New Clinic!!!

Last week was an exciting one. We moved our clinic into a compound of its own.

This means "WELCOME" - I wrote it myself :)

    Emily and I got to pick the colors to paint it, and arrange everything exactly the way we liked it. It was so much fun! It’s amazing to look back and see how the Lord has brought this clinic into being. We want to make a display showing the evolution of the clinic. Starting with a backpack, progressing to a storage room, then to the previous small building, and finally to having its very own clinic compound. God is faithful to finish what he started.

There was a medical team here this last week, treating patients and teaching us. Here’s a few stories from this past week:

“He looks” –  “Like not good, yah?” “Yeah like lethargic.”

Emily and I finished each other’s sentences regarding the child laying on the examination table. His eyes were dull and unfocused. He didn’t answer my questions. Mouth dry and sticky. Alayu had been coming to the clinic for the last couple weeks for a dressing change. He had been hit by a car, and lost his left leg below the knee. His wound looked great, but this day, the rest of him did not. His aunt, who always brings him, had carried him into the clinic. She always tells us he is sixteen, but Emily and I think he might be twelve.

          “He needs an IV.” “Yeah.”

We agreed on that, but there since there were three ER doctors here we asked one for their opinion. It’s always nice to have a doctor come affirm what we are thinking. Dr. Christy came over immediately to examine him. She nodded her approval on the IV and did a full assessment on him. When she pressed on his stomach he cried out and pushed her hand away. Same reaction for both sides.

“He’s dehydrated, but there might be something worse here…”

Dr. Christy told us to give him IV Zofran (for nausea) and 500 mls of normal saline. She returned to the medical team across the street, and left us to care for Alayu. It was really fun to have doctor’s orders and function as nurses! Haha, we don’t get to do that very often! He perked up quickly with the fluids, but after the bag finished he continued to guard his abdomen when touched. Dr. Christy sent Alayu and his aunt to the hospital for an ultrasound. It came back normal, so we will continue to monitor him in the weeks to come.

 

The next day, an older looking woman came in holding a large baby under a blanket. As she laid him on the exam table we realized he was, in fact, not a baby but a child. The mother told us he was twelve years old. He had twelve year old teeth, but the rest of him mimicked a large baby.

  The mom had brought him in to show us his new “bug bites” – all over his body. Two doctors agreed that it was a meningitis rash. They proceeded to do a spinal tap right there in the clinic! A previous team had donated six saddle blocks (like epidural kits). Emily and I had always laughed about them because we would never do that, but the Lord knew what we would need.

 

We started him on IV antibiotics, going through his tibia! One of the doctors showed us how to drill into his tibia to put the IV fluids through the bone because he had no findable veins. It really looked like a hospital in there! After he finished his bag the doctor showed us how to unscrew the IO (intra osteo). We will continue his antibiotics going intra-muscular.

The doctors also taught us how to suture using bananas and use lidocaine using their own arms!!! It was awesome.

Mad skills down here…mad skills.