The Claw Machine

Hey! Candace and I finished our weekend day shifts. It was a slow weekend which was somewhat of a relief because everyone has been working very hard lately. There were no emergency surgeries or difficult labors (except for one placenta that refused to come out until we took her back to the OR and threw some anesthesia into the mix. Jer, I bet you hated that extra detail didn’t you?). Then right as our shift came to a close, we received a pregnant lady who was seizing like crazy and foaming at the mouth, but we got her under control pretty quickly and she seemed to be doing well when we left.

Since I was off today, I went to the town of Epena with Joan (roommate, physicians assistant, and head of our HIV/TB program at the hospital). She goes to Epena once a month with some members of the government HIV program to see her patients and others as needed. It is an 85 kilometer trip and a beautiful drive. We crossed rivers and prairies and drove through forests and it was so great to explore south of Impfondo! Out of the seven patients we saw today, one was a little girl who had been hospitalized back in June for meningitis. She had a very slow recovery and when I last saw her before her discharge, we were helping her learn how to walk with a walker and she was still not interacting correctly. When she originally came out of her coma, she cried incessantly. After a few weeks, she would smile, laugh and cry, but her emotions were not appropriate. So, I was not sure what her long term prognosis would be. However, when she came today, I did not even recognize her! She walked right in the room and obeyed commands and talked and answered questions appropriately… It was so cool to see that!! We have three other patients like that right now who have similar stories to this girl, so it gives me a little more hope for their recovery. I do not know if this girl had any residual cognitive deficits or not. It is really hard to assess that with the language barrier, but she seemed to be doing so good. That was encouraging big time.

On the drive back, we stopped at a house at the edge of the forest because the family there has all these grapefruit trees and they sell them for SO cheap and they are SO good. How cheap and how good? Two dollars for twenty-seven HUGE grapefruits and they are so good. When we got there and told them we wanted to buy some grapefruits (‘pamplemousse’ in French) this kid who was probably ten years old shimmied up the grapefruit tree and climbed all around on the top branches and tossed them down. It was so crazy and dangerous because the trees were so tall and at one point, he even crossed from one tree to another while up on the branches. I was so afraid he would fall as a result of us wanting grapefruits. He didn’t seem worried though, and neither did his family and fellow villagers who were watching down below. Twenty seven grapefruits later, he climbed down the tree nonchalantly like it was no big deal. And that was when I decided that African kids have skills that us Americans just can’t compete with. Nothing else eventful happened on the way back, except we passed a group of people walking down the road holding this massive dead monkey that they had killed in the forest. One of the guys we were with wanted to buy it so we stopped to check it out. It was too expensive though, so we continued our journey without a dead monkey in tow.

I guess I should rewind to how the day started. As I sat at the table eating breakfast, Candace went outside to the trash pit to burn our trash. However, she had not been gone long when she came back into the kitchen and exclaimed, “I just did something really bad.” In my head I was thinking she must have accidentally burnt something of mine that I wanted. But, it turned out while she was emptying the trash, she saw a spider on the bottom of the trash can and she panicked threw it on the ground. The trash can then proceeded to bounce into the 20 foot deep trash pit. Though part of us wanted to count our losses and purchase a new trash can, we decided we should try to get it out because it was a perfectly good trash can. So, we found this role of metal rope/wire stuff and a massive iron hook and we duck taped them together and marched out to the pit. We then took turns dropping the hook down in the pit, trying to catch the lip of the trash can with the hook. It was really tricky though, because we obviously didn’t want to lose our fitting and fall into the pit and it was hard to guide with wire rope stuff accurately. BUT, after a few minutes of fishing in the pit, we successfully pulled out the trashcan! Talk about rewarding! And not to be cocky or anything, but claw machines have nothing on us. I mean, I dare a claw machine to not give me the stuffed animal.

That’s all for now. Thanks for your prayers and encouragement! Three weeks till my dad and sister get here!

A Little Bit of Everything

Hey everybody!! I am sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee
and waking up from my post-nightshift sleep. I am pretty tired
because when I work nights, I do not sleep very much because I
love being awake during the day! The obstacle course of passing
meds and taking vitals went way better this time, though I
definitely need to work on my speed. We had electricity most of
the time so that made a world of difference.

