her husband in the dressing room and gave instructions to wake me up if they needed anything. While that was happening Licia got a call from the cholera house that a disgruntled and/or crazy patient ripped out his IV, and choked the nurse, pinning her to the ground. She and Enoch ran up there to find the patient tied up and gave him some meds to chill out. He was kindly sent home and asked to seek care elsewhere as needed :) I head up to our house and check on Marilice who seemed to really be doing great, got a shower and finally got to bed before my 6 am shift at the cholera house. Anna stays up with her because she is looking a little dehydrated and tries to get her to drink. She dozes off about 3 am.

Meanwhile (unknown to the rest of us) Licia gets another late call from the cholera house about a young man who is having severe seizures. She stays up there until 2:30 when his seizures finally stop. Turns out he has had them before in his life and the cholera must have brought them on. He is doing great today.

Anna comes and wakes me up at 4:30 and I assume it is for the above lady but instad she has Thallie in her arms and says she thinks she is having seizures. We look at her and sure enough she is having mild seizures. My first thought was fever, but her temp was only 99, so the only thing I know to do is give her tylenol and phenobarb. I run down to the clinic to get the meds and I get stopped by the mother of the mastitis lady who is staying here and her 1 month old baby is going downhill quickly. Lots of puking, dehydrated, not looking good. Quick give him some zofran and tylenol and run back up stairs. Crap, fluid lady from last night is still in the dressing room. She has some complaints that I can't understand but her oxygen sats were in the 90s so I decided to deal with her later. It is 5:10 am and I am dripping in sweat. Then we look over at Marilice and she is really getting dehydrated and decide she will get an IV when Lori comes over later in the morning.Then the electricity goes out because the oxygen concentrator takes up too much electricity and her breathing goes so bad. She is coughing hysterically and her sats go down to the low 80s. So Anna calls someone to come turn on the generator and I get ready to go up to the cholera house at 6. I leave poor Anna with the two bad girls and begin the most insane 6 hours of nursing care I have ever done. More than 100 patients. Over 60 are on IVs and the house is PACKED. It's kind of a blur, but I remember a few almost panic attacks and desperately calling Licia at 8:30 for reinforcements. I took out at least 5 infiltrated IVs, started new ones, dumped poop buckets and treated muscle cramps. At one point I was standing under the IV pole pictured below (1 pole, 7 bags of fluids, 4 patients- arghh!!!!) straddled over a cot trying to give oral doxy to a teenage girl who is really really bad and she PROJECTILE VOMITS all over me. I have to start IV cipro since she cant keep that down and instead of stopping to clean up, I kid you not that I just squirted hand sanitizer in between my toes in my chacos. Can you see why I had to throw all my obsessive good nursing skills out the window and hide in a corner and cry? And this isn't even my life. Lori and Licia are officially insane because only insane people could do this everyday. I'm tired and weary and stressed with the responsibility of these lives.

In all of that there are some precious, healthy, grateful patients who make all of this okay.

Thallie continued to have seizures and needed to be put on oxygen this morning and we only had one working oxygen concentrator so we had to take Marilice off and she did not do well at all. Until we could get an old machine working and fix the generator to give power to two machines we had to decide which girl to give the oxygen to. These things are beyond unfair. They are both on oxygen and IVs and stable for the time being but Thallie is pretty sedated as she is still having seizures. Please, please pray for both of these little girls tonight.

In completely other news, Lori and I are teaching a training class for community healthcare workers to set up 12 stations in the surrounding area to triage cholera patients. It's a brilliant concept but it's going to take a lot of time and work that Lori doesn't have to spare so you can pray for that class and all the workers who will be helping get our cholera numbers down.

2011-07-22T19:24:00.006-05:00

Few doctors will admit this, certainly not young ones, but subconsciously, in entering the profession, we must believe that ministering to others will heal our woundedness. And it can. But it can also deepen the wound. - Abraham Verghese, Cutting for Stone.

Marilice is still hanging in there, hoping to see how she does off the oxygen in the next couple days. Please pray, I want this little girl to make it so bad.

Dressing Room Drama

2011-07-21T19:45:00.003-05:00

I worked the dressing room today with some help of a couple other volunteers and it was oh. so. crazy. I didn't have time to take most of the pictures but here are a few...

I can officially check gun shot wound off my list of things I have yet to see in Haiti. This young gangsta lookin lad walked in sat down on the bench and said he was just standing around and got shot in the leg (just above the knee) and never saw a person. There was blood all over his pants but no entry hole from a bullet. I have seen one too many episodes of SVU/ER/Grey's to believe this story. He was not concerned at all about who shot him and wanted to take home the bullet as a prize. Again, not buying his non-story. But glad I got to see Lori take this thing out, pretty darn cool :)

Then everyone decided to have an asthma attack, I seriously can't count how many breathing treatments I did today.

Then everyone decided to get breast abscesses. Sooo many today. We saw a double breast abscess on the sweetest little teenage girl who has had them since the pregnancy. Her baby is 1 month old and she has been unable to breastfeed. She sobbed to us telling us that she had no money to come down here from the mountains and I can't obviously show or explain to you how bad this was, but I can just say I might have self inflicted death before going a day with the kind of pain she was in. No way to measure the amount of drainage that came from one breast. She is staying here tonight so we can keep her on antibiotics and lance the other side tomorrow. Please pray for her pain and for her heart.

Then everyone decided to get cut.

This one is a guy who tried to break up a fight and got a rock thrown at his head. The cut was pretty bad and Lori had to do several internal stitches. His eye was super swollen and after sleeping it off for a few hours, he was acting all crazy so i'm praying for no head injury. He is going to be in so much pain for the next few days.

Machete cut on the hand.

For those of you who know no-lips guy, I have seen him twice this trip. Once, he brought a man to the cholera house and today he passed in the clinic today with a massive underarm abscess.

Lots of burns. More abscesses. Dog bites. C- Section incisions. And more antibiotic injections in rear ends than I would like to count.

Just as I was cleaning up the room and closing up for the day, a pregnant lady came in who was in a moto accident and just to spare Lori 10 extra minutes I sewed the gash on her head.

I'm officially starting a helmet safety campaign, right after we solve the food, water and infectious disease crisis.

Marilice and some other news

2011-07-19T21:24:00.004-05:00

Marilice is the third of the critical kids up in the house. She had a horrible night last night and Anna had to bring her down and put her on oxygen in the middle of the night. She was super dehydrated when we took her, and we weren't really sure what was going on, but after a couple days on IV fluids, she didn't improve and began with fevers > 104 and a floppy neck, so we are treating her for meningitis as well as the respiratory stuff just to cover all our bases. I was in the dressing room with her all day today and her breathing really improved, but we are still having trouble keeping her fevers down. She cries most of the time begging for water, but in order to keep all her fluids down we aren't able to let her drink by herself and just syringe a few ccs of fluid at a time. She also has a nasty mouth infection. She is a sweet little girl, with tons of fight but has a long way to go. Please pray specifically for her fevers to stay down and any infections to clear up quickly. I just love her a lot.

She looks like Aunt Jemima with her cold cloth tied on her head :)

And in other news...

- Cholera is out of control. 118 patients this morning. 2 nurses. 65 IV bags to keep dripping at all times. 118 buckets (well actually double, one for vomit and one for the other) of stuff to clean up.

- Yanick, the non-nurse who can start IVs than any other person I know, usually works the dressing room doing wound care and injections on clinic days but she was needed up at the cholera house so I manned the dressing room all day.

-This little boy came in today after what appears to be his foot getting caught in a motorcycle. The bleeding was pretty bad so we put a tourniquet on to stop it until he could have it sewn up. His heel was in really bad shape so we gave him some pain meds and sent him into Doctors Without Borders because he'll probably need a skin graft.

- Henley and Trey ran around all night having water fights with 20 cc syringes. I got caught in the warfare many times.

- Don't get syhpilis or you will have to get 4 giant penicillin injections at a time in your bum for 5 weeks.

- A team from the Austin Stone is coming for the day tomorrow and we are going to put the to work. It's pretty cool for me to think about God using my trip with the Stone 3 years ago to move my heart for Haiti.

Off to rest up for another big day.

Goodnight friends

Gachny

2011-07-18T19:14:00.002-05:00

Gachny is the second of the 5 kids staying up at our house and he is freaking adorable (an ET look a like kind of cute). He has been here a little while and I can't tell you what is wrong with him other than he just looks bad. Anna picked him out in the RC and I agreed that he has that look of a kid that is going to die. He is really puny and won't eat anything. We've had him on IV fluids with some dextrose and he'll drink milk really well but he has bad diarrhea and won't eat any solid food. I had a nightmare last night that I woke up and Anna told me he had died. I was thrilled to see him doing okay this morning, but by no means do I think he is over the hump.

We got another curve ball thrown at us today when Erline's poop (I know, but get over it) all of a sudden looked like cholera. We tested her and sure enough it was positive. This is not good for so many reasons. One being that she is fighting so hard against the Kwashiorkor that she has no reserves. The other is that she has been up in our room for 2 days with us and 5 other critical kids and we were all exposed. We sent her up to the cholera house tonight and did a massive bleaching of everything. We went ahead and treated all of the other kids with antibiotics and will ask you to pray pray pray that the cholera stays away from this house. We also brought up another little girl with severe kwash so that keeps us at 5 critical kids. Tomorrow is a clinic day and you can pray specifically that there are no bad kids that we have to take as the Rescue Center is at capacity

God is good and His mercies are new every morning and a lot of days I just long for the morning.

Erline

2011-07-17T16:44:00.002-05:00

Erline is one of the 5 very critical kids who are staying up at the house with me and the other 4 volunteers here. She is in the fight for her life and I'm asking you to pray with us. She's had kwashiorkor for several weeks now, and seemed to be doing better, but took at turn for the worse yesterday when she stopped eating and drinking. We put a tube in. but she is not able to keep much down. Although she looks "healthy" because she is not small, none of the fluid in her body is in the right place. You can see the severity of her dehydration in her sunken eyes and deflated umbilical hernia.

She is such a little cutie!

Welcome Back Party

2011-07-16T13:44:00.003-05:00

Lori and Licia threw me a welcome back party. It went a little something like this...

Land in Port and get out to Cazale mid afternoon. Unpacked our bags and sat in the office catching up on all that has been happening around here. About 10 kids in the ICU tent, one was a preemie on oxygen with a bad respiratory thing but was deteriorating quickly. Made a plan to get up early and head up to the cholera house to help the day shift this morning. Ate a quick dinner and was going to get ready for bed when they came and told us that they preemie was bad. Went to the dressing room to check on him and knew it would be soon. Anna held him and we just prayed that Jesus would end his suffering soon one way or the other. He died within an hour and Anna and a couple of the other volunteers bathed him and dressed him to be buried today.

I jumped in the shower and right when I got out a volunteer came running upstairs and told me that Lori called and there was a woman in labor up at the cholera house, and asked if I could go up. I threw on some scrubs and grabbed a few lights and a birthing kit. We ran up to the house and found the laboring woman (who by the way, also has cholera) fully dilated and ready to push. She was very small, so I got nervous that the baby was coming early, but she assured me she was 9 months along. Lori said she would call one of the local Haitian midwives to come up in case I needed some help, given this was my first solo delivery. I could feel the head really well and knew baby was in the right position so I was really calm and just excited. I pushed with her for about 30 minutes, and when the midwife, David (who I'm pretty sure was under the influence of something other than water) came in to help. We moved her onto the floor to give us all a little more space. Mind you, there are at least 70 other patients and their families in this small house dealing with cholera so the background sights and sounds are just awesome. David was really hands off and was just letting mama do the work, so I backed off and just got ready to catch the baby. It only took a few big pushes and baby came really easily. She cried immediately and looked fantastic. Anna cut the cord and then David put the end of the cord in baby's mouth so she would drink the blood. We all gasped and the Haitians laughed. My first thought was what the! and second thought was um hepatitis? The midwife ~~delivered~~ tugged on the placenta and caused her to bleed quite a bit. He left, so I massaged her until she was firm again and gave a dose of pitocin. She did really well after that first dose and we let mamma and pappa bond with baby girl.

It was a beautiful paradox of death and life in a matter of a couple hours, and pretty much sums everything I know and love about this place. Welcome back.

This morning Anna and I went up to the cholera house to help out a little bit and tarp the porch. We rearranged many of the cots to make room for all of the patients. There is a steady 65-75 patients a day, which is just insane. I was really overwhelmed with the thought of caring for all of these patients, and really respect all of the Haitian staff who has managed to save almost 3000 lives in the most intense conditions.

Who gets to work in a hospital with this view everyday?

Currently sipping a diet coke and enjoying an afternoon rain storm. Off to work the 6p-12p shift in the cholera house tonight. Would love prayers for continued health and endurance!

