PHEW!

I will try to quickly update as we've been away from blogging for two weeks now... This past week the REACH team was in Kihan and then we did another outreach across the river a bit... We saw over 200 patients and did maybe 20 or more surgeries... We did 3 major surgeries on guys that had lived with enlarged testes for over 5 years (the longest one having had the problem for 9 years!) One 'itlog' was over 5 kilos of fluid... it was over the size of a soccer ball! We actually have several more like surgeries scheduled for November... I'm pretty sure all the guys on the team were having nihtmares after those surgeries.... but the guys were so relieved and one guy kept remarking that his wife was going to be SO excited! lol...
Anyway... it's never dull around our house... we've had little children with Hepatitis... older men with chicken pox... lots of TB cases... babies with severe pnemonia... It's all catching up to me and I am wiped... all this and we're constantly in a race with the river on whether we'll make it in/out before it rises from storms moving in/out.
Anyway... we are alive and well... and we're supposed to get internet within the next couple weeks! Supposed to....
Please excuse the lack of blogging.... just can't blog when we don't have internet!
Kids are doing good... Brian loves watching surgeries and was so bummed he wasn't allowed in on the 3 major surgeries... maybe next time... :)

Note of the day

This is a very very important thing to remember.... ALWAYS shake out your towel/bag/box BEFORE reaching your hand into it or wrapping it around your body! Ewww... cockroaches!! blah!

Yikes

2 weeks is just way to long without internet! How can i update 2 weeks worth of life! We've had some crazy strong winds as of late... courtesy of all those lovely hurricanes up north... or whatever they call those crazy weather systems... anyway... rain is actually welcome to the farmers, the wind they could do without. We have been busy patching up people, getting the clinic up and running while patching up ourselves in the process... Both Brian and I took tumbles down the concrete stairs... ow is all I can say... I still am walking with a limp, although feeling tons better than a few days ago!
We have also been working on getting a garden plot ready, have planted a few starter thingies... as you can tell... gardening is NOT our specialty... but we're trying to make do... the chicken house is finally finished and our chickens and turkeys are finally contained to do what they do best... but like projects go... you finish one and another takes it's place... just as the chicken house was finished, the strong winds took down the rabbit cage roof... so that's the next 'project' on the list...
As you can imagine... life is never dull... we've had several cases of the mumps, severe scabies infestation, lice, impaled objects in feet (that the guy left there for a week before coming to us), huge blood blisters that need drained, and a baby with severe pnemonia that I'm sure wouldn't have lived another couple days if left untreated. God has been so good in providing the knowledge and the help when needed... Dr Sam's nurses are now rotating a stint out in Kihan... so they come in on Mondays and leave on Thursdays... :) Works out nicely!
Well I had over 200 emails to catch up on so I better get back to it... Thanks so much for the inquiries as to our well being..... doing pretty good... some days the schooling and list of projects seems overwhelming... but we are trying to take it one moment at a time. Keep praying for us... :)

Picture update...

Frustrations...

Today we are back in GenSan... looking for someone who can help us figure out what to do for a patient... we suspect this little girl has skin TB... she is only 7 and her mom is pregnant with number 6... In this country where TB is so prevelant... one would think it isn't that hard... but TB of the skin takes a different test... a biopsy to be exact. After half a dozen stops at different places, we finally found a place that said they could do it... for 2500 pesos... over $50 US! That is a stinkin expensive test. Probably about a months wage for her family. We are working on an alternative. It's just hard here because you have to visit the places in person.. no just looking in a phone book and calling places... Anyway... it's been tough having patients that you can't help for one reason or another. I had another little guy with scabies so bad that he was covered from head to toe... and no meds yet for that. He's been scratching so much that he's got secondary infections that we are working on... but oi...
The patients have been increasing as the word is spreading that we speak a bit of Visaya and we have others who can help interpret... so we will have to set a schedule soon as most patients seem to show up right as we are sitting down to meals... or I guess we could adjust our meal times! ;)

The tropics!

