The LORD Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. (Deuteronomy 31:8) This has been a verse of encouragement for me in the past several months. As I think back over my first 3 months of life in Haiti, I am reminded over and over again of God’s goodness amid the heartbreaks and the joys.
Baby J was a tiny 5 pound, 4-month-old baby boy who came to our clinic for care at the end of March. He has Down Syndrome and a bilateral cleft palate. His mother also was not well with mental restrictions and some physical ailments. They stayed in our hospital room for 2-3 weeks. In the first week of care, we fed Baby J around the clock because his mother was not able to do it well on her own. It is safe to say that dear little Baby J wiggled his way into many of his nurses’ hearts! Three weeks later, we were able to send Baby J home with family members to continue his care. Since then, he has returned for a couple of visits with Jacinda’s milk and malnutrition program. He was doing well and slowly gaining weight. For the past couple of weeks, we have been waiting for him to come back for his follow-up visit. There has been no sign of Baby J, and we started hearing excuses from neighbors as to why they have not brought him in. In the past week, we have gotten several different reports, leading us to believe that our dear Baby J has been sacrificed in voodoo practices. Our hearts break to hear this.
Just after we sat down to a delicious Friday night supper of homemade pizza the other week with our visitors from Indiana, we heard a knock at the gate. Verlyn confirmed that someone was needed at clinic. Cody, Charity, and I walked down the trail to clinic, not knowing what we may encounter. Upon entering the clinic gate, we heard the familiar sounds of a woman in labor. After calling Loveda for extra help, we worked at checking our patient in which included blood pressure, baby’s heart rate, and cervical dilation. We were not sure how imminent baby would be born since Mom was fully dilated so Loveda sent us back to finish our supper. Before we even left the clinic gate, we met a patient whose catheter had fallen out, and he needed it replaced. After we finished supper and placed a new catheter, Loveda brought the Rook cards out that are stashed away at clinic for such occasions as this. Several more of our visitors who wanted to experience a birth had joined us. We pulled the bed out from the wall in the emergency room and played many games of Black 7. We even got to enjoy homemade ice cream and brownies that was made for Charity’s birthday! Finally 24 minutes after midnight, a healthy baby girl was born!
Yesterday, one of my bandage patients returned for a follow-up after spending a week in our hospital room for daily bandage changes and antibiotic treatment. He had a major infection in his hand that caused the flesh to be eaten away between his third and fourth fingers. It was so good to see that his hand was healing very nicely with pink granulation tissue and great range of motion!
I currently have a patient on the bandage program who has a wound on his heel. A section of flesh appears to have been chopped off somehow and was covered with dead skin and unhealthy tissue. The injury happened 4 months ago. This man has some mental limitations which may explain why he did not realize the seriousness of prompt treatment. He also does not have any family members to take him to another hospital for more appropriate treatment. Because of this, we have been continuing to bandage his foot daily and giving the best treatment we can. Yesterday, I noticed for the first time some pink flesh after debriding some unhealthy slough.
In all of these short glimpses of clinic life and many more, I have seen God’s goodness and am reminded that He is with us every step of the way. Please continue to pray for us!