Lots of love from Cazale.

travel prayers

2011-07-14T21:56:00.003-05:00

Only 12 hours from now I'll be in my not so favorite city of Miami en route to PAP. Would love your prayers for the traveling as well as the next month I'll spend at Real Hope for Haiti. The last several weeks, and few days in particular, have been insane so I don't feel totally prepared for this trip, but I am thankful He covers all my insufficiencies. I plan to share all that happens from that little island I love so much.

Thank you in advance for your prayers and encouragement!

back to Haiti!

2011-05-26T11:18:00.009-05:00

It's true.

Lots of big changes happening around here. All good things, all in His good timing. For the extent of my little adventure here in Nashville, I have been working in a faith-based, not for profit, primary care clinic that serves patients who are working and do not have health insurance. I can't begin to tell you what an incredible blessing this job has been. From the way the job just sort of fell in my lap, the family of people I have come to love working with, the patients whose lives I've had the privelege to be a part of, to the many lessons I have learned that make me a better nurse, God has more than provided. And for that, I am eternally grateful.

With a heart full of bitter and sweet, my last day at this job is quickly approaching. In the back of my mind I have always known I would pursue an advanced practice degree, but about a year ago, I began to prayerfully consider a Master's program that would combine all of the things I loved about my current job, and the things I loved about what I get to do in Haiti. I went through all the fun stuff you have to do to go to grad school, turned in my applications and left for Haiti the next morning last November. I think I literally threw my hands up in the air and said "God this is all You." And I didn't spend another second worrying about it. Three months later I got a letter in the mail saying I had been accepted to the Vanderbilt University Family Nurse Practitioner and Midwifery (ya, get used to that fun little word) program. It was a good day.

Sooooo come August, this girl is going to be a full time student again. For two whole years. I'll be 26 when I'm done. Totally not freaking out about that. I'm trying to remind myself that this is not college round 2. Do you know how much I loved college? Because I really did. Anyway, I'm just excited. I love, and I mean reeeeally love my life here in Nashville and I'm thankful I get to still do life here and pursue my dreams of Family Practice and Midwifery (there's that word again).

Now how does going back to Haiti have anything to do with all that? Well, I'm taking the summer off. I'll be in Texas for 3 weeks for weddings and family va-cay. Then back to Nashville for a few days before heading to Haiti until mid August. I am overjoyed at the thought of spending extended time with my girls Lori & Licia, snuggling with all the sick little ones in the RC, helping out in the clinic, checking in on that whole cholera thing and ~~praying nothing insane happens~~ totally holding down the fort while Lori goes to the States for much needed R&R.

So, who wants to help me pack? Here is the current list of what I need to bring, I'll be updating more as we have needs:

Reli-ON glucose monitor strips - Confirm/Micro (can be bought at Wal-Mart)
internet cord - from box to computer
24 G catheters for IV use
burrete chambers for the preemie babies-the micro drip tubing
A& D ointment
triple Antibotic ointment
feeding tubes-size 8
Multivitamins
preemie clothes

Email me (cctigner at gmail dot com) and I'll send you my address if you want to mail me donated items, money or gift cards. Got stuff you think we could use? Questions? Thoughts? Comment or email me.

Y'all are stellar. Thanks in advance for the encouragement and support. It counts more than you can know to help the ones you aren't able to go to.

And some favorite shots, just because.

Love y'all.

Oh my word(s)

2010-11-26T20:10:00.007-06:00

* I started this post two days ago but just got the chance to finish it.

We have had such a bad day here. I don't think I could possibly recount everything so I am going to give you some specific things to pray for tonight.

This couple came in a few minutes apart and they husband was in super bad shape. In between gasping breaths he said he was worried about his wife who was coming behind him and he thought she was worse. They had walked 5 STINKING HOURS with cholera. After we got him stabilized a visiting doctor went out to meet the wife on the road and she was able to walk the rest of the way up. They stayed two days and went home happy and healthy today! I passed the wife on the road and she ran up to me and gave me a big hug of thanks!

All he kept wanting was his wife next to him in bed, it was so sweet.

What do you do when you need to warm a patient up and have no electricity? That would be use hot water from MRE kits to warm the IV fluid. So degaje.

All in this horrible day, Lesseo's stomach blew up. Thankfully, it was just a fluid overload and it went down in a day, but I was super worried.

This is Darlens, who many of you know because he has been here so long and is so loved by everyone, especially Anna. I wrote this post when he was first here after the EQ, he was one of the worst kids I haver ever seen. He and a few other kids seem to have caught this bug that might be a flu, starts out with vomiting and diarrhea and then dehydration, lethargy, then respiratory symptoms and a high fever. He is such a fragile little child and went really bad on us on Friday. Licia and Jess flew up the mountain with him to me and Lori up at the cholera house so we could look at him. All of us, including the nannies who have taken care of him for so long began to sob, knowing that he just wasn't going to make it. With nothing else to do we came back down to the clinic so we could put him on oxygen and miraculously he is still alive today, and seems to be maintaining. Please continue to pray that Darlens would survive this!

Sadly, Maurency who has been here for quite sometime and was on the list ready to go home also got this bug and died this morning. It was awful. He had been up at the cholera house so we could watch him closely and he was still having some vomiting yesterday and was super lethargic. When I left last night he had a fever and cough so we gave him some tylenol and told the night shift to keep an eye on his fever and sit him up a lot so he could cough that stuff up. This morning was crazy for the nurses as there was a very bad little boy admitted with cholera so by the time I got up there he had a fever of 102 and really junky lungs. I gave him tylenol and flew down here to the clinic to give him a breathing treatment. I flipped him over several times and beat on his chest, but he wouldn't really cough for me. I checked his pulse ox and it was 85-90% so I put him on 5 Liters of oxygen and he hated it. He was kicking and fighting to get the mask off, super alert, wanting to drink lots of water (not acting like a hypo-oxygenated child). I stayed around until he fell asleep and headed back up to the cholera house and shortly after Licia called to say he stopped breathing. I ran as fast as I possibly could and jumped in where Licia was bagging him and did CPR for about 5 minutes, but he was already gone. I picked up his little lifeless body and sobbed. He shouldn't have died. I bathed him, and put his sweet little white dress on and thanked Jesus that Maurency was healed. I imagined what it is like to hear all of those angels singing and told him there were many days I would trade places with him. I have been here for the death of more than two dozen kids and doesn't get any easier to bury them. Life is just so hard here but Jesus promises redemption, and to that I cling.

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

psalm 100

Enelson and Mirlene also have the same bug so we are watching them very closely, please pray.

Filled

2010-11-25T20:31:00.005-06:00

We are filled with patients.

We are filled with exhaustion.

We are filled with life.

We are filled with joy.

We are filled with hope.

On this Thanksgiving Day we are filled to the brim.

2010-11-24T19:05:00.004-06:00

I can't seem to think of a title for this post. I have a huge lump in my throat and I'm fighting back big tears. In all of this cholera stuff, I haven't spent much time with the kids in the Rescue Center and as I seem to do when I'm at home, I just kind of block it out (I'm sure you psych people would tell me it is a defense mechanism). And then two little boys quickly brought back that flood of emotions tonight. Maurency and Lesseo are very sick from what seems to be some GI bug other than cholera. Both have bad diarrhea and vomiting and are super dehydrated. To look at a very sick child who has overcome severe malnutrition and now is fighting this is so painful it hurts me in deep places. I look at these kids who are away from their parents and in the care of some great nannies and would give anything to take their pain from them. I would take it all on myself in a heartbeat. And they aren't even my children. I don't have kids yet and sure don't look forward to the day that my very own flesh and blood is in pain. It sounds cheesy and like Christian blah blah, but seriously it makes me realize how much our Abba Father loves us. It must be awful for him to watch us hurt, but to know He knows these pains, the pains of the dying kids, of heartbroken mothers and fathers, it comforts me. He took them all on himself so that one day, from then to eternity we will never know pain again.

This is Lesseo before we put an IV in.

3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." Revelation 21:3-4

On a lighter (?) note. Here are some pictures from today...

Another skeleton without a pulse. This picture still doesn't do justice to how bad they look when they come in.

Squeezing 4 liters of LR as fast as possible. Stay tuned for miracle pictures tomorrow...

Enoch and Licia surprised me and brought the girl who I sponsor in the school sponsorship program!

Enelson is the tiniest patient in the cholera house. He was given prophylactic meds but he then puked them up so as soon as he had symptoms he was sent to the house.

I love this picture of Mireline. Her hands wrapped up in socks isn't stopping her from eating everything in site!

Bullet points

2010-11-23T19:27:00.003-06:00

- Moseline went home today, such an encouragement to see her happy and healthy!

- 5 more patients admitted today

- I know this is completely unrealistic, but I never want to see vomit or diarrhea ever again. Ever.

- Fleurilis is still not better, went with last resort of IV Cipro.

- In reference to above, pushing 50 cc of IV Cipro over an hour on a toddler is so fun.

- Diueverson went home tonight! We decided he probably just had a little pneumonia from laying in bed for so many days. He did better when he was up and moving around.

- I got to see one of the earthquake patients (the one with the baby whose arm was crushed)! They passed through the clinic today.

- My skeleton from yesterday was bad again this morning. She does not seem to understand the concept of DO NOT PUT ANYTHING IN YOUR MOUTH BECAUSE YOU WILL VOMIT. We are working on it...

- Please pray that I would get good rest to gear up for another day (or night? i'm confused) tomorrow (or today?)

God is good, thanks for all of the encouragement!

Giant exhale.

2010-11-22T19:23:00.004-06:00

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.

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.

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.

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.

"He will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign 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

Sunday re-cap

2010-11-21T20:43:00.002-06:00

I came downstairs to use the computer and write a post about today but then Lori and I had to help a lady who delivered last night and has an very yucky tear. She has a bad infection and can't urinate. We gave her some Rocephin and cleaned her up and sent her home with a catheter. She'll come back for follow up over the next few days.

Here are the bullet points from the Cholera hospital:

- Moseline is doing FANTASTIC today! I even got a few smiles out of her. She has six sister and they have been crying for her the past few days, hoping they will come visit tomorrow!

- 5 more patients admitted needing IVs

- a few more were observed and just needed oral rehydration

- 2 of the 3 kids from the Rescue Center who are up at the cholera house are doing great, one little girl is suffering from n/v/d on top of kwash. She has an ng tube but no IV because she is swollen from kwash fluids. She is in so much discomfort and cries most of the day. Please pray for her tonight.

This is her when she was admitted two weeks ago with severe malnutrition.

And just a few days ago, on the opposite end of the hydration status.

- I got picked up by a cholera patient today. I'm blaming the delirium from dehydration. Please ask me to tell you the story next time I see you :)

Off to bed to rest up for another big day! Thankful to Jesus for health and strength.

This aint the Oregon Trail

2010-11-20T19:43:00.004-06:00

*full disclosure, it's nasty.

I am going to attempt to paint a picture for you. First, remember the sickest you have ever felt in your entire life. For most of us, that memory is from the middle of the night, hugging a toilet after eating suspicious Chinese food. Now rewind, and instead of crawling to the bathroom, walk 5 miles down a mountain in the dark. With your sick child in your arm. Picture yourself in a large house laying on a military cot. Take away the toilet and replace it with a 5 gallon bucket that you spend lots of time sitting on. Then add 50 more people to the room. Add the sounds of the other 40 people getting sick (something like a faucet of water being turned on). Add very intense muscle cramps from the depletion of all your electrolytes. And in the worst cases, a ringing in your ears. Imagine having to wear a diaper and have people constantly cleaning up after you.

There is no pride and no dignity in having Cholera here in Haiti. I am so thankful we have the resources to care for these people, and honestly it is probably some of the better care they have ever received. But it's still awful.

Moseline is one of the many patients being treated now. She is a young girl who was admitted 3 nights ago. She and her mother were coming down from the mountain and her mom died on the way. She was in very bad shape, physically and emotionally. She initially did okay but when I checked on her in the middle of the night last night she didn't look great. I bumped up her fluids but by the time the sun came up I could hardly arouse her. Sure enough, her sugar was 29. I fed her jelly and peanut butter and we started some IV dextrose. Her sugar came up pretty quickly but she has been pretty puny all day. She has a low body temperature as seems to be common with the other patients and I just heard that her sugar bottomed out again so I am asking that you please pray for little Moseline tonight. She is not only extremely ill but has just witnessed her own mother's death. God, I trust your Sovereignty and pray that you comfort sweet Moseline tonight and heal her little body.

Please pray for all these patients. Pray for the staff who is caring for them around the clock. Thank you God for providing supplies and medication and clean water!