It’s definitely true that everything seems to grow faster in a tropical climate… infections being at the top of the list. This past week we had a boy who had gotten a cut in his foot and it had sealed back up, but the infection couldn’t escape…. Dr Sam reopened the wound and drained it, and the boy was supposed to get antibiotics… somehow though he managed to get out the door without his instructions on when to come back, signs of danger and most importantly his meds…. He came back to the clinic after the team was gone and his foot was now hot and tender up to his ankle… We recleaned his wound and started him on antibiotics… with strict instructions on coming back if it got worse. His companions brought him by the next day and his infection was now up to his knee! We discussed going to the hospital but decided to try a stronger med first and since Dr Sam was returning the next day for a few hours we could reevaluate then…. Dr Sam came by… but no sign of the boy. We decided to go find him and if he wasn’t improving then we would take him to the hospital… in the meantime we fixed up a guy who had been chopping a tree when the tree fell on his shin… ow… then the boy with the foot hobbled up all out of breath (someone had sent for him)… His infection was definitely improving so we gave him the rest of the meds and told him to REST (not an easy task here).
That afternoon I noticed that I had the beginning symptoms of a UTI… so I started chugging water and garlic… but like I said, things grow super fast here! By that evening I was doubled over unable to hardly move from the pain… I seriously wanted to just rip my insides out… Joe got up and found me meds and some pain reliever… he set me up with old TV series (Hogan’s Heroes) to distract me from the pain. Finally I was able to return to bed around 5 am. It’s the next day and although there is still pain, it’s improving… but yikes… I have never had a UTI come on so fast and strong. Makes me wonder what the heck people do w/o medical care… and a great reminder of why we are here!
This morning when I finished fixing up a boy who had cut his leg with his machete, his mother complimented me on my Visaya and repeated what many have started to tell me… That once people know they can communicate with us, they will come… but I’m glad for the few patients we see a day currently as it gives us a chance to work into our roles more slowly.
P.S. For those wondering how we are faring with the recent typhoon weather... although the typhoons are north of us... we have definitely seen the effects of it all down here! Last night our roof of our outside kitchen just up and ripped right off and blew over to the neighbors!

Life...

Life continues on and on here in Kihan… School is in full swing, the clinic has a steady trickle of patients and we are adjusting to the brownouts and water outages. Actually there is nothing quite like having a brown out or water outage to make you appreciate both power and water! (Especially when you get both together!)

The REACH team was here on Wednesday through Friday of last week, seeing many patients with a range of problems… I got to assist at several surgeries, including suturing up a neck and a toe… The neck was a closure after Dr Sam removed a golfball size growth the guy had had for several years… the toe was a guy who was riding along on the motorcycle and a piece of wood sliced his little toe pretty much in half under the toenail… OW!

When we went out on Friday to take the team back to their vehicle… we also had a meeting with the mayor and governor… both of whom are very supportive of what we do here in Kihan. Kihan is the poorest barangay on this side of the bay in Sarangani Province. The mayor agreed to propose a government funded permanent midwife position to assist here at Grace Clinic… the governor even agreed to pay her out of his salary until the new year budget could be approved! We left the meeting feeling blessed that we have such a good governor/mayor in place here in our area…

On Sunday we ventured down to the other citio to a church where several health workers that Dr Sam trained go… we were told the news that the mayor had just died that morning.... she was relatively young… only in her upper 40’s maybe…. We were saddened and are praying that the vice mayor will continue to serve the people here with the same integrity that she did.

We are working on the contact situation… mainly internet… like anything… it’s a slow process… but we are hoping within a month to have internet up and running… It was decided this just wasn’t something that was optional as we needed to be able to have contact with Dr Sam and REACH for questions and updates of what’s going on out here! Plus we figure it will save on gas not having to go to Alabel for our email checking!

We are busy busy getting not only the house more comfortable, but also getting the clinic up and running for its ‘official’ opening in Januaryish… I already have a couple pregnant ladies coming for prenatals… one is due here this month, so no chance the birth room will be done in time for her, but she knows if she needs assistance I’ll come to her… Thanks to a few birth clinics in Florida I am stocked with some meds that I need and a few birth basics. Hopefully we’ll get more things as we get up and running.

Well that’s all for now… I’ll post pictures when I get a chance…