February 24, 2008

  • Valentine's Day

    February 14, 2008

     

    Well. Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!!

     

    Someone asked me, “What do you and Sal do for Valentine’s Day?”  I chuckled.  J

    After almost 32 years of marriage, I really can’t remember the last time we did anything for Valentine’s Day.  Heck, you read what happened when we tried to do something last Christmas…..so Valentine’s Day….honestly I never gave it a thought and I know Sal didn’t either.  Before you start sending me e-mails about our marriage, let me reassure you that we are going out to a buffet dinner tonight at Rhapsody’s with 60s and 70s music.  We are going with three other “older” couples.

    That being out of the way, I began to think of Valentine’s Day and all the hearts and references to love.  I didn’t have much time to ponder on that because  the day was about to be the busiest ever. 

     

    Well…we ended up seeing 117 patients!!  That’s the most ever in one day!!

    Everything was winding down pretty much on time when at 5pm a mom brought in her very sick 2 month old with what we think was cerebral malaria.  “Adam” had been seen that morning at Katapazi Clinic for what they diagnosed as malaria with convulsions.  They wrote us a small note outlining their diagnosis and treatment and also telling us that he had not been able to pass stool. They had given him adult malaria tablets crushed on a spoon.  When he came to us, he had a fever of 103 and his eyes and breathing just didn’t seem right.  We were unable to test him for malaria since they had already started treatment.  After praying for him with Pastor Julius, we admitted him and started an IV (a difficult task on one so tiny). We gave him an injection for the fever and the proper pediatric malaria medicine.  Mom was able to breastfeed a little and he did indeed poop.  The fever came down and things were looking hopeful.  This little guy was going to have to be monitored closely and it was now 7pm……are you seeing where I am going?  We ended up not going out for Valentine’s Day….instead we spent it together at the clinic.  The night was long…his fever stayed down but his IV came out when mom was trying to breastfeed and he stopped nursing.  Another IV was started after multiple attempts and IV malaria medicine was started.  But alas, little Adam died the following morning despite our efforts.  It is a very helpless feeling to see one so young die…it seems very unfair to be born for such a short period of time on this earth. It is hard to try to figure out one’s purpose and how it could be fulfilled in that couple of months. But that’s why we are just man and God is sovereign.