Here

2010-11-19T18:51:00.003-06:00

I am here. This week was long and hard but it's over, and I'm here. Work and life and broken computers and no sleep took it's toll, but I feel an underlying sense of peace. Something like the peace that Paul describes. After a relatively smooth trip down, we flew into Port au Prince and 11 months later it's not any easier to see the scene here. A sea of blue tarps as far as I could see have been shelter for millions of displaced haitians. The lack of progress is frustrating.

We drove out to Cazale and my heart was so happy to see this familiar place. Licia and the boys and her precious baby Ameyah and Mary were waiting for us and it was such a sweet reunion. We unpacked all the supplies we brought and went up to visit Lori who is killing herself working in the cholera house. I was so impressed by the little hospital she is running. We are sprayed down with alcohol from head to toe and rinse our shoes in a bleach mix before entering the house. There are many patients of all ages and stages of disease laying on cots. Their family members hold vigil at their bedsides and help clean them up as they expel insane amounts of stool and vomit. I will spare you the details for now, but I'm sure I will want to elaborate later :) They have treated more than 250 patients since last week. I'm going to head to bed soon so I can get up in the night to pull a shift in the hospital. Thankfully, the treatment of cholera is pretty basic, the difficult part is just managing the hydration status in the patients, especially in children.

Please pray for me for health and endurance. Pray for the patients and all of the staff who is caring for them. Pray for Lori and Licia who have committed their lives to this. I am continuously overwhelmed with the privilege to serve along side them and pray that I may be a good steward of that. This cholera stuff is a mess. The task of caring for so many patients whose lives are in such a fragile state is daunting. Seeing things that no human being should ever have to experience is terrifying. But my trip has been planned for months, and God is not surprised by this. I know I am here with purpose.

   “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 25:9

Daseme

2010-10-19T18:21:00.005-05:00

On my first trip to Haiti, when I visited the Real Hope for Haiti Rescue Center, I met a little boy named Daseme. He was wild! Full of personality, happy and healthy, ran around with all the big kids and always wanted to hang on you. I wouldn't forget him after spending just two days there.

I returned 4 months later and found sweet (sometimes ornery!) Daseme. Not much had changed. Licia explained to me that Daseme had been in the Rescue Center for years. He was admitted as a severely malnourished 6 month old and weighed 13 pounds. His mother was dead and his father brought him to the clinic. His dad was looking for work and his plan was to leave him in the Rescue Center for a few months while he found work and got back on his feet. The hope was that Daseme would gain weight and get well and he would be able to find a job. He called Licia to check in after one month and said he was in the Dominican Republic and had found a job. He said his mother would come visit Daseme. Licia told him no one had been to see him. He called back 2 months after that and asked Licia to please wait for him, he loved his son and he would be back soon. His Dad asked Licia at least 3 times to please wait for him, he would be back.

More than two years later this is Daseme with peanut butter and cracker face.

Not one word was heard from a family member for over two years. Licia sent word to the village where he was from and still nothing. She hired someone to go up to the village and they found a house that had been empty since Daseme's dad left. Lots of families asked about adopting Daseme. He was legally abandoned and was going to be placed in an orphanage.

The week before he was going to go to the orphanage, a man came running through the gates of the Clinic. Everyone was frightened by this man who didn't even stop and knock at the gate. He ran straight up to Licia and told her he had come to see her. She asked what for and he handed her a card with Daseme's name on it. We were all overjoyed! The staff was so excited. We got Daseme and brought him to his Papa. His Dad explained that he had been in jail in the Dominican Republic and had been waiting to return to find his only son still at the Rescue Center. He repeated the conversation he had with Licia years ago, "please wait for me, I love my son, please wait for me." It was such an amazing day. Daseme went home at 34 pounds with his Papa last August 2009.

Last week that oh too familiar face returned to the clinic weighing 28 pounds and now has Kwashiorkor. He has been living with his aunt since he left last year. Daseme will be put on the Medika Mamba program and need to lose the fluid weight before he starts gaining.

My heart aches in places I don't like to know are there when I think about Daseme. I will never understand what it is like to be a child with deep hunger pains and not able to feed yourself. I cannot even imagine what it is like to be that hungry. You may be wondering how a parent could let this happen. I know his Papa loves him, he returned for him after years of being gone, and he is doing what he thinks is best for his child. You and I have no place to judge that. The reality of it is you and I will NEVER have to know what it is like to be a parent who deeply loves your child and not be able to provide food for them. Daseme is so loved by everyone at the Rescue Center and by his Papa. Most importantly, his heavenly Father is crazy about him.

Please pray with me for Daseme. Pray that his fragile little body will recover from the malnutrition. Pray for his Papa who has given the care of his son over to someone else. Pray for those who are caring for him right now, that he would know the love of Jesus because of them.

I can't wait to see sweet little Daseme in a little less than a month!

I want to tell you a story

2010-10-04T19:13:00.004-05:00

This is a story ~~all about how my life got twisted upside down~~ a sweet girl named Mary, and a big, big God.

When I was in college I volunteered for a ministry called Young Life that stands to change the lives of high school students by developing meaningful relationships that ultimately point them to Jesus. I was divinely assigned to hang out with kids from Dripping Springs high school, particularly sophomore girls. Early in my time there I met a girl named Mary. I immediately loved her but I tried to play it cool so she wouldn't be totally freaked out by me. She was a girl that people wanted to be around. She was beautiful and full of personality but I sensed she always held something back, like she had more to share. I had the privilege of hanging out with her and her group of friends for a couple years. I prayed for them by name through the yearbook and prayed that God would give me chances to hang out with them. I even got to take them to summer camp where I felt like God took our friendship to a deeper level. Mary knew Jesus, and I knew she loved Him, but I prayed that God would captivate her so much that she couldn't help but chase after him daily. And I believed He would.

And then I got busy. I started nursing school and I stepped down from Young Life and I totally blew it. I failed at pursuing her and felt like the worst friend ever. Mary went off to college in Alabama and I doubted that God would ever bring fruit from that relationship because I didn't do my part.

It's a really great thing that God doesn't rely on us.

Fast forward about 4 years. I visit Haiti and my life is changed forever. I go back for awhile and I write a blog to tell about it; a few people read it.

Fast forward another year. I move to Nashville, TN and make a little life here. Summer comes around and I find out that Mary is living here and interning for a non-profit. Oh my goodness!!! Literally, I couldn't believe God's goodness. I thought, finally! God is giving me a chance to redeem this relationship that I so miserable stunk at. Mary and I connect and make plans to see each other.

On a totally separate note, I had known about dear Anna leaving Haiti for a while and had been praying really hard that God would send another teacher for Licia's boys. It was getting close to the end of summer and there were no hopeful prospects. I prayed harder. And then one Thursday afternoon I was at my desk at work and I got this email from Licia and all she said was "this gave me goosebumps! what do you think?"

Hi Enoch and Licia!

  It is SO good to finally meet you! I cannot believe that I find myself writing this to you right now, I am a twenty year old college student who currently has a lot of plans. Instead, I am throwing plans to the wind and E-mailing you about teaching your dear children. This can only be the Lord convicting me of something so out of the ordinary, my hands are still shaking. That and the fact that I absolutely fell in love with each of your boy's and their beautiful hearts in that video.

To back up, my name is Mary Davis. I am currently majoring in International Relations and Missions at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama where I will be a junior in the fall. I was born and raised in Austin, Texas but am currently living in Nashville, TN for several months as I work for a stateside World Relief office specializing in Refugee Resettlement. I have followed your blog and gotten regular updates on Real Hope For Haiti for about a year now. Your lives have indirectly touched mine and I never thought that I would have the privilege of actually writing to you. Your mission came to my attention by way of the one and only, Caroline Tigner. Caroline was a mentor of mine in high school and someone who had a strong hand in leading me back to our sweet Jesus. When I was younger, Caroline was everything that I wanted to be "when I grew up." She will forever hold that place in my heart. I also followed Caroline as she stayed and worked alongside your family continually loving sick children. Who would have thought that reading a blog would be such a testament to hope? It has certainly shook me to my core and challenged me daily.

I burst into tears. Who are we that God would not only redeem this relationship but would use it for something more than I could have ever prayed up myself? Mary grew into the most beautiful, and wise woman who cares about the lost and the lame more than she cares about herself. I want to be like that when I grow up. After a few short weeks, working out life's little details and some steadfast prayer, Mary moved down to Haiti to serve as the teacher for Carmelo, Trey and Henley. You can follow her journey here. I get to visit Mary in her new home in November and I cannot tell you what a joy it is to be able to share Haiti with my sweet friend.

I heart NYC

2010-10-01T08:45:00.003-05:00

After a very long blog hiatus, I am back! And for a very exciting first post I want to share a fun video from my July trip to NYC that I took with my bff, Caroline Fontenot. I filmed most of the video and she put it together. (don't forget to scroll down to the bottom of this page and turn the music off)

New York from caroline fontenot on Vimeo.

Wherever you are this morning, I hope you are enjoying a beautiful fall day!

Overdue updates

2010-03-22T19:43:00.006-05:00

First, you all have not kept me accountable to blogging more! How will I ever get better at this? But I will tell you, I am making progress on my other goals!

Running. Last week I started the Couch to 5k training program at the suggestion of a reader (thanks Leah!). I really love it because it is attainable for me as a beginner runner and I am not so overwhelmed when I think about running 13 miles. I am aiming to run 4 days a week and do yoga one. I am still struggling with the cold weather and hope as it warms up that I will be more eager to work out after work.

Emails. I am trying everyday to leave work and go to bed with an empty inbox. Occasionally I will leave one or two that can't be answered immediately but it feels so good to be organized and timely!

Photography. I have taken more pictures and as the weather warms up I plan on carrying my camera around with me all the time.

Flexibility. HOT YOGA. Um yeah. I was in serious pain for several days after my first class back but it feels so good. I feel so relaxed and re-energized after an hour and a half of cardio and stretching in a 105 degrees.

I have not made great progress on the other goals. I have been particularly bad about snail mail and going to bed early. But if I completed all my goals in one month, what would I have to work on? Baby steps, right?

I hope you are continuing to keep up with all that is happening in Haiti. Licia posted pictures of the new Rescue Center today and has been updating us on several of the kids. I loved seeing Dorchelle's progress, I will always love that little girl! I hope you'll remember to pray for those who will serve long after the media is gone, for the little babies who are still starving and for those who are only beginning to think about recovery. Go read about Mirlene here, and plead with me for God to heal her. Read about how you can meet some very basic needs by shopping online at Wal-Mart. My heart aches and it hopes for Haiti.

I am so incredibly embarrassed that I asked you all to pray for my sweet Dad and then I did not update you here. (just FYI, I update twitter multiple times a day, so you can follow me there!) Everything went very smoothly and after 2 days in the ICU he was out of the hospital the following Sunday. He has been home recovering for the last week and is gaining strength everyday! I am looking forward to seeing my family for Easter, I can't believe it has been since Christmas!

Lastly, I have been writing and praying over a post about the Healthcare crisis we are facing here in America and before I post it, I think it will be helpful if you know to about the clinic that I work for. It is called Faith Family Medical Clinic and is a non-profit primary care clinic for the working uninsured in Nashville. We see patients who are either working (or a dependent on someone who is working), receiving unemployment benefits, are a full-time student or in a rare case are receiving Social Security without Medicaid or Medicare benefits. We do not see anyone who has any type of health insurance. I love the people I work with and I love our patients, well most of them :) I hope you'll watch this video to see what I do everyday!

Birthday weekend and prayers needed

2010-03-08T19:44:00.005-06:00

Mark and Caroline came in town for the long weekend. Friday morning we headed out to Loveless Cafe for some of their famous biscuits!

We had a fun day shopping and hanging out, and then went to dinner and had friends over for a game night. Saturday morning we had donuts and pedicures, a fun lunch, spent the afternoon outside and had Mexican food for dinner! It was the perfect day.

My parents sent me these beautiful flowers

Sunday afternoon was spent out at Arrington Vineyards celebrating the warmest, most beautiful day

If sunshine was the only gift I got, it would have been just wonderful. But this weekend was the best birthday!

I also wanted to share with you all that my family needs your prayers. When I was gone in Haiti, my dad was diagnosed with Mitral Valve prolapse. Divinely, he was visiting the doctor for a problem with fluid in his ears, when the Nurse Practitioner heard a new heart murmur. In just a few days he was diagnosed with this serious, but relatively common disease. The great news is because he is otherwise very healthy, he is a great candidate for surgical repair. Tomorrow morning he will check in at 6 am to have the surgery (using incredibly fascinating robotic technology). I ask that you pray for him and my mom tomorrow. Pray for peace. Pray for the doctors who will be working on his heart. I am so thankful to know and trust that God is in control. We would truly covet your prayers in this time.

Thankful for this blog community of prayer warriors. Love you all!

