Ning-Eh

Several weeks ago one of the village woman came to our house with her (approx) 8-month-old baby. His condition was shocking and he was obviously sick. She agreed for him to stay with us 'til he was well and stronger. He was so small that when I came down to the house the next day I wondered how many days old he was rather than months. Every one of his ribs stuck out and if you felt his chest it felt like nothing more than skin covering bone. His neck was tiny for the size of his head and he had no control over it. He seemed so fragile that we weren't even sure how to pick him up. His listlessness was also concerning. We'd been giving them milk formula for a while (something we do for a few babies who really need it when the family can't provide it), but the mother's an alcoholic and we found out that instead of giving it to the baby she'd been selling it for more alcohol and some of what she did give him we were told was so old it was thick and brown. Needless to say, he was suffering from diarrhea and vomiting. After staying at the house for a day, things were seeming to be getting worse rather than better, so we decided it was time to take him into the hospital. We also wanted his spine checked out for possible injury - he had bruises and his mom was reported to be abusive when drinking, even to possibly throwing him across the room. The ER jumped on his case and in no time had him on o2 and IV. We were relieved that the x-rays showed no spinal damage! They admitted him which developed into a 5 day stay. Here the hospitals are quite different than in the States and they require a friend or family member to stay as a full-time caregiver for each patient they admit. Well for Ning-Eh there were few options so I, with others giving me breaks sometimes, stayed with him - could be another blog in itself.:) It's a zoo in there... I felt priviledged to get to be with him and I'm afraid I got way too attached. Who wouldn't?
His progress has been amazing to watch! Each little step feels like a huge victory. Learning to hold his bottle. Holding his head up on his own. Flipping over for the first time. Just developing into a healthy, happy and smiley baby.
He's come so far that it's so easy for me to forget how small he still is. Just recently I was in town with him and someone wanted to know how many days old he was. That's a bit exaggerated now, but it still shows that he's got a ways to go.
His mother wants him back, but we're trying to at least delay it for as long as possible. We don't want to keep him away from her, but we don't know how we can see him go back. As well as a severe drinking problem, she appears to be mentally unstable and has seizures. We're trying to help her with the drinking. Mama's intent on at least giving him a healthy reserve of blubber first.:) Please pray, with his best interest in mind, his mother would be willing to consider him permanently staying here, as well as, if possible, his 4-year-old brother.
Here are some pics that show his progress:


These 3 are of the second day he was at our house. The pics don't even really show how small he was.






Progress of a couple weeks ago.


Gettin' a belly.


Today!


Smiley little guy!


He sat by himself this morning and I don't think I've ever been more proud of someone!!!


He looks pretty proud of himself to.:)

