It is hunger season in Haiti

   The rainy season will soon be here so people are working in their fields getting them ready to plant. It is also the time of year when the people are hungry. They have no money left from last years crops and this years are just getting planted. There are fewer patients coming to the clinic now also as they don't have the small amount of money we charge. Then we have to decide who can be seen without paying...
    I saw a little girl today, 2 months old, with a terrible rash all over her body. Some of it was blisters with clear fluid, some was blisters with pus, and some was just scaly and itchy. We don't know what it is from. We gave her a bath and put a lot of anti-itch lotion on and gave her Benadryl and antibiotics. I have seen one other case similar to this but this other child had infected scabies and it wasn't over the whole body.

   A couple of days ago we saw a 6 year old boy who had fallen off of a horse. I don't know what he fell onto but it must have been sharp. He had a ragged cut on his forehead that took 17 stitches to close. We used some lidocaine to numb the site and he didn't even cry, he fell asleep while I was stitching his head.

  On Tuesday Cam, Christina and I went to a cave that is about 20 minutes from here. It is a cave that you have to get down into with a rope then has a small passageway going down even farther into the ground where you have to use a rope to get down in also. There are two opening on the top but a person needs a flashlight if they're going all the way to the end. We did. Christina's legs were barely long enough to reach some of the footholds but she did very well.  She went all the way to the end with us going down the rope twice and back up it twice. There are a lot of weird rock formations down there and stalactites (?spelling) just waiting for you to stand up straight so they could stab you. We had finished clinic early so I thought it would be a good day to see the cave while it was still daylight. We met a lady who has a house close to the cave. I guess she had just talked to Keith asking him if he could help her buy a tarp for their house roof. Her husband left her and she has three small children. I would say she could definitely use any help we can give. The roof of their house had some small tarps on it held down with rocks. Part of the roof was even falling in.
  That's all the news I can think of for now. By the way, anyone can feel free to send me an email....