Dorchelle update

2010-03-07T11:10:00.002-06:00

Anna totally made my day yesterday when she sent me these pictures of Dorchelle. She has lost her hair but I still think she is so precious. She is crawling a ton and even getting into Anna's bed at night :) They are struggling to balance her hydration status so she is back on an IV so she can work more on drinking calories. I love this little girl and I am so thankful for Anna and Lori who are giving her the best care possible. Thanks for loving her for me!!!!

Check back later for a full re-cap of the best 23rd birthday weekend! We are headed to Arrington Vineyards for the afternoon.

Happy Sunday!

Something on the Road

2010-03-05T09:24:00.003-06:00

I Saw What I Saw by Sara GrovesI saw what I saw and I can't forget it
I heard what I heard and I can't go back
I know what I know and I can't deny it

Something on the road
Cut me to the soul

Your pain has changed me
Your dream inspires
Your face a memory
Your hope a fire
Your courage asks me what I'm afraid of
And what I know of love

We've done what we've done and we can't erase it
We are what we are and it's more than enough
We have what we have but it's no substitution

Your pain has changed me
Your dream inspires
Your face a memory
Your hope a fire
Your courage asks me what I'm made of
And what I know of love

Something on the road
Cut me to the soul
If you have do not have this song, go get it right now. You won't regret it.

Resolutions

2010-02-28T20:29:00.004-06:00

I had this really great idea when I was in Haiti over New Year's to come up with 10 goals for 2010 and then get started right when I got back. Then it was March 1.

In my own defense, an earthquake happened that totally changed the course of the last two months. But I'm through defending. So I am calling them March resolutions. And here they are (in no particular order)

1. Take more pictures. Last June, I got an SLR camera for graduation. It has been used well on vacations and in Haiti, and has taken some incredible photos, but I don't use it enough. I want learn to shoot manually. Good thing I have Caroline.

2. Blog more often. Pretty simple, just need to do it.

3. Run a 1/2 Marathon. I was recently challenged a lot when I read Don Miller's new book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years to quit daydreaming about doing things and just do them. I have always wished I liked running but I never have. In elementary school, my mom made me join the jogging club and she would drop me off at 6:45 am and we had to run laps around the backstops and collect popsicle sticks for each lap. My white Keds had morning dew and grass stains and I smelt like playground kid the rest of the day. I hated every minute of it. Deep rooted issues? Probably, but I am determined to change that. Starting with a new pair of running shoes, I will begin a training program in a few weeks when it finally warms up! Are you a runner? What motivates you?

4. Re-gain flexibility. I was a gymnast and a cheerleader for many years and have since lost most of my flexibility. I loved doing yoga in college so Christina and I are starting yoga again next week!

5. Send more snail mail. I LOVE to get snail mail. Who doesn't?

6. Stay in touch with old friends. I miss college a lot. And I miss having my friends close so I vow to be better at staying in touch with old friends. The goal above should help with that

7. Take the GRE. This is not really a fun goal. I want to go back to grad school in the next couple of years and in order to do that, I have to take the GRE. Studying is the one thing I have NOT missed about college, but I know it is in important discipline and in the long run will be so worth it.

8. Learn more Creole. This is a fun goal. Anybody have good resources for this? I found a couple things online, but would love to know what works for you? Hope to get some more real practice too :)

9. Respond to emails immediately. If you have ever emailed me, you are probably aware that I am in the horrible habit of reading emails and not responding for an embarrassingly long time. Therefore, I am going to try and respond to emails ASAP. Feel free to hold me accountable to this :)

10. Get to bed earlier. I have not adjusted to the fact that as an adult, it is not okay to stay up till the wee hours of the morning most nights. I am actually a morning person, and wish I could wake up at 5:30 everyday, spend some time in the Word with several cups of coffee, run 5 miles and look like a million bucks all by the time I have to be at work. But the problem is, I am also a night owl. And when I stay up too late, I am pretty useless from 2-5 in the afternoon, which is prime napping time. Until I live in Spain and get a siesta everyday, I have to change my habits.

I felt that if I put these in writing and if I told them to those of you who read this blog, I'd actually have to make a stab at this year's resolutions. I hope to check in every so often with how I am doing with each of these, so stay tuned!

In other news, I am officially over this winter and dreaming of the days when I get to head back to Zihuatanejo this June. Oh Zihua, I have missed you so...

RHFH Videos

2010-02-25T20:42:00.002-06:00

Casey Zachary, who is Lori & Licia's brother, is down in Haiti this week visiting his family. He brought a video camera along with him and uploaded some great footage of things going on at Real Hope for Haiti. I think they will help you understand what any given day in the Clinic and Rescue Center could look like. Head on over here and check them out.

I am off on Fridays so it's officially the weekend. Hope yours is great!

*Anna was playing with my camera and caught Davidson doing this! had to share :)

Home

2010-02-20T09:02:00.002-06:00

I'm about to enjoy a hot cup of coffee and some oatmeal on this beautiful and chilly Saturday morning in Nashville, but just wanted to post a little update and let you all know that I am home safe and sound.

Licia and I had a fun trip back including a late night stop at Waffle House in Ft. Lauderdale for some breakfast and we split ways yesterday morning, me to Nashville and her to Seattle. I hope to post some more as I process my thoughts (and photos!) in the next few days.

Also, Anna posted and update on the sewing projects for the Rescue Center so head on over there and check it out.

Continue to pray for Anna and Lori who are still holding down the fort in Cazale. They are rockstars.

Hope you are still in your pj's enjoying this Saturday morning :)

Leaving a dent

2010-02-18T06:53:00.004-06:00

I have to leave Haiti today. And I have peace that it is the right time to go, but I just don't want to. I feel so many things. Overwhelmingly thankful that just a year ago, God introduced me to this family and has let me be part of an incredible journey. So sad to leave Lori and Anna and all the kiddos in the RC. Guilty for leaving when there are more needs than ever. There are things I love so much about my life in the States right now, and there are things I need to get back to, but I just want to have both. And that is not a reality.

The transition is never easy and I will ask you to pray for me in the next few weeks. In light of all that I experienced on this trip that was different, I think going back is going to be harder. Everyday here, almost every hour it seems, someone tells me their story, of all the misery in their life and I bear that for just a few moments. I grieve that they have not eaten in a week, I grieve for their 8 children that have died, and their home that fell in on them, I grieve for the child who can not fight for himself. I pray for empathy and ask God to let me see a glimpse of what it's like to live their life. It weighs heavy for just a few minutes and then I have to block it out. I have to throw it off and ask God to help me move on to the next. But I don't forget. Their faces have stayed with me and at some point I remember. I am not a psychologist and I am sure you can tell me all of the things wrong with this, but this is how I deal with it.

I love this broken, messed up place full of broken, messed up people so much. I feel like I fit right in.

The other day, Lori and I were talking with some of the Air Force guys and one of them said, "The first day I came out here, I thought you were all high, that you were all crazy to do this. Then the second day, I realized you were just trying to make a little scratch on the surface, a small dent here." Lori said, "Someone has to look at the big picture, at all the needs, but it can't be me. If I can just make this place run, if I can just care for a few (and by few, she means 500) people everyday, it's worth it."

Oh if someday, I could leave a dent.

And buy a one way ticket :)

We could Sew use your help

2010-02-15T20:00:00.002-06:00

Ok lame, I know. But I posted here on Licia's blog about how those of you who can sew can help us out! Head on over to read about it.

Dorchelle is doing better today and has been so much happier. Minus the time I gave her liquid vitamins and she threw up everything she ate today. In my lap. But the few smiles were worth it!

Tomorrow the Air Force team will be back which will be great because at 4:30 today, there were at least 100 people in line for clinic tomorrow morning. They will sleep outside tonight and it just started raining. Pray for those who will be seen tomorrow. That each be healed and loved in the name of Jesus.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

2010-02-14T19:03:00.002-06:00

Today is my favorite holiday. And not once, have I ever had a date. (don't feel sorry for me, just making a point) I am not a romantic and I am not super girly. But, I love the entire month and a half after Christmas because there is pink and red crap everywhere you go. There are fun decorations and yummy treats. There are sweet cards and cheesy cards. There is fantastic music. And mail, oh how I love snail mail.

It has been one bizarre month and half since Christmas. I left for Haiti Dec 28th and returned on Jan 10th. My roomies, who share the same Valentine's spirit, already had our apartment decorated! The Earthquake hit just two days later on Jan 12th and it has consumed my life since. I never thought I would be back here now. I have really missed making homemade valentine's, baking with Christina and Allyson and watching the snow fall. Ok that's a lie about the snow. But this 2010 has not gone the way I planned. I had big plans this year, and these were not them. And I am so thankful. I am so thankful that God made the last year of my life go the way He did. In looking back, everything happened so I could be here right now.

The love I feel today is different but good. As I type this, sweet Dorchelle is sprawled out across my lap asleep. She lost her mom, and I can't love her like her mom, but I can hug and kiss her and feed her when she spits it right back out at me. I can pray for her and tell her that Jesus has big plans for her life. I can love Lori and Licia and Anna, who the more and more time I spend around, I learn what it truly means to serve. I can love my family and friends via facebook and twitter :) And I can do all of this because I was loved first, by the greatest Lover that ever lived. He pursued me when I was sick, and poor and dirty and He loves me most. And unlike human love, it never fails. Ever.

My BFFL Christina snuck this Valentine in my bag and today I got to open it. Here are my two perfect Valentines!

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!!!! I hope you know how loved you are today.

Dorchelle

2010-02-13T19:50:00.002-06:00

This is Dorchelle. She is 16 months old and weighed 20 lbs when we took her in on Tuesday. She is extremely sick with Kwashiorkor and her body is very swollen. A relative brought her to the clinic, because her mother died in the earthquake. Because down under all the water, she looks pretty good and developed for a 16 month old, it is possible that she got this bad in just a month.

Today she weighs 17 lbs, which means she lost 3 lbs of water in less than a week. Her organs are very damaged and she is in a critical stage of recovery. Her skin is breaking open and fluids are seeping out. Her urine and stool smells very toxic. Tonight, I am very worried. It has been hard to find anything she likes to eat, and she doesn't drink a whole lot. I am switching small bites of different foods and watering down gatorade for her to drink. I am very afraid that she will become dehydrated. That may be confusing because you think "I thought you said all that extra swelling is water?" Yes it is, but that means the water is not in her blood stream where it should be, but it is in her tissues. Please pray for Dorchelle tonight, just as all the other children, I do not want to lose her. She has a sassy attitude which I hope means she is truly a fighter.

Caroline needs your vote!

2010-02-12T10:52:00.002-06:00

My BFF Caroline, who also happens to be an incredibly talented photographer, is in the final four in a contest to win a scholarship to a workshop with one of the most well-known wedding photogs in the country. She had so submit a 12 sec video of herself and I think it is absolutely hilarious. Partly because I helped come up with the idea. And partly because it is just plain funny.

Click here to watch her video and vote. It is the first one "I know you want me (for the workshop)" You can only vote once from a computer but if you have another computer or a phone, you can vote from there.

LET'S SEND HER TO MEXICOOOOOOO!!!!

Updates

2010-02-10T18:09:00.003-06:00

I guest posted on Licia's blog tonight so head on over there for an update on all the hospital patients!

Also, Anna posted an update on Darlens!

A group from the U.S. Air Force came out to visit this morning to see what we are doing and how they can help. They are sending out a few doctors tomorrow morning to help us see patients which will be great!

Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely, and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work. - Mother Teresa

Range of emotions

2010-02-06T17:45:00.003-06:00

I have felt like all of these at some point today.

Davidson

2010-02-04T19:12:00.002-06:00

I'm pretty much obsessed with this kid. And he knows it.

Can you blame me?

That is all I can muster up tonight :)

Not so brief bullet points

2010-02-02T16:32:00.007-06:00

- this leg belongs to 10 yo Timothe. We brought him from the Comfort Ship on Monday. He was in his house when the earthquake hit and was the only one of 8 people to survive. His mother and two sisters were killed and when their bodies were recovered, there was a metal bar through his sister's head. When I first saw him he was hiding under his sheets on a cot, and the caretaker's reported that he was very depressed. Can you imagine why? He had a L tibial/fibial fracture and is using crutches to get around. We had a phone number for a cousin of his and got a hold of him immediately. Yesterday morning the cousin came and they were overjoyed to be reunited! It was such a happy moment in the midst of much tragedy. The cousin gave us the details of his family situation and because they don't have a home right now, Timothe will stay with us for a while and his cousin will come back and forth to visit him. Pray for Timothe as he begins to process all that has happened to him.