Freckles: The latest craze in Congo

Ok, so I think I have told you about our pediatric patient who was shot in the back about 8 months ago, and he is paralyzed? Well, he has been with us
probably 2 and a half months now and it has been so cool to watch
him change! When he first got here, I thought he had some kind of
cognitive deficits because he would just lie in his bed and cry
and grind his teeth and wring his hands. He had some major skin
breakdown too, so that is the primary thing we have worked on
since he came to us. With time, the crying and teeth grinding has
diminished and he eventually quit being afraid when we would give
him meds and take his vitals. The biggest change occurred when we
brought him a wheelchair we had in storage about a month ago. Now
he wheels all over the place and we can rarely find him in his
room! And he just talks and laughs and plays and it is the cutest
thing I have ever seen. His front teeth are missing so he has this
big toothless grin, it’s awesome.

When we have internet again, I will put up pictures. The other day he was out wheeling around on the side walk and he grabbed my hand and asked me what the brown spot on my hand was. I told him it was a freckle and that has
become his new favorite word. He tried to wipe it off my hand and
he was so confused. And he said it perfectly and it was hilarious because all day he talked about freckles, and I hardly ever new what he was saying but then I would hear the word “freckle” laced throughout his conversations. He has become best friends with this other patient who is probably 40, and he watches him when his mom leaves, so we were all sitting together and he started talking about freckles again and the three of us just laughed and laughed because he thought they were so funny. And the man hadnt previously known what freckles were, so it was all new to him too. I don’t really know why, but they think freckles are hilarious, so now we think they are funny too. Now he will just randomly yell “FRECKLE!” when Candace, Joan or I walk by, probably because it makes us laugh. I just love that kid and I wish you all could hang out with him, because you would love him too!

My education continues in the kitchen

Since we work 12 hour shifts now, we have 3 days off a week. This
week I got really restless with having so much time off, so I
started going over to the neighbor’s house in the mornings to have
a Lingala lesson with the guy who cooks for them. He has worked
for missionaries here for over 20 years and is such a good person.
Oftentimes, our ‘lessons’ turn into more historical and cultural
lessons in French, but that is great too because it is helpful in
understanding the people here better. He is so committed to the
Lord, so I like hearing his thoughts on the Bible and church etc,
coming from such a different background than me. I hope to keep
going over there whenever I have time.

Domestically speaking, this week I attempted to roast my own
coffee beans. They only have instant coffee here but they sell
dried coffee beans in the market. So, after one of the other
missionaries started experimenting with them, I wanted to give it
a try too. I don’t really know how to do it, but I put them in a
skillet and roasted them FOREVER until they turned black and
looked shiny. They looked great, but did not taste very flavorful.
The beans probably are not very good quality. But, if any knows
anything about roasting coffee beans, let me know because I would
be willing to try again! I would love to be able to make some good
coffee here.

On the frontlines of the war against rodents

Mouse wise, they are still going strong, minus the rat I think.
They offended us deeply by eating the peanuts off of our last two
peanut butter cookies yesterday. I mean, we were not happy when
the danced around in our flour bin, but eating our cookies was
just too much. We are still planning their demise. I will let you
know what happens. I did put some poison out on the counter a week
or two ago for the rat. That plan almost backfired though because
Candace, who loves snacks, thought it was oats sitting on the
counter and jokingly accused me of trying to poison her when she
found out what it was. I don’t think she really would have eaten
it though… Anyway, we think the rat died, though we never found
his body to prove it.

Still counting down for the arrival of my dad and sister! I cannot
wait for them to see and experience life here! Candace and I are
planning on going to the coast for a few days with one of the
missionary families right before my family gets here and right
before she goes back to the US, so I am excited about that. Even
though I love my patients, I think I am about ready to have a
little break. I have basically stayed within the same 10 mile
radius since April so it is time to expand my horizon. I am hoping
that I will come back refreshed for my remaining time here!

