December 7, 2007

• "Just Keep Moving Forward"

   

  December 6, 2007

   

  This morning as we awake….there are six inpatients in the clinic. 

   

  One patient Mary  is an antenatal who is overdue according to her due date and she lives very far away….so Sal decided to keep her until delivery.  She has three small children with her because her husband won’t watch them at home.

   

  She has two roommates…one is an HIV mom Sheebo, who just had a baby boy and has stayed a few days until today when she will be discharged and given transport home with the  lorry after she gets her HIV meds. Today is Thursday and HIV day at the clinic.  (For those of you who don’t know…We send out the lorry to Kabuyu and back picking up HIV patients along the tarmac in order that they may have transport to get their ARV meds.  Some of them are very sick and would never be able to get to a place to get their medicines if free transport was not provided.). Our new mom had to stay also in order for us to teach her how to give the baby prophylactic medicine for the week.  She was initially afraid to go home for fear she would be beat by her husband….so when the husband was here one day she asked Sal to speak with him…which of course Sal did.  I will just let you imagine  the conversation…..Sheebo thanked Sal and is no longer afraid to return home.

   

  The second roommate, making three in that ward, had a miscarriage…she was in her first trimester and came in bleeding.  IVs and bedrest did not stop the progression however.  She will be going to Gyne clinic tomorrow at Livingstone General for an exam and ultrasound to make sure everything is out.  We have an outpatient also going with her tomorrow to Gyne clinic for possible cervical cancer.  Anna’s husband has been staying by her side the entire time.  This is their second miscarriage.  The first one was at seven months and the baby lived four days.  Anna was encouraged with the story of Hannah.

   

  In the next ward, we have Christine and Juliet.  Christine is an HIV patient who came to us near death with difficulty breathing, fever and dehydration.  IVs, antibiotics, nebulizer treatments, some medicines for breathing etc along with her ARVs and prayer….We are waiting for her TB test results also. Her mother is with her.

  Juliet is a woman with HIV also who came by bus from Choma….Choma is two towns past Zimba and way out of our district.  She has pain in her hip and Choma Hospital and University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka did not help so she heard of this clinic and decided to come here! Imagine….sometimes I just have to chuckle and ask God what He’s doing! Well it took her three hours to get from the road to the clinic with her one crutch due to the pain.  So she is on bedrest for a few days with Prednisone and prayer. She is alone.

   

  The last patient is another woman, Agnes, who came to us near death.  We diagnosed her with HIV and TB.  So IVs, antibiotics and TB medicine with nebulizer treatments, breathing medicine and prayer and she has been with us for one week with improvement seen. I stopped in one morning and asked Agnes if she wanted anything and she said with a small smile “Coca Cola.” So everyday I take over a coke with ice and she gets a big smile on her face, perks up and sits up to drink her coke. Such a small thing but yet means so much.  It has become our link. Agnes mother has been by her side.

   

  With all of these patients, it became clear we needed a cook and the smart cost-effective thing would be to grow our own vegetables for “relish” (Zambian term for side dishes with their nshima.)  So we hired Enoch and his wife Winifridah to be in charge of food production and preparation at the clinic.  The three of us went to town Monday and bought supplies and food…..yes I went to Maramba Market and surprisingly I felt just like one of the crowd…Amazing what God can do….  J!  We had a great time! Well, the garden has been plowed, seed planted and the patients have been served three nutritious meals a day all week!!  They are doing a great job!!

   

  God just keeps moving forward here….we never seem to be static.  He obviously has plans for this clinic and our job just seems to be keeping up!!!

   

  While things are hopping here, He is also stirring us to start going out.  There is a settlement of 500 people that has a brand new clinic building standing empty since construction was completed two years ago.  It is right beside one of our planted churches where Winfred is the pastor.  We have been getting a lot of patients from that village and they are walking 20-25 kilometers to get here.  Groups of moms have been coming to Under Five Clinic and three of the last few deliveries have been from there…Sal has driven out in the middle of the night to get them because it is so far.  God is stirring us with setting up clinic one day a week over at the unused building….so we are talking with the settlement council and Winfred to see if the doors are open and people would be receptive.  I’ll let you know how that develops.

   

  Later in the day, a woman came for her ARVs and asked to speak to me….turns out she lives so deep in the bush that it took her two days of walking just to reach the tarmac where the lorry picked her up.  She had only had sweet beer to drink for the last two days (non alcoholic drink here made with roots) and no food.  I gave her some buns and a packet of drink for the trip home along with some kwatcha and together we asked Sal to give her enough medicine for two months.  The whole time she spoke to me about her journey here the thought kept popping up in my head about our company in the states, “Associates in Emergency Care”  and how we take training to people and corporations at their place of business…..I thought about the draw to go to Kasiya.  Are we supposed to take ART clinic to different locations Lord?   Please be praying for us as we seek God’s direction….His next stepping stone.

   

  I am reminded of the scripture from Psalm 139:5

  "You hem me in--behind and before;

    you have laid your hand upon me."

   

  He is behind me so I can't turn around and retreat or quit...

  He is before me so I can't get ahead of Him...

  His hand is upon me so I can't be distracted and turn to the right or the left...

  My only option is to just keep moving forward as He leads...........Thank You Lord

  • 11:53 am
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