- This is 5 yo Laudjynie's leg. She was at home when the earthquake hit and both of her parents were gone. She was rescued by some Haitian people and they found her mom and Dad and to take her to a hospital. From there she was transported by helicopter, unaccompanied. to the Comfort Ship. She had a L femur fracture and an ORIF to repair. When I picked her up on Sunday she screamed the entire car ride out to Cazale, and was panicked as we drove further and further away from all that was familiar. She kept screaming take me home. We assured her that we were going to do everything we could to find her family. Can you imagine being 5 years old, surviving an earthquake, having your leg crushed, being taken in a helicopter with a bunch of white people who don't speak your language, having major surgery, and then passed off to some more white people who drive you an hour away from anything familiar, all by yourself? I can't either. Monday night, we asked her as many questions as possible so that we could send someone out to find her family. She knew both parent's first and last names, the name of her church and her school, and other details that would help us. She cried off and on all night. So yesterday morning, one of the workers here set out with her picture to find her family. As soon as the cousin of Timothe came, he was able to tell us that he knew that her Dad was in the Haitian Coast Guard, so he called up to the base, got a hold of her Dad and she was able to talk to him on the phone. YOU COULDN'T WIPE THE SMILE OFF HER FACE WITH A 2X4. Her Dad said he would come immediately and was here in less than two hours. It was amazing to see them reunited!!! He took her home and we gave him info to stay in touch with us if they need anything. Her Dad just called a few minutes ago and told us that when he brought her home yesterday, friends and family were gathered crying and clapping with joy!

- Michelene (the pelvic fxr) is getting a lot worse. Her pain is increasing and her breathing is bad. She will die in the next day.

- An elderly man who was staying here at the Rescue Center died last night. We initially thought he was in Congestive Heart Failure because of extremely swollen feet, but over the last month he had lots of weird symptoms and because of the way he died we are thinking maybe cancer. His kids are in the States and he only had one friend come visit him while he was here. We will have a small service here this afternoon.

- Yesterday morning, a young man in his 20's drank battery acid in attempt to kill himself. The story goes like this. He was driving someone on his motorcycle and pulled over and asked the other guy to drive the rest of the way. He was sipping on something out of a juice bottle while they rode. When the guy reached his house, he told him that he was ready to get off, but the young kid just said keep driving me until we get to town. When they got here, the kid got off the motorcycle and passed out. The other guy started splashing water on him to wake him up, and when he grabbed the juice bottle, he realized that he had been drinking battery acid. He immediately started vomiting and they brought him to the clinic, but by that point he was vomiting tons of blood. There was nothing we could do. We took him back to Lori's house with all of the other bad patients, and gave him valium and morphine. He continued to throw up insane amounts of blood and other fluids. His entire mouth, nose and GI tract is burned from the acid. His throat is very swollen, so when he breathes the sound is awful. He is still alive this morning but will not live much longer. He lies in a bed next to Michelene, who had no choice in life or death, as her family holds fast to every last moment they have with her. It is just wrong. Oh, and the rumor is, he liked a girl that did not like him.

Life is just so raw here.

Absolutely nothing to do with an Earthquake

2010-01-30T19:07:00.002-06:00

Sadly, the Rescue Center existed before the Earthquake. Sadly, thousands of kids died every year from malnutrition in Haiti. Sadly, it will only get worse.

These are two perfect examples of the two forms of malnutrition we see.

This is Darlens. His aunt brought him here because both parents were killed in the Earthquake. He is probably 2-3 years old, has a full set of teeth, is 78 cm tall and weighs 12 pounds. He is suffering from Marasmus.

This is Rose Geurline. She is 6 years old and weighed 33 pounds when she came in. Today she has lost quite a bit of water weight. Her body is extremely swollen and is rotting from the inside out. She is suffering from Kwashiorkor.

These two are poster children for malnutrition. I snagged this excerpt from an article on eMedicine. It does a really great job explaining the difference in the two.

Marasmus is one of the 3 forms of serious protein-energy malnutrition (PEM). The other 2 forms are kwashiorkor (KW) and marasmic KW. These forms of serious PEM represent a group of pathologic conditions associated with a nutritional and energy deficit occurring mainly in young children from developing countries at the time of weaning. Marasmus is a condition primarily caused by a deficiency in calories and energy, whereas kwashiorkor indicates an associated protein deficiency, resulting in an edematous appearance. Marasmic kwashiorkor indicates that, in practice, separating these entities conclusively is difficult; this term indicates a condition that has features of both.

These conditions are frequently associated with infections, mainly GI. The reasons for a progression of nutritional deficit into marasmus rather than kwashiorkor are unclear and cannot be solely explained by the composition of the deficient diet (ie, a diet deficient in energy for marasmus and a diet deficient in protein for kwashiorkor). The study of these phenomena is considerably limited by the lack of an appropriate animal model. Unfortunately, many authors combine these entities into one, thus precluding a better understanding of the differences between these clinical conditions.

These sweet kiddos are in extremely critical condition. Pray for a miracle.

Like I said, absolutely nothing to do with an Earthquake.

the Palace

2010-01-29T20:02:00.003-06:00

This is where Anna and I are sleeping. Everyone keeps teasing us and saying that we are Bourgeois.

It's pretty silly that just Anna and I are sleeping here, but we are hanging on to this tent in case we need it for patients. Meanwhile, we are enjoying the Palace. I mean it has two rooms, come on.

In other news, you prayed and God brought the goods. And I mean goods. Morphine, Valium, and Ketamine. Yipppeeee!

We did not receive any patients today due to some transfer issues from the ship. However, the day has not been boring. You can read Licia's blog for more details.

Off to mix up another bag of morphine. Buenos Noches.

2010-01-28T18:51:00.004-06:00

I am here. And in many ways it seems that life is carrying on as usual. And in so many ways, I feel the weight of all that these people have dealt with in the last 2.5 weeks.

The flight went very well and we had no problems at the airport. It was incredible to see everything that I have been looking at on the other side of a tv screen. So many different people have come together to help here. I saw the University of Miami hospital, tons of US military and many of the media tents. Driving through town was hard, as so many familiar places don't look the same anymore. One of the oddest things is seeing so many white people. (Is it weird that that is weird? That I could not be used to white people? Ok back on track...) But at the same time, the Haitians are back on the street selling goods and looking for work. Sweet children wave to you as you drive by. And the water, oh the blue water looks so tranquil.

Things in Cazale seem relatively normal, aside from the tents set up everywhere. No one is sleeping in their homes out of fear they might collapse. There are around 55 children still in the Rescue Center, but only a couple are in really bad shape. They are staying outside in the yard and will hopefully be moving to another house in the village soon. The normal clinic days are still happening but numbers are down to about 200-250 patients per day.

Currently, we are receiving patients who have been treated on the U.S. Comfort ship and need some follow-up care and/or Hospice/Comfort care. When I got here this afternoon we had two patients. One is a young girl in her 20's with a open book fractured pelvis (picture a pelvis and cut it down the middle vertically). She also had a dislocated ankle and is a Type 1 diabetic. Any movement is excrutiatingly painful and she already has a bad decubitus ulcer from laying in the bed. She is on a morphine drip and will not survive. Her mother and a couple other family members are here keeping vigil, holding fast to their bibles and praying for God's mercy. Oh, and we only have 30 mg of morphine left so you can pray about that.

The other is an elderly man who was found wandering around town and severely dehydrated. Nothing else is known about him. He went into acture renal failure and also tested positive for TB. He came here in a coma and died tonight around 6 pm.

Lori is leaving tomorrow morning to go into Port and help out at the clinic at Heartline (the fantastic people whose plane I caught a ride on today!) until Monday. We will receive two more patients, a 3 year old burn patient with a father, and a woman diagnosed with a terminal ovarian cancer. I will take care of the patients with Licia and Anna's help.

Oh and Anna and I have the sweetest tent to sleep in. Photos coming soon...

Love y'all and ask that you continue to pray for us!!!!!

God comes through. Always.

2010-01-27T15:05:00.003-06:00

By nothing outside of His grace, and your prayers, I am on a flight tomorrow morning from Ft. Lauderdale to Port Au Prince.

I bought insane amounts of tents, tarps, flashlights, meds and food at Wal-Mart, threw my stuff in bags and will be on my way to Ft. Lauderdale via Charlotte tonight.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your encouragement and prayers and ask that you would continue to pray over the coming days. Please check back for updates because of course, the camera has made it in the luggage :)

Follow my tweets for current updates.

Bon voyage, for real.

Headed to Haiti

2010-01-26T12:12:00.008-06:00

Sorry for the last minute news, but things have been very up in the air. Getting on a flight is the final obstacle I am facing, and would ask that you join me in praying for a big miracle on this one. I need to get there ASAP and help with a very exciting thing that is going to happen in Cazale as a part of major relief efforts. If you have any connection to a flight in the next few days please, please let me know.

I am going to be purchasing lots of things to take with me including medication, food, tents, tarps etc. If you would like to help with these needs you can direct support to my parents at

17214 Silverthorne Lane

Spring, Texas 77379

I love you all and would really love your prayers for this time. Pray for safety, and endurance and that I would be able to bring some relief to my friends who have been in over their heads since the earthquake hit two weeks ago. Can you believe it has been two weeks? I heard today that a man was pulled out of the rubble alive. Alive. After 14 days. Incredible!!!!!!!

I will have internet access while I am there so here on the blog, or on twitter will be the best ways to stay in touch.

Bon voyage.

How else can I help Real Hope for Haiti?

2010-01-25T18:34:00.002-06:00

I copied this directly from Licia's blog

We have a friend that is collecting donated good for us at a warehouse. These items are to be shipped to Haiti. If you have items you can ship them to:

Debbie Woodward

1500 Jackson Street NE

Minneapolis, MN 55413

Current needs list

infant formula

powdered milk

ensure milk

oil

other staples

canned meat

canned vegetables

canned beans

canned tomato products

juice mixes

triple antibiotic oint

vitamins

tylenol

ibuprofen

antibiotics

hydrocortizone cream

anti-fungal cream

oral hypoglycemics – metformin, glyburide

seizure meds – pheno

gauze

gloves

kerlex, cling

IV fluids

angiocaths

casting materials

cast saw

surgical blades

sutures – all kinds

syringes

tents

tarps

mattresses

sheets

pillows

hygiene items

laundry soap

disinfectant

copy paper

bug spray

garden seeds – corn, beans (lima, black, etc), watermelon, tomato, eggplant

garden tools – hoe, machete, pick-ax, sickle (digo)

buckets

flashlights

rechargeable lanterns

batteries

dishes

cups

spoons

cooking pots

nails – 3″, 4″, tin

wire

paint

doors

boards – 2×4, 1×4

plywood

shovels

hammers

wheelbarrows

generator

inverter

electric wire

batteries

water pump – 4″

bulldozer

back-hoe

ambulance-like truck

If you would like Debbie’s phone number please email me or if you have any question please let me know. We know some of these needs are big but we want you to know what we are looking for. Thanks so much for all you help.

Hannah's prayer

2010-01-24T22:29:00.004-06:00

I have read this passage over the last two days and several things have stuck with me. I think if you'll read it, you'll see why it is has been so good for me.

This is from the first two chapters of 1 Samuel. Hannah was the wife of Elkanah, and for many years she was unable to have children. She (frankly) poured out her heart to God through inconsolable tears, begging God for a son.

"Oh, God of the Angel Armies,

If you'll take a good, hard look at my pain,

If you'll quit neglecting me and go into action for me

By giving me a son,

I'll give him completely, unreservedly to you.

I'll set him apart for a life of holy discipline."

Before that year was over, she gave birth to a son. This was her response...

"I prayed for this child, and God gave me what I asked for. And now I have dedicated him to God. He's dedicated to God for life" Then and there they worshipped God.

Hannah prayed: I'm bursting with God-news! I'm walking on air.
I'm laughing at my rivals. I'm dancing my salvation.

Nothing and no one is holy likeGod,
no rock mountain like our God.
Don't dare talk pretentiously—
not a word of boasting, ever!

For God knows what's going on.
He takes the measure of everything that happens.
The weapons of the strong are smashed to pieces,
while the weak are infused with fresh strength.
The well-fed are out begging in the streets for crusts,
while the hungry are getting second helpings.

The barren woman has a houseful of children,
while the mother of many is bereft.
God brings death and God brings life,
brings down to the grave and raises up.

God brings poverty and God brings wealth;
he lowers, he also lifts up.

He puts poor people on their feet again;
he rekindles burned-out lives with fresh hope,
Restoring dignity and respect to their lives—
a place in the sun!

For the very structures of earth are God's;
he has laid out his operations on a firm foundation.

He protectively cares for his faithful friends, step by step,
but leaves the wicked to stumble in the dark.

No one makes it in this life by sheer muscle!

God's enemies will be blasted out of the sky,
crashed in a heap and burned.

God will set things right all over the earth."

This child was Samuel, whose name means "God has heard". He would go on to be a great leader of ancient Israel and one of the major prophets to prophesy the coming of Christ.

