Emotional Day

Today Mary and I returned to Haiti Family Ministry outdoor clinic. The day was incredibly emotional. The first woman was a woman we had seen yesterday. She had a labial abcess that was so painful and large that she could not sit. She had her 3 year old son with her who recieved a sucker and replied with a huge grin. Mary was prepared to lance the abcess but she had followed directions and it was much improved.  She was injected with lidocaine for comfort though. She was so grateful. All smiles and kiss on the cheek with a bless you.....a pregnant woman presented with no baby movement for 2 months. She had been injured in the quake and had vaginal bleeding since. A MD came yesterday with a portable ultrasound. I did a scan was able to show her the baby moving on the screen. Good news for once!  Tried to rule out placenta previa.....pretty hard under a tarp, on a stretcher, on the ground and I have no formal training in ultrasound...have seen enough of them that I was the resident expert of the hour....
 
Lots and lots of vaginal discharge In women and young women. They need so much education....like not douching with clorox :0  Hard to discerne the difference between BV or yeast or trich......as there are no tests to be done.  Treatment is based on symptoms which are gathered through an interpreter.  The money donated by you all was used to buy supplies and medications. And they are being put to use already!!!  Things we take  for granted like a cup for a urine sample....we are using empty pill bottles.  

Had a newly pregnant woman with BP of 150/110. No aldomet, found a possible next best thing (through research on my iPhone) but there is only enough for one month....what happens then?  

The people who lived in the house we are working next to came to see their home....a nurse that lived inside was pulled from the rubble and the hole where she was pulled from is inside the screened "exam room".....next to this is a pile of rubble with at least 10 bodies still inside.....the saddness is palpable. Everything is put into context of before the quake or after the quake. 

Toward the end of the day a pregnant woman presented walking on her hands and feet.  She wears work gloves on her hands. She had polio as a child...has 3 children at home and is due in a few months. Her husband died in the earthquake. As I watched her "walk" away, I lost it... I had to walk and sob....she has no reason to smile but she does and very beautifully!  These women are so strong......we ask "Is this your first pregnancy?" and the next question when they say no is... "How many of your children are still alive?". And then hear the stories of survival. 

I have met some remarkable young men an women from the US, working with Haiti Family Ministries  They give me hope in the future. Also wonderful healthcare workers from Australia, Aruba, Germany and France. We work and sweat together on one mission for the people of Haiti.

Pray for the people of Haiti.

In peace and hope~