December 2, 2007

  • A Typical Week

    Wednesday, November 27, 2007

     

    First of all, let me give you an update on the 9 month old twins Trust and Trywell.  Mom brought them to the clinic last Wednesday because she ran out of formula. It was about 10 days after their discharge. She comes from such a far distance that she stayed overnight with a Zambian farmer the night before in order to get transport.  Her pastor, her daughter and a friend also came with her to help with the travel arrangements and the babies.  The babies were like different children….bright-eyed and alive, able to hold their heads up.  Trust weighed in at 4.9kg (10.7 lb) and the smaller problem child Trywell  weighed in at 4.3kg (9.5 lb).  Both babies were sucking down formula with their bottles!!! Since they were doing so well and mom travels such a far distance, Sal decided to give them a month’s supply of formula which wasn’t in the Medical budget so we took personal donations from our fellow missionaries to purchase the formula and HEPS porridge for the next month. We will maintain their supplemental feeding until they are out of the woods and at least 12 months old if not a few months longer.  The cost of these food supplements total approximately $150 per month. If this story has touched your heart and you would like to help, please feel free to send a donation to Sons of Thunder Medical Ministries and put Trust and Trywell in the memo portion of your check. Any help would be greatly appreciated since this is outside our monthly operating budget.

    This past week has been eventful….two middle of the night calls to get two moms having difficulty with their labors, one with HIV.  The first mom was Josephine, a 45 year old woman pregnant for the 12th time….but only four children alive. She was scared to deliver at home and decided she wanted to come to the clinic….problem was she lives in Kasiya which is about a 20 kilometer walk. 

    Sal went to get her in the short Land Rover (ours is in the shop…another story).  She had healthy baby boy….stayed a couple days for Under Five Clinic to get the baby his BCG vaccine (TB) and first OPV (polio)….then went home very happy. The second woman, Gladys, was also from Kasiya and one of our HIV patients.  She also had a little boy and went home after being taught how to give him his ARV medicines that he will receive for a week.

    Just a little information for you….anytime a woman has a baby here at Sons of Thunder they are given a small package of “congratulations.”  The package includes a baby blanket that we have made in town, a onesie, a pair of plastic pants, two diaper pins and a small outfit.  They are also given a photo of the baby and one with mom.  The clothes are donations from people in the states and work teams and things that were leftover at the orphanage.  Diaper Pins and plastic pants are almost obsolete in the US with disposable diapers, but if you find any…we could sure use them.  We also use baby bottles for our HIV moms and malnourished kids like Trust and Trywell.

                Our other admissions this week were two young men in their twenties, both arriving in a condition near death and subsequently testing positive for HIV. Richard was admitted first and the one I  want to talk about.  He was carried in with a fever, vomiting and diarrhea so severe he could not even stand.  He was talking incoherently and over the course of 36 hours pulled out 2 IVs and bit through the third. Trying to regulate his temperature was not an easy feat either….range from 92-103 indicating temperature regulating system in his brain obviously not working!  Well, prayer, temperature control, IV hydration for the loss of all the body fluids, Flagyl for the diarrhea, a broad spectrum antibiotic, ARVs and slow reintroduction of oral fluids/food all with a very caring family…..Richard is almost ready to go home.  He is making sense, eating and drinking, sitting in a chair every day, walking to the bathroom with assistance for bathing….diarrhea has stopped.  His family even cut his long hair!  Continued treatment with ARVs at home and reviews…..well it’s in God’s hands.  For those of you who have been to the farm this past summer and remember Wisdom…well this is his brother. For those of you who don’t know Wisdom….he was a young man who stayed with us for awhile and died in the clinic.  He was also HIV positive.

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    Despite the outcome with Wisdom, Mom brought Richard, her second son to us. She told Sal yesterday “thank you…you always take good care of us.”

     

    We have seen indifference here in Zambia…we have even seen people left untreated in the hospitals for days consequently resulting in their death

     

    …..people who died waiting for days for bloodwork to be done so they could get a

          transfusion for a Hgb of 3.0 or less!

    …..people who were not given TB medications because they were too weak to give 3

          sputum specimens. A week of waiting and wasting without even an IV and they died.

    …..people whose families are sent to the drug store to buy medications because the

          hospital doesn’t have them (hospital knows the families can’t afford them)

    …..a little boy left in a ward for days with a compound fracture waiting for oxygen to be

          delivered so surgery could be done…no dressing change, so infection set in

     

    And the list goes on….

     

    People in Zambia, like anywhere, just want to know they mattered…that someone cared. Someone tried. I am pondering again…..it’s not the outcome people remember…obviously, but the care and effort that was demonstrated….the love of Jesus that was given.