The One who would set things right all over the earth.

Tonight, I am rejoicing over the sweet boy pictured in the post below who was prayed over for many years and is finally here. And still in the midst of continued tragedy in Haiti, holding on to all of the promises the one day, all will be set right.

It's all over

2010-01-22T20:48:00.002-06:00

There are no words to describe what it has been like to watch God work miracles in the midst of this tragedy. This child, this precious son of Aaron and Jamie is on a plane to Orlando as we speak. They will sweep him up in their arms tonight, and tell him once and for all that he is home. He will never not be home again.

It has been a joy to walk with this family over the last year through life, and share our love for Haiti. I have loved Amos and Story so much, but it is nothing compared to how madly in love Aaron and Jamie are with them. And it has not been easy. To love their children from afar for more than two years has been excruciatingly painful at times. Yet God has sustained them.

And tonight, it's all over.

Surreal. But real.

2010-01-18T19:58:00.004-06:00

I had the most surreal conversation with my friend Lori via facebook chat tonight. She is one of two of the most amazing sisters I know. Today she spent the day in PAP with the group at Heartline working in a clinic. In the year that I have known her, I have loved working with her and hearing her incredible stories of things she has seen and done over her time in Haiti. It seems like I have heard it all. Until today. Here are (edited) snippets of our conversation as she describes the patients she saw today.

6

Lori "one boy - bones femur, other leg rotting, huge lacertaion to ear/face, other cuts

R O T T I N G L E G!!!!!

totally dead, black tissue and the fam won't agree to amputate

104 temp, going to die,

mom and 4 sibs dead

calling for mom as I'm suturing him up

Lori: another baby found and brought in my a good samaritain, can't care 4 kids, wife preg, can't take on responsible of another, what to do??

Lori: another guy arm ripping off at elbow, had turniquet on for too long and needs further amp, totally bleeding to death, not enough docs, no materials to amp.

some of these are from the drive way clinic

Lori: another lady muscle in arm ripping off when they pulled her out, broke 2 finger, open bone, I fixed and sutures, 3 sisters not to be found

it goes on and on

Lori: had a lady drink battery acid aroun 4 AM to kill herself

too many problems,

tried to NG and pull it out

lavage type of thing

she started puking blood and I told them to go to hospitla

gave Charcoal pills but dont thingk that would help

continued vomitng

put out by gate to get truck to rent

crowd gathered, talking, crying, freadkingout

I wanted her inside becaseu it was upseting her to hear all this and upsetting them to see her puking

put back inside gate

I put her back in

it wasn't bright red grosss amt of blood

darker, 3 x vomit, total of 500cc maybe

they gave her milk and something to vomit

i dind't hear how she is

me: did she still want to die at that point?

Lori : yes

we prayed for her and with her

it's all i could do

God has made this woman for this. She said "I am tired, but I am not stressed." How blessed are the many Haitians whose lives have been changed by her hands. Pray for continued endurance for she and Licia. They continue to face what seems like unbearable things with each new day, but yet they hope. Continue to cover them with your prayers, and read their blogs to hear about specific needs as they come up.

this is Licia hiking a mountain, while chatting on the cell phone. No big deal.

I love you two dearly and thank you for teaching me what true sacrifice is.

Standing

2010-01-17T21:22:00.003-06:00

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My comforter, my all in all
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

Praying for my friends who are sleeping on the other side of this wall tonight.

Such a time as this.

2010-01-14T21:26:00.003-06:00

"Did the last 48 hours really happen?"

That was my first thought when I woke up this morning. The time has blurred together and I am beyond thinking straight. I can't get away from the news/twitter/facebook in hopes of hearing any good news from Haiti. But my heart continues to break with each story. And it's only a fraction of what my Haitian friends are feeling.

I am incredibly thankful for the response of my friends in family and even strangers who have offered their support, encouragement and love in this time. In the midst of trying to process all that is happening, Caroline Fontenot and I know one thing for sure and that is that we can do more. And so can you. We are the church for such a time as this.

Read the original post about Gift Haiti here.

We updated with freshly processed photos from my recent trip to Haiti from which I returned on Sunday, 3 days before the earthquake.

Since I can't go right now, I can give, and so can you. Gift Haiti is simple. Buy a photo, and we'll give 100% of the profits to Real Hope for Haiti. We raised the prices a little bit per print just because the cost of supplies in Haiti now are continuing to go up.

My favorite thing about these photos is that a week ago I took them. These faces are sleeping in tents right now and these bellies are running out of food and formula. Just last week, the girl pictured above (Ostelinda) was running around the Rescue Center and fell and cut her head. She was running because she has won the battle against malnutrition and is now healthy. Now this precious child faces and even bigger tragedy. Who knows where her parents are, the rest of her family, and what the future holds? We can help that future. This is not just an ambiguous donation. These are the faces of the people that you'll be helping. You'll feed them. You'll clothe them. And you'll have a photo of them to remind you to pray for them.

Behind every face in these photos is a story just like hers. Let's help write them a better story.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW AND PURCHASE PHOTOS!

Please email us, gifthaiti@gmail.com, if you have any questions about ordering prints. SPREAD THE WORD! Your coworkers, your family, your friends. We're the hands and feet.

Earthquake update

2010-01-13T19:12:00.009-06:00

By now you have heard of the devastating tragedy that struck the already disaster stricken country of Haiti just over 24 hours ago. I am in shock. Overwhelmed with emotion. Thankful for my safety. Questioning why God spared me by just a couple days. Fighting the urge to jump on the first flight down. And heartbroken for the people of Haiti.

Four days ago I stood with my toes in this sand having no idea what the days ahead would bring.

As I drove through Port-Au-Prince on Saturday with my mom who has fresh Haiti eyes, we commented that the city looked like some kind of disaster had hit and the city never recovered. That was Saturday. Today, I can't begin to wrap my mind about what has happened to the people of Haiti. I don't understand not being able to reach my family. I don't understand sleeping in the streets next to dead bodies. I don't understand mass hysteria. I don't understand.

I have had some contact with Lori & Licia at Real Hope for Haiti and everyone is safe. However, because Cazale is only 21.5 miles from the epicenter of the quake the village is staring this tragedy right in the eyes. The mission sustained structural damage and everyone is sleeping outside for fear of further damage. They are overwhelmed with an influx of injured patients who cannot get care in town. The kids are managing to go with the flow and everyone is pitching in to do what they can. You can read Licia's blog and Lori's blog for more updates and pictures of what they are facing.

Tara and Troy Livesay, whose ministry is in the heart of Port-Au-Prince, have also reported that they are safe but are knee deep in the immediate search and rescue process. Follow their blog and Troy's tweets for more info.

So what can we do?

First, you can PRAY. Get on your knees tonight with your roommates, your children, your spouses, pray in your car, your office tomorrow morning. I love this quote

Prayers are powerful and effective not because they alter God's providential plan but because they are a part of it.

It is ordained that you and I would plead for God's mercy and provision for the people of Haiti.

Secondly, you can GIVE. Here are links to many organizations who I trust will use your money well in the relief effort.

Real Hope for Haiti. the biggest needs now are funds to purchase food and supplies and prices have already doubled in the last 36 hours. there are 75 children sleeping under a tarp tonight who need to eat 3 meals a day. Click here and scroll to the bottom and click on the yellow button that says donate or you can mail a check to: RHFH – PO BOX 23 – Elwood, IN 46036.

Red Cross An easy way is to text "Haiti" to 90999 to give $10 to the Red Cross. It will be on your next phone bill.

Compassion International. For a $35 donation you can help a family receive every sort of disaster relief they might need in this first critical week. Click here OR you can text "disaster" to 90999 to give $10 to Compassion's disaster relief program.

Lastly, you can purchase these shirts which are not only super awesome by themselves, but 100% of the profit will go to support Real Hope for Haiti. Click here to buy them!

I was reminded today of this Haitian proverb "Rocks in the river don't know the pain of the rocks in the sun." May we be as gracious as Jesus calls us to be.

Though it feels like they cannot take on more thing, ask anyone who has spent time in Haiti and they will say of the people that their resiliency is astounding. God is going to use this and He is going to get the glory.

You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted, you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more. Ps. 10:17-18

Fotos

2010-01-05T14:08:00.003-06:00

I haven't blogged much this trip. In part, because I really want to soak up my short time here and partly because I don't want to write about some of the things that have happened over the last few days. Today, I can muster up the energy to post these happy pictures.

This is Ronel, Marie Lange and Wideline. They are siblings and this picture was taken the day they were all admitted to the RC.

This picture was taken yesterday. Oh, the miracle of Medika Mamba! I am going to help their parents start a business and will sponsor their family monthly. I can't wait to see them grow!!!!

Lori loves her new headlamp and goggles and reeeeallly loves when I take pictures of her.

This sweet Dad came to visit his baby who is in the RC right now. He even brought him a sucker. (you probably know how I feel about a baby having a sucker, but it was the thought that counts, right?)

I love this picture of a lady in the market.

Haitian sno cones

Really excited about the rest of the week!

Is it seriously Thursday?

2009-12-30T20:06:00.006-06:00

The last 48 hours have been absolutely insane. Here is the quick re-cap:

10 o'clock Tues night we are hanging out upstairs dosing the Mamba and chatting about the day.

10:15ish I discover that there is running water as of 3 weeks ago and we have a good laugh about the fact that nobody told me and I was still using bucket water!

10:30ish one of the ladies from downstairs comes up to tell us that Patrick from the RC is bleeding a lot. He has a very bad decubitus ulcer because he is paralyzed from the waist down and earlier in the day, one of the doctors from the team here opened up the wound to help it heal. We run down there and realize that he his having a pretty massive hemorrhage. He had already lost a ton of blood so I hopped up on the bed on all fours and put all my weight on the site while the others started two IV's and got things ready to find the source and stop the bleeding. After holding pressure for about an hour and getting the doctor who was sleeping down the road, we used a machine to cauterize all of the spots where it was bleeding. It was really scary, but we changed the dressing this morning and it seems to be doing better. He is still very weak and will take a while to recover from all of the blood loss. Licia took this picture in the midst of the madness and the flash was in the dark, but you get the picture. Literally.

3:00ish go to bed.

7:30ish wake up and head downstairs to see that Delva and another kid had died. Meanwhile, there are so many patients to be seen. The team that was here did many wonderful things, including seeing women for yearly exams and PAP smears (this is something I am super excited about, more coming on that!) They were leaving in the afternoon so we had to wrap up all of the research they were conducting so I spent a lot of the day collecting the charts, surveys and specimens. Many patients were seen, which was really great! Lori and I wrapped things up in the clinic while Licia, who had been translating all day, taught a class on malnutrition.

6:00ish We were worn out so we grabbed our dinner and sat down to relax and watch a movie. We didn't make it through without having to run downstairs and deal with something in the RC, but we did finish the movie and got to bed fairly early.

This New Year's Eve day we have been very busy with dressing changes and other things going on around here but I am so very thankful. I am so thankful for my life and all of the inummerable blessings and I am even more thankful that today I am here.

Ten years from now I hope I am doing the exact same thing.

Happy New Year's Eve from Haiti!!!!

My life went on

2009-12-29T18:30:00.006-06:00

I left here a few months ago, and my life went on. But things did not change here. Lori and Licia are just as funny. Patients are still sleeping outside. The Rescue Center is over capacity and kids are still dying.

Meet Delva

He's dangerously sick from malnutrition and other possible complications.

He has stayed on the oxygen all day today and is receiving several different antibiotics. Every now and then he mutters a couple words and it is precious. Praying for his miraculous recovery!

Great things are happening here, too! This is the board to keep track of all the kids on Medika Mamba and how many tablespoons they get. Thought you would enjoy reading all the names, ha!

This 3 pound baby came through the clinic today and will go the place where Loner was sent.

Speaking of Loner, we were sent this picture today. Go back and read this post and compare the pictures. INCREDIBLE! This 2 pound baby who we sent also lived and is home with his family. God is so good!

And just another precious face for you. He is saying "Hey blanc, get that camera out of my face have you ever tried eating spoonfulls of peanut butter?"

Goodnight y'all!

love and kisses from Haiti!

2009-12-28T19:07:00.002-06:00

I made it here this evening after a fairly easy and uneventful day of traveling. Mr. Zach picked me up and we had a great time catching up on the drive over. When we pulled in the driveway Trey, Henley and Amos were waving and yelling my name, I just wanted to cry! We unpacked the bags and I have made myself comfortable in my usual spot in the office with Lori and Licia. I am so glad to be back with my friends :)

Amos wanted to send lots of love to his Mama and Papa and brothers and sister!!!! (Jamie, he came in and found me at the computer and pointed to the camera because he remembers taking pictures before, such a smart boy!)

Love y'all!!!! Stay tuned for all the exciting things going on here!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

2009-12-26T01:20:00.005-06:00

Merry Christmas to y'all!!!