LMT

Things have been in a bit of an uproar around here lately (here as in down at the school.) This last week our amazing nurse, Gayle, left with her sons to go back to the States and when she returns she will be working up in a mountain village several hours away instead. As a result there's been no one else to take over the medical work and I've been feeling asolutely overwhelmed and underqualified. There's three different places now all vying for my attention at the same time - here at the school; "my" village, Manykee; and another village not too far away, Mawqwee, that's been one of Thramoo Gayle's special projects. Oh, but for the gift of omnipresence! Or, better yet, somebody else to help out! (Hint...hint...:))
The last few weeks I've been much more stationary here at the school. A couple weeks ago I spent around five days in the hospital with a baby that needed care and since then I haven't quite picked up momentum yet. Out of necessity, I've been making short trips up to Manykee - sometimes only several hours or less - and basing myself from here. Well, that is 'til last week when my precious mode of freedom and transportation - the motorbike - was stolen. It was taken from it's parking place under the house and someone came across it stashed away beneath a bridge not to far away. Only some mechanical difficulties - the starter was rewired or something - and the license plate ripped off. Should be able to find me putting again by next week or so.:) We were truly blessed that they found it! Especially since we wouldn't have been able to replace it right now.
So...my preference would have been to run away, but I find myself trapped in the midst of all this. Out of desperation, they decided to have a few of the students who are interested in medical work helping out with patients here on the porch. And so I've had a busy last few mornings with a porch full of patients and medic wanabes (they're really amazing kids...)!
This morning as I was in the midst of a cleaning spree of the medical supplies, all of a sudden inspiration hit! I thought to really train the students that are starting to help with the medical work, rather than just kinda letting them do their own thing with a bit of supervision. And thus LMT - LayKlewYaw Medical Team - has evolved. Now don't laugh at me, folks. OK, well laugh if you must. I'm only an EMT with a bit of additional training. I KNOW I'm not equipped for this, and, not only that, but I despise teaching with a passion. But somebody's got to do this and, sadly enough, I just happen to be the only somebody (actually nobody) around. But putting all that aside, I'm pretty stoked about this!
There's gonna be somewhere around 6-7 students. Each student will go through three stages of training - observation, internship, and field work. Each stage will be a certain number of required shifts (a shift being 9-12 in the morning on the porch adn "on-call" for the rest of the day), together with asigned bookwork, various other requirements, and and a test to pass. As an ending reward we hope to be able to set each of them up with their own backpack, and quality BP cuff, stethoscope, basic meds, ect. so that they can venture out to their own villages as able. Hopefully this will be complete in around two months. Hope that gives a sketch of it.
Some of the students have high goals and I hope that someday they can follow their dreams and go to formal nursing/medical school. But for now this is the best we can give them. Please pray for us - this is so more than I can do on my own.

...

I read this and, especially part of it, nearly gave me chills. It was exactly what I was needing to hear.

"The Lord has given to every man his work. It is his business to do it, and the devil's business to hinder him if he can. So sure as God has given you a work to do, Satan will try to hinder you. He man throw you from it; he may present other things more promising. He may allure you by worldly prospects, he may assault you with slander, torment you with false accusations, set you at work defending you character, employ pious persons to lie about you, and excellent men to slander you. You may have Pilate and Herod, Anna and Caiphas all combined against you, and Judas standing by you ready to sell you for thirty pieces of silver, and you may wonder why all these things come upon you. Can you not see that the whole thing is brought about through the craft of the devil? To draw off from your work and hinder your obedience to God?
"Keep about your work. Do not flinch because the lion roars; do not stop to stone the devil's dogs; do not fool away your time chasing the devil's rabbits. Do your work. Let liars lie, let sectarians quarrel, let corporations resolve, let editors publish, let the devil do his worst; but see to it that nothing hinders you from fulfilling the work God has given you.
"He has not sent you to make money. He has not commanded you to get rich. He has never bidden you defend your character. He has not set you at work to contradict falsehood which Satan and his servants may start to peddle. If you do these things you will do nothing else; you will be at work for yourself and not for the Lord.
"Keep about your work. Let your aim be steady as a star. Let the world brawl and bubble. You may be assaulted, wronged, insulted, slandered, wounded, and rejected; you may be abused by foes, forsaken by friends, and despised and rejected of men, but see to it with steadfast determination, with unfaltering zeal, that you pursue the great purpose of your life and object of your being until at last you can say, 'I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do.'"
-Author Unknown

Deep Roots

Have you ever heard the sighing,
Groaning of a tree before a storm,
Heard the scraping of the branches
in the bending of its form?
Have you seen it swayed and straighten,
then be swayed again, again,
Seen the leaves like tiny banners,
whipping, dripping in the rain?
Seen it in its strength and beauty stand
defiant in the blast,
Seen it proud and undefeated when the
mighty winds have passed?

Have you seen a fellow mortal weighted
down with many cares,
Heard him sigh when dread disaster came
upon him unawares?
Have you seen him bear it bravely,
overcoming all his fears?
Seen him turn his face to heaven, gazing
upward through his tears?
Seen his countenance of sorrow change,
and wear the victor's smile,
Seen him stand complete in triumph o'er
the bitterness of trial?

