We had a low key week, followed by a hideous weekend. I can't even remember anything in the week worth mentioning. Except that a married couple Annelies(Holland) and Dustin(US) came last weekend! They have been a great addition to our team, and Dustin is the reason we have internet! Now we are definitely our own little community, 6 people living here at the guest house along with a team of 5 Americans from CA. They are a pretty low key team which has been nice. And the team includes Dustin's parents, his mom is a wonderful cook! Its been so nice coming home to good food!! She even made chocolate cake in Haiti!!! Yippee!!
Unfortunately, Friday afternoon we had a really sick 4yo come in with bloody diarrhea. She was so weak she could not hold her head up. The dad refused to stay in the hospital with her so we decided to take her home. Friday night she stayed with the MD and his wifey and she was doing ok, she even walked to the toilet, and she talked a little. Then mid day Sat. she became unresponsive. We could not get an IV in her Friday, or Sat. But we did NG tube feed her, after we put the tube in yesterday she was a little better. When we pulled fluid out of the tube we saw old blood, each time we tube fed her. Then she had another bloody stool, but the real problem was she started have lung problems breathing fast and hard with what sounded like pneumonia. Last night I had her until 2:30 AM, then Annelies took over. At about 11PM she started to cry out, which scared me a lot because I realized I have never heard a kid cry like that and live. I woke Ryna up because I was scared, but we could not do anything except give her lots of pain medicine. Then at 4:30 Annelies woke me up and told me that the little girl was dying. I went into the room and she had vomited old dark blood everywhere. She died within a half hour.
Yesterday, a lady came in labor, and she had a note from another clinic saying she had been pushing for 12hrs and the baby could not be delivered vaginally! 6th kid. The mom was ok, as was the baby's heartrate. Michel who said we could use the vacuum to get the baby out. He used the vacuum and got the baby's head out but the shoulder got stuck. It was horrible. We tried thrusting her legs into her chest, and then we had her stand up. Finally after what seemed like forever the baby came out, but she was dead. We did CPR but could not revive her. It was really sad. The worst part is that to do a burial in Haiti is really expensive and the families cannot afford it so when a baby is born dead many times they throw the baby in the outhouse. Which is what the family did yesterday. That is poverty beyond imagination, when your option is to throw your kid in the toilet to save your family from drowning in debt. Its just horrifying all around.
On a brighter note, everyone is the hospital is doing well! We sent some patients home healthy, which is a victory!! And my little friend Orisnel, the 27lb 12 yo went home feeling much better. We admitted some new patients a mother and 3mo baby with HIV. And another women with HIV and heart failure. Plus a new TB patient who I really like, but she is 26yo and weighs 63lbs. We have three malnourished kids who actually drink the milk, except for one of them. But they are all doing well! So good things are happening as well. And our patient who we took to Paul Farmer is also good!! There is hope!
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