Hope you had a wonderful holiday with your family and friends, sharing in the joy that comes only from Jesus!

We had an incredible (chilly!) day here in Houston full of gifts, yummy food, lots of laughter, naps and board games. Couldn't have asked for a better day!

What was even more exciting was that I have spent the last couple days opening all of YOUR gifts for my friends in Haiti! I am overwhelmed by your generosity and want you to know how much this will mean for the people there. This is what my room looked like...

The real fun came when we had to figure it out how to pack it all. Let's just say I am going to be batting my eyes at the nice little ticket man tomorrow morning! I am almost completely packed and so excited that I will be there this time tomorrow! Check back here for all the upates from Haiti.

Pulse Oximeter needed

2009-12-06T20:01:00.003-06:00

*** Update: Literally, Lori found two machines in the lab today. Man God is good! Now we are working on using the funds to fill another great need. Stay tuned!!!***

The response to the needs listed for my December trip to Haiti have been incredible! Not only are we going to be able to ~~go way over 50 lbs~~ stuff our bags, but we are going to be able to purchase a continuous pulse oximeter for the clinic and rescue center!!! I am so excited about this, as I saw a HUGE need for this in my time there this summer. For those non-medical people, a pulse oximeter is a machine that measures the amount of oxygen (which we have to have to live) carried by your red blood cells. It is a diagnostic tool, and now that there is an oxygen concentrator (administers oxygen) we need a way to measure the amount of oxygen in the body. It is an easy way to know how sick someone is or if they are getting better, such as in asthmatic crisis or someone who is malnourished and protein deficient with not enough red blood cells to carry the oxygen.

Remember Malorie? Read her story here.

Of all the children that died in the time that I was there, Malorie was one of the hardest for me to lose. Mostly, because we could never find out what was wrong with her. This machine might have helped us save her life.

Every single ER, clinic, even school nurses's office in the States has one of these machines and it is time that we have on in Haiti. It is such a blessing to be part of this and know that each of you who has contributed are part of it too!

So do any of you know someone who sells medical equipment? We have the funds to purchase the machine, I am just wanting to do some further research and would love to buy from someone you know! So please leave a comment or email me at cctigner@gmail.com if you have ANY connections to someone in the world of selling medical equipment.

Thanks for being a part of this.

Oh and are you still Christmas shopping??? Because you should check out the GIFT HAITI.

Gift Haiti

2009-11-23T21:18:00.011-06:00

This is it. This is what I have been dreaming up, praying about, having butterflies over and have been working on for the last couple months. Since I returned from Haiti in September, I have been trying to figure out how to live my life in light of all that I experienced. A big part of my heart is there, yet I know I am supposed to be here for this season. How will I remember how I felt, and the faces I loved, and the things that I saw? How can I share them with you, and tell you all the stories? I have felt useless at times, wondering what can I possibly do to help all the way from here? And then it was clear.

The photos.

Everyday, I can remember the stories. I am reminded of the beauty and of the heartache in the faces of the children. And of the hope in their eyes. I am moved to pray over them. And pray for my friends who have given their lives to serve these precious ones. I can remember. And I can give. To the people of Haiti, and to my friends.

I can give my prayers. I can send my encouragement on days I have hope, and I can give my tears on days when I grieve with them. I can give my experiences; I can tell others of what God is doing in Haiti. I can use the things that God has made me good at to serve Him. And I can give financially. We can give. You and I have been immeasurably blessed and it should be a a joy to share all of our gifts.

After sharing all of this with my best friend and favorite photographer, Caroline Fontenot, we came up with an idea. She and her husband have always modeled how we as Christians are supposed to give, and give, and then keep giving and they have taught me that and more. They were supportive of me and walked with me during my trips to Haiti, and therefore God gave them a burden for the people of Haiti. We figured out how we could use my experiences, her talents as an artist, and our deep desire to see God's Kingdom come in Haiti for this incredible project.

So this holiday season, I am inviting you to be a part of something bigger. All of the photos I have taken of Haiti are available for purchase, and one hundred percent of the profit will go to my friends at Real Hope for Haiti.

The 4x6 photos make a great stocking stuffer, or buy an 8x10 for your "under $25 office Christmas party gift." Share them with your loved ones, and tell someone who doesn't know about Haiti by sending them a print. Or even put them on your Wish List :)

All photos are available in many sizes as well as black and white or color. There is even an option to have them gift wrapped.Here is the site where you can browse all of the photos and place orders. If you don't see the photo you want, email us and we will make it happen.

http://gifthaiti.instaproofs.com/

You can email Caroline & Caroline (cute, we know) at gifthaiti@gmail.com.

This video shares the heartbeat of Real Hope for Haiti and will give you a tangible picture of what your money will support. You can also read Lori and Licia's blogs to see what happens on a daily basis at the clinic and rescue center.

Real Hope For Haiti from Corrigan Clay on Vimeo.

On the right side of this blog you can click on the months of July and August 2009 to read my posts from my time in Haiti. I know if you do, you won't be able to ignore the needs.

I am so very proud of these photos, and if I was the only person who ever looked at them, that would be just fine with me. But ultimately, I just want to see less precious faces like this one

become a tiny body in a much too tiny casket,

and see more kids go from this,

to this.

Again, here is the site to place orders http://gifthaiti.instaproofs.com/ and you can email any questions to Caroline & Caroline at gifthaiti@gmail.com

This Christmas, Gift Haiti.

Maunette

2009-11-15T21:53:00.004-06:00

Go right now and read about this baby. There is absolutely no excuse for her not to have the same chance as any baby born here in the States. Even if you can't give, please pray for miraculous healing.

Extreme Makeover Blog Edition

2009-11-15T20:47:00.003-06:00

MOVE THAT MOUSE!!!!!!!!

Ok, so I am no Ty the Carpenter, but I am so very excited about the new look for this blog. Thanks the to the technologically talented and fabulous design eye of Caroline Fontenot, Oh Sweet Caroline got a makeover. There are still a few small changes to come, but I was just too excited not to share the new look. I love that it is so simple and fresh.

My favorite thing about the new blog is that I can post bigger photos. I took this one tonight on the way to church in East Nashville. Every week we drive over a hill and at the right spot at the top of the hill, you get the most beautiful view of downtown in the rearview mirror. I finally brought my camera to grab this shot just as the sun was setting this evening. That is the famous "Batman" building in downtown Nashville.

In other awesome news, many of you have generously responded to the needs in Haiti. I can't wait to shop for all the goodies we will take! Keep 'em coming and check back for more current needs. I also bought two new books at Borders tonight. Can you guess which one I am excited about reading???

There are still more great things to come, so come back later this week!

Big news part 1: Pack my bags

2009-11-04T21:11:00.002-06:00

I just have to tell you something because it's too good to keep a secret! Listen closely...

We are going on a trip. Well, Mom and I are, but I am inviting you, too!

Can you guess where we are going????????

Yup, you guessed it. I am headed to HAITI for almost two weeks!!!! I'll leave after Christmas and then Mom will join me for the second week. I can hardly explain to you how excited I am to go back and visit my dear friends at Real Hope for Haiti!!!!!

I can't wait to hang out with Lori and Licia and see the staff and all the kiddos. I am also very excited about the chance to work with an OB/GYN team that will be down there for a couple weeks doing some women's health treatment and education.

I wish you could all come with me so I could show you the place I have come to love so much. I want you to see the faces of the ones you pray for, and hold the hands of the little ones who suffer. I want you to learn about the culture and taste the food and hear the sounds. I want you to know Lori and Licia and Zach and hear their stories. One day, I hope you'll come.

But you can be a part of this trip, too. I strongly believe that though not all of us are called to literally "go" to the nations, we are ALL called to be part of God's Kingdom come among the nations.

So here is what I am asking. For the next two months, when you are shopping at the grocery store, or CVS or Wal-mart, spend 10 more dollars on some of these items. Check the papers for coupons. Find out where the sales are. We want our bags to be so heavy that I have to very kindly beg the nice baggage check man to not look at the scale. If you live in the Houston area, we will be happy to pick things up from you. If you live out of town, you can send us money or gift cards and we will gladly shop for you. Here is a list of things that are needed at the clinic and RC, and I will update as more things come up...

antibiotic cream (neosporin or generic is fine)

anti-fungals (topical creams and monistat- types, again generics are fine)

ibuprofen

tylenol

Multivitamins (adult and children's)

Poly-vi-sol vitamin drops for children

Infant formula

any medical supplies- ace bandages, rubber gloves, Rx medications, needles and syringes, band-aids, alcohol swabs etc.

baby clothes

large safety pins

index cards

rubber bands

baby bottles

plastic pants

Will you help me pack my bags??????

I just love that picture. This kiddo is flying his kite, homemade from a plastic bag.

Soul warming

2009-11-03T20:59:00.000-06:00

This post was good for my heart today.

Leaves are a changin'

2009-10-24T18:21:00.007-05:00

I took all of these in our parking lot today. Jealous?

Don't you want to come visit me and see them for yourself?

Also, in case you have not heard, Jamie and Story made it home to Austin last night only to head over to Dell Children's Medical Center. They are under the care of some great doctors and nurses who are still working on a definite diagnosis. Continue to pray for them. Pray for wisdom for the providers and for supernatural healing. Pray for rest for Jamie and Aaron and bonding for their family. You can check their blogs here and here as well as follow their tweets here and here for up to date info.

The Devil WILL NOT win on this one.

Hope you are having a great Saturday. Hook 'em Horns!

Big Things are Happening

2009-10-22T12:44:00.006-05:00

EEEEEEEEEKKKKKKK!!!!!!! I cannot contain the excitement about the things to come on this blog. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you about them just yet. However, I will give you a few hints...

1. I love the holidays. November and December is my favorite time of year. And gift giving is my love language.

2. I love Haiti. I hate poverty and I love everything that my friends at Real Hope for Haiti are doing to kick poverty in the face.

3. I love one of my dearest friends, Caroline Fontenot. Do you know her? She is an incredibly talented photographer and has an eye for design. She is good at things I am not good at and God is using her talents to change the world in ways that I cannot. Together we make a really good team and we are working on a very exciting project just for you!

Check back in the next couple weeks for the big announcement!

In even more exciting news, Jamie left Austin this morning for Haiti to bring home their daughter Story!!!!!!!!!! The past two years of their adoption process have been so hard for the Ivey's, but more than anything, they want people to look at their Story and see what an incredible God we serve. They got a call this morning that Story is very sick and now on an IV. Pray for quick healing so she can come home tomorrow! Pray for them this week as they bring her home into a new family. Also pray for their sweet boy Amos who cannot come home quite yet. Pray for his heart, that he would know how much he is loved and that his files would move quickly and that he will come home soon.

Clinic Needs

2009-10-08T17:05:00.003-05:00

Go read this post here about a couple patients who are in immediate need at the clinic. Can you help???

Hope you are having a great Thursday :)

It's Fall, Y'all!

2009-10-01T11:37:00.009-05:00

It's my favorite time of year. And for the first time in my life, I am living in a place that experiences four seasons of weather, and can I tell you that Autumn is so great. Cool and crisp in the morning, only to warm up to the mid 70s and slight breeze in the afternoons. Perfect.

Fall means it's time to bring out the boots

Fall means it's time for all things pumpkin. A special delivery was made to our apartment last week.

Fall means it's time for yummy candles.

Fall means it's sweater weather.

Fall means it's time for the leaves to change.

Fall means it's time for a (skinny) pumpkin spice latte as an afternoon treat.

Fall means it's time for Siberian Nights on your fingers and toes.

Fall means its time for cornbread and chili (I think it's better with Turkey!)

Fall means it's time to count on a great Saturday afternoon upset every weekend

Gosh, I could go on and on about why I love this time of year.

What do you love about fall?

Watch us grow!: Update

2009-09-23T11:34:00.004-05:00

I am FREAKING OUT about the most recent pictures of the fab four. This is the last picture I took before I left 4 weeks ago...

Here they are today. Click here to see their incredible progress. Praise the Lord for Medika Mamba and RHFH!!!!

Understanding Kwashiorkor

2009-09-22T09:40:00.002-05:00

Licia posted both of these videos yesterday. I think they do a pretty good job of explaining Kwashiorkor, showing what it looks like, and sharing about the struggle of combating this horrible disease.

This first one also shares about another product similar to Medika Mamba. By the way, did you see that $48,761 has been given for MM?!?!?! God is good.

Great weekend

2009-09-20T22:24:00.005-05:00

filled with live music, dancing, old and new friends, BBQ, and a Texas win!