Winds have ne'er uprooted timber growing
deep beneath the sod ----
Strife has never conquered mortals who are
rooted deep in God.
-Byron E Debolt

First Suturing Experience!:)

It's after 11 p.m. and I've already been soundly asleep for several hours (bedtime comes early here as generally I'm exhausted.) I wake-up with a start at the sound of a woman's voice calling, "Thra-moo! Thra-moo!" from the other side of my mosquito net. It quickly registers that this must be an emergency. They've never called me out in the night before. I recognize the little woman standing outside my room as one of my neighbors. She tells me that her husband has fallen and that he's hurt. I deduce that drinking must have been involved. I had suspected a drinking problem at this house before. My jumbled brain attempts to unscramble as I wander over to gaze with some confusion at my supplies. I'm not prepared with a jump kit. My bad. What to expect? Finally I settle on my trusty stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, 4x4's, and a few other miscelanious items. Emily (who just happens to be visiting me for a few days) and I scurry down the path after the spry little woman. We reach their little bamboo hut and climb up the rickety ladder. I find the man sprawled on his stomach next to the smoky fire. Several miscelanious people sit around the little room. They point out his bloodied hair which upon my further investigation appears to be a scalp laceration that looks like it will require suturing. He also complains of severe lower back pain. And, no, I was not mistaken in assuming the involvement of alcohol. The cramped quarters are much less than ideal, but my EMT conscience doesn't permit me to move him (spinal precautions...) I leave Emily with them and take off back up the hill to get the supplies we'll need. Yikes! What was it that told me to study out anasthesia and some of these kinds of techniques earlier! Back at the hut I spread out the goods and give Emily quick instuctions as to how to be my gofer. I quickly decide that sterile procedure was not invented for situations such as this one. Smoke from the fire blows my way and tears stream down my face from the irritation. I attempt to keep his unruly hair out of the candle that was placed at his head and cut away the hair around the cut as best as I can (I will have razors on hand next time!) and clean up the blood. The laceration is not much more than an inch or so in length, but it looks deep, and semi-jagged, and I can see what looks like some layers or something. Meanwhile, Emily gives me what I need and expertly helps decifer what people are saying ( a lifesaver, especially under the stress!) My man's not making this easy, thrashing his head around just when I think I've got things under control. I take my syringe of lidocaine in shaky hand and with a deep breath (and yelp in Emily's direction for prayers) we do this thing. It goes well accept for when he thrashes again and lidocaine spray splatters my face. To my elation the lidocaine does it's job and things are moving right along here! No sooner do I have his head draped with 4x4's (OK, so sometimes you do what you got to do...) and got on my sterile (YES!!) gloves on, than my patient thrashes about knocking off my "drapes" and sending my alcohol cleansed instruments into rather precarious positions. Just to give you an idea of what I'm working with here, the fire's on one side of the man and I'm leaning over him while squeezed into maybe a foot of working space with the wall crowding me on the other side. The chief of the village leans over from the other side shinging a light for me and, finally, at my frustrated insistance, he helps hold down the patient's head. OK! Here goes my maiden stitch on a real and live human scalp! I pull it through and have the horrifying realization that with the stress of the moment (and lack of practice) I have no clue how to tie this thing. One failed. By this time the anasthesia's definitely wearing off. I fill another syringe and start over. With another plea for prayer in Emily's direction, I try again and to my tremendous relief the tying technique comes back to me. Halfway through I comment (in English) to Emily that I don't believe I shall ever forget my first suturing experience and right at that moment the head beneath me nods. Somehow that got my funny bone.:) I'm praying through it that God will make up for the lack in sterilness as I'm doing my best, but have just about given up. All finished. They voice their heartfelt thanks and even attempted to shove a hundred baht bill (approx. $3) into my hands.
Right now it's 3:19 a.m. and I'm sitting here with my clothes reeking of smoke writing while I let the adrenaline wear off. This was a good experience. I'll know better what to expect for next time and be better prepared!