It's been a beautiful day here today. We have the three girls from the orphanage up here to visit this weekend. Friday morning we had a Good Friday service. Keith told the Easter story with flannel graph. Then after lunch Zack, Cam, Lacey, Sallie and I went to pick up the girls. Then yesterday we all went to the beach in Grand Gosier. The girls had never been there and we sure don't mind going either. We didn't all fit in the machine so Zach, Cam, Trevor and Mirlene went on bikes. It was a very enjoyable day. We even sang for a while on the way back up. It probably sounded pretty amusing because of all the many bumps in the road but was still fun. Keith is going to Port-au-Prince tomorrow so he will drop the girls back off at the orphanage on his way there.
Last week one day we had a boy come to the clinic who had been in a motorcycle wreck. He had a head injury, was bleeding from his ear, was unconscious, and had scrapes and bruises. We have no way of knowing the extent of his injuries but told the family they could take him home and see what happened or we could give him a ride down to Port in our ambulance. They opted for the ride. Apparently they had to go to six hospitals in Port before any of them would accept him as a patient. I am not even sure what all they could have done for him, I haven't been to the hospitals in Port yet so I don't even know what equipment they have. I know they don't have a neurologist or brain surgeon though. Keith called the boy's brother the next morning though and he was doing better. He was talking some so who knows??
Another young man we had came with the complaint of shortness of breath and weakness. He was 27 years old and had no previous medical history except he hadn't been feeling well for the past month and now had swelling of his hands and feet. He was very weak! I gave him some medicine in a little cup and it was hard for him to even tip the medication into his mouth. His breathing sounded clear but his oxygen saturation were 58% and his heart rate was fast. I gave him some medications to remove some fluid and for congestive heart failure then some powder for nutrition drinks. We told the family he needed to find a ride down to Port to get his heart checked out. The ambulance was not working at that time so we couldn't offer a ride that night but told him if he hadn't found a way down by the next time Keith went to Port he could get a ride. This was at about 7 in the evening. They took him home and the next morning we found out he had died at about 10 that night. I really think he had a heart problem but I don't know what it was. We don't even have an EKG machine at our clinic. I'm not sure what an EKG would have shown but it may have given us a little more of a clue what was going on.
Till next time...
P.S. In case anyone tried to write but didn't know my email address here it is....
atoews5225@gmail.com
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