Hope you had a great weekend too :)

It's Gameday

2009-09-19T12:26:00.004-05:00

We have waited almost a year to avenge the most tragic loss of my college career against Texas Tech. I would give almost anything to be in Austin, Texas tonight but will have to settle for watching the game with the Texas Exes of Middle Tennessee at Judge Bean's BBQ. You better believe we'll be yelling like this...

In the words of Mack Brown "We don't freestyle Texas Fight, big boy"

Long overdue

2009-09-11T12:35:00.017-05:00

Hi Blog friends, I have missed you!

It has been entirely too long since I have posted and many of you have asked where in the world I have been and what I have been doing. The answer is I have been all over doing all sorts of exciting things! Here is the quick run down...

Monday August 24: Leave Port-au-Prince and have a nightmare traveling experience including sobbing all the way to the airport, a retirement celebration for the airplane I was about to get on (not so comforting), a high fever and a terrible cold, a lightning storm, and a night at the Red Roof Inn in Miami (not on my original itinerary)

Tuesday August 25: Finally arrive in Houston and spend the next day on the couch resting and recovering.

Wednesday August 26: Drive to Austin to see some family and friends one last time. Great catch up time!

Friday August 28: Drive back to Houston and start packing the rest of my belongings for the move to Nashville, TN

Sunday August 30: Drive 13 hours to Nashville. Mom and I spent the next few days moving into my apartment and seeing a little bit of Nashville

Thursday September 3: Fly from Nashville to Seattle to meet Dad, Brad and the whole Fontenot crew for Labor Day weekend. Well, really to see LSU play UW. Click here to see pictures from the weekend.

Monday September 7: Fly from Seattle back to Nashville where I will stay put for a while. At least that is the plan.

I have absolutely loved Nashville so far. The weather has been phenomenal and there is so much to do, it is almost overwhelming. I can't wait until I really feel like this is home. I spend most of the days taking care of annoying things you have to do when you grow up and move (banking, postal stuff, insurance etc.) and looking for a J-O-B. That dreadful word. I am in the process of applying for something long term that would begin in January of next year, but in the meantime I need to pay the bills. I have heard heartbreaking story after heartbreaking story about unemployment and I am very aware that things could be much worse, it's just not a fun time to be looking for a job.

Did I mention I love my roommates and my new apartment? Because I really do.

Meet Christina and Allyson. These two sweet girls grew up together in San Antonio but went their separate ways for college. Allyson to Wake Forest and Christina to UT. Christina and I were coincidentely (or divinely, as we say) next door neighbors in our dorm freshman year of college. We instantly became friends and lived together in an apartment our sophomore year (Allyson actually lived there for a summer too!). When it came time to decide what we would do after college, we both wanted a new adventure and knew how fun it would be if we went somewhere together. We started thinking about Nashville and when we realized Allyson was too, it just made sense that we would all live together.

Oh, you want a quick tour of our apartment? Okay!

I took a cute picture of our front door, but then realized it probably wasn't a great idea to be giving out our address, being three young single girls and all! So this is the view when you walk in the front door.

Our cozy living room

The kitchen where we hope to spend a lot of time becoming better cooks. Read about one of our previous attempts here.

This is my bedroom

Two decorating trends that I am OBSESSED with right now are bold prints and birds.

We are so excited about having visitors so if you find yourself in Nashville or just want to come for no reason at all, we would LOVE to host you!!!!

It has been a very odd transition since I got back from Haiti. I have felt every range of emotions you could possible feel. I am so excited about this new adventure in my life, yet I am mourning the end of the my time in Haiti. I am lonely in an unfamiliar place, yet God has comforted me. I feel totally lost in this new city, when at the same time I know it just fits. I cry myself to sleep many nights because I long so badly to be in Haiti, but God never fails to wake me up the next morning with new joy. I am really clinging to the Psalms right now. I find myself saying over and over "whoever wrote this totally gets what I am going through" I also cannot stop listening to the song Healer by Hillsong. Here, just listen (don't forget to turn the music off at the bottom of this blog)

All 3 of us in this apartment need jobs. Nothing is impossible.

Carmelo WILL get his VISA this week. Nothing is impossible.

Amos and Story should be home with their parents. Nothing is impossible.

These kids are dying and today, all I can do is pray. Nothing is impossible.

Tons of money has been raised for Medika Mamba. And Tara will run a marathon! Nothing is impossible.

Even if no one here understands how I feel, God does. Nothing is impossible.

Will you pray with me for these things?

I am learning a lot about this transition time and will share more about it later. I have written several posts in very emotional states and then later deleted them. I have a few thoughts on how you can support the people you know who have had an experience like I have. This blog has definitely helped me process a lot. I can write things here that I don't want or have the chance to talk about. I can go back and remember exactly how I felt when something happened. It lets me share with you too.

But still ask me about Haiti, because I am not over it. I hope I never am. How could I ever get over the two months I spent with these faces?

Trauma: Life in the D.R.

2009-08-21T13:38:00.026-05:00

The Dressing Room, that is.

Bet my Friday was more awesome than yours.

Most days our little two bed procedure room serves as a place for people to get injections, have their dressing changed, or have their cut sewed up but today, we were the local trauma center.

There was a terrible car accident just a mile down the road from where we are. A group from a local church was headed out of town for a weekend retreat when somehow the driver lost control going up the road and the truck (filled with people in the bed) rolled backwards and flipped off the road. We walked by this afternoon and I snapped these pictures. Thankfully, no one was killed in the accident, which you can see is a nothing short of a miracle.

That would be blood on the rocks

We had no idea that anything had happened until the people starting flooding in the gates carrying bloodied, injured patients. Lori was back at her house a minute or so away and Licia called her to get here immediately. We cleared all the regular patients who were waiting on the benches and started triaging the worst. We got two beds going in the dressing room and decided which ones needed to be sent into town.

We suspected a broken hip. Turns out it wasn't broken, but he still has to stay off of it for a month.

We were trying to get some patients cleaned up on the bench to make room for the worst ones

This women broke her collar bone

The skull was cracked but not totally fractured on this kiddo.

This woman is 8 months pregnant and said she fell right on her stomach

We heard a good heartbeat though, so it looks like everything is fine!

The police showed up to get a report and offered to take the hip patient and collar bone patient into town. You can see that the crowd that gathered outside the gate during all of the chaos.

Thank you, Jesus that there was a place for them to come today. Thank you that Lori, Licia, Zach and their families have given their lives to care for the people of this village. Please pray for continued healing.

Some old and some new: Part 2

2009-08-20T13:08:00.009-05:00

Recognize this arm? .

He got external pins! Doesn't it look like something from the early 1900's?

I have been meaning to tell you that Blanco's sister is staying here at the Rescue Center. She was burned in the same fire that killed him. Her leg is healing pretty well.

This guy was cut across the face with a machete last weekend. He went to a hospital in town where they sewed him up. They told him to come here to have his dressing changed. Oh, and they forgot to tell him that he lost his right eye. It was so swollen the first few days, we couldn't tell whether or not it was there. Yesterday we opened it up to wipe some drainage out and sure enough, no eyeball.

He said "I have an appointment to go back to the hospital so they can clean my eye."

"Um, that's not what they are going to do, you don't have an eye anymore."

"Yes I do, it's just so swollen that I can't see"

"I am holding your eye open and covering your left eye, can you see anything?" No eyeball.

Talk about an awkward conversation. And I don't even understand the language.

This stuff is just too good not to share.

Some old and some new

2009-08-18T20:14:00.014-05:00

Diabetic wound. She was seeing the witch doctor. Clearly, that didn't go well.

Remember the little girl who pulled the TV down on her head?

She came back this week for a check-up. Doesn't she look great???

This guy was in a bad motorcycle accident. That is the back of his calf. Ouch!

Lori did an incredible job sewing him up through several layers of muscle.

Remember Loner?

We about fell out of our chairs when we saw this picture of him. He is doing so well over at Haiti Children's Home!

Watch us grow!: Week 5

2009-08-18T13:38:00.002-05:00

The boys are doing great this week! The pictures are getting more difficult to take because the healthier they get, the more active they get. They were trying to roll over on each other this morning!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

2009-08-17T08:11:00.024-05:00

I am on cloud 9. Even still today. We got to deliver a baby yesterday!!!!!

If you know me at all, you know that OB is totally my thing. The entire time I have been here I have been saying that the one thing that would make my trip like the best ever would be to have a baby born here at the clinic. Which in reality, I shouldn't have wished for because laboring moms only come here when there is a problem, otherwise the baby is delivered at home. But secretly, I was still hoping for it.

Yesterday morning I said that I was giving up hope and settling for a hurricane to top off my trip (hello Anna!). When Licia popped her head in the office to hesitantly tell Lori that there was a woman in labor outside the gate, my heart about jumped out of my chest. I know it is scary to take on risky deliveries (not to mention takes your entire day) so Lori could have easily sent this patient into town. But knowing how excited I would be, she agreed to at least check the patient out. I, on the other hand, was about to burst with joy!

So here is the story (because in Haiti, there is always a story)....

Mom is 18 years old and she lives several hours away up in the mountains. This is her first pregnancy and she had come through the clinic 3 or 4 times for prenatal visits. Dad is not really in the picture (she did manage to call him in between contractions, but he never showed). She went into labor Saturday morning, but still had not had the baby by yesterday afternoon. They were getting very worried so several men CARRIED HER DOWN ON A BED. Like several hours down a narrow, windy path. I was in awe.

Her mother (who I will now refer to as Grandma) and her sister also came down with her. Grandma has had 13 children and only 6 of them are living. Sister has had 3 children and all 3 of them have died. Can you imagine why they were worried for their daughter/sister?

When we got her up on the table, we immediately noticed that something was not right. There were two separate bumps on her belly, one much larger than the other. Hmm... Bladder! She had not peed in over a day. Ok, let's put a catheter in and see if that doesn't help. Oh wow, BABY'S HEAD IS RIGHT THERE. Forget the catheter, she is about to deliver. But wait, she hasn't had a contraction in 10 minutes? How could she be this far along and not having intense contractions every 2 minutes or so. Weird. Ok, back to the catheter. 4 catheters and 1 hour later we empty nearly 1000 cc of urine and the bump goes all the way down. Thank you, Jesus!

So now that is out of the way, surely the baby is going to come any minute now. Wrong. 4 more hours, lots of position changes, a bottle of 7 up, and lots and lots of prayers and diet cokes later, we had a beautiful (very bruised, swollen, cone-headed) baby girl!!!!!

Her contractions never became regular, even up to the last hour they were still several minutes apart. Some only lasted 10-15 seconds. Very strange. We had a couple bleeding scares and ended up giving Pitocin, but in the end mom and baby are very healthy!

One of the reasons I love Labor and Delivery so much is that you get to spend a lot of time with the patient and family and have a really unique opportunity to help them on one of the best days (or sadly, sometimes worst) days of their life. This family was so touched by the time and energy we gave them. They said that there was no Haitian who would rub her legs and wipe her face and take as good care of her as we did. Another really cool thing we got to do was take pictures. Nobody here really has pictures of themselves, and especially not of their baby's birth. Licia was the official photographer when the action really picked up, and after a very long day and night, she printed off the pictures and laminated them for the family. They were ecstatic!

No joke, this is what Grandma did most of the time.

Here is older sister. It must have been very hard for her, as she has lost 3 babies of her own.

Did you know that drinking a coke helps push the baby out? Me neither.

Also, it is completely normal for someone to plug your nose during a contraction to help with the pushing.

Baby is here! Lori took care of mom, I did baby, and Licia was the official photographer

Tying off the cord

Cutting the cord with a razor blade

Suction! Sounds so official, right? Well they always yell it on Grey's Anatomy

Mom is so happy that baby is out!

Mom is blowing on the top of the bottle to help deliver placenta. This is her sister's husband. He came in and saved the day when both Grandma and sister were literally on the floor praying and we needed strong arms!

I am laughing so hard at her blowing on the bottle

Super- Lori and the new Mama!

6 pounds 8 ounces

Proud Grandma!

Licia and baby girl. You are going to laugh, but we can't even remember the baby's name.

We did it!!!!

Such a great day. I can't even tell you how much the whole pregnancy/baby/delivery thing makes me love God more! Everytime it is a miracle.

Are you ready for some football???

2009-08-15T20:10:00.003-05:00

Because I am!

There are many reasons I am dreading leaving this place I have come to love in a little over a week, but one thing I am seriously looking forward to is...COLLEGE FOOTBALL!!!!!!

And this guy has the already picked this year's National Champs....

We ran into him on our hike yesterday and of course I had to stop and take a picture. TEXAS FIGHT!

Then this conversation followed with Carmelo (Licia's oldest son)...

Haitian guy: I love that white girl.
Carmelo: Oh really?
Haitian guy: Yes, I do. Does she already love someone else?
Carmelo: Yes, she has two kids.
Haitian guy: Oh, I'm outta here.

Thanks for protecting me Carmelo :)