We walk through the shadow of the valley; He is with us

Please continue to pray for me! The Lord has been so faithful and
he is patiently teaching me so many things. Please pray for the
hospital and all of the staff who work here, both missionaries and
locals. It is not easy to keep everything functioning smoothly
with adequate staff and supplies and we have been at or over
capacity the past few weeks. Please pray for our patients, that
during their time with us they will experience the love of Jesus
through our efforts. I watched three people die over the past two
shifts…one a 22 week old baby, one an older man who had consumed
more alcohol than his body could handle, and one a guard malade of
a patient who just randomly dropped dead yesterday morning. I
started writing this blog yesterday after work, but have lost two
more patients since then. One yesterday afternoon and the other
one early this morning. The one that died this morning was one of
our HIV patients who was born with the disease and battled it for
16 years. He was been in and out of the hospital since I have been
here so we all felt a special connection to him. I got to sit with
him for a few hours yesterday evening and told him I would see him
today. I am so glad he is no longer suffering though and that he
has been restored. So anyway, even though those who died were all
very sick and we could no longer do anything to sustain them, it
still feels overwhelming sometimes.

Ok, that is all for now. Sorry to end on a depressing note! There are plenty of other patients in the hospital that are responding well to treatment and plenty of kids who are being treated for malaria and meningitis and burns
and all kinds of things, and that is good. Good things are still
happening everyday! So there. Now I ended on a positive note.
Philippians 3 and 4 are so great. I have been keeping some of
those verses in mind the past few days. Thanks for reading!

Obstacle Course

This morning, Candace and I finished our first two nights of night shift. Somehow, we had made it this long without being scheduled. Let me tell you, taking vital signs for 40+ people in the dark two times and giving them two diffferent sets of medications is no easy task. Before I continue describing the night shift experience, it is important that you know the term “guarde malade.” Each patient that is hospitalized brings their own “guarde malade” who basically helps them with activities of daily life, gets them food and medications, etc. There can be up to 2 guard malades per patient which automatically triples the number of people in each ward at any given time. So take 40 patients, triple that, add 6-10 kids, divide them among 8 small rooms, subtract light, add mosquitos, remove floor space to walk due to the number of mats and sleeping bodies, subtract air movement due to closed doors and windows to protect from the mosquitos, add mosquito nets for half of the guarde malades, maybe throw in the smell of kerosene and a little humidity, and that paints a pretty good picture of what the 10 pm and 6 am med pass looks like. It is kinda like an obstacle course with no prize at the end. If it was a real obstacle course though, I probably would have gotten some points deducted last night for kicking some guy in the head really hard. He was sleeping on the floor and I just couldn’t really see. It was bound to happen at some point and kinda impressive that I only kicked one person in the head. But he didn’t wake up, so that was good. Or maybe I knocked him out.

Anyway, yesterday morning Candace, Guy (Congolese nurse who is great!) and I went to pediatrics to give morning meds and it was exactly like the scene described above. However, I think every kid in the room started bawling at the same time and their siblings as well. When people here are stressed or sad or in pain, they say “Mama ay!” or “Papa ay” or “Tika na ngai” (leave me alone). So basically it sounded like a torture chamber with 8 little voices (plus some siblings) screaming for their parents and begging to be left alone. It was crazy. This morning we decided to do pediatrics last, which I think was good because it was a little lighter outside so it wasn’t like we ambushed them in the dark. Aside from the chaos of night and morning med pass, it was a pretty low key night. The hospital just changed to 12 hour shifts and some wards were moved around, so there is definitely some mass confusion going on, but we are hoping to find our stride soon. So all you nurses out there, just revel in the joy of automatic blood pressure cuffs and lights.

Candace and I are off tomorrow so we are planning on going to the market. We need to get some Coke because we made a deal with one of the other missionaries that if she makes us brownies from time to time, we will bring her Coke. She is amazing at baking. I am still trying to read alot and some of the missionaries next door have tons of books so I want to get through as many as possible. I have been busy at the hospital the last week and a half, so I have not had alot of time. That being said, I think I am going to go read. I just saw the mouse a little while ago in the kitchen, so he is still living the dream. Also, it looks like my dad and sister are finalizing their plans to come visit in a few weeks, and I CANNOT WAIT!! It will be incredible to see some family and to have them meet the people here and see what life is like. So you can begin praying for their plans as they work out the details!

Baking Bread and Castrating Pets

Ok, I am ashamed of how long it has taken me to blog. But honestly, not a lot has happened lately. I babysat for one of the missionary families today and then tomorrow I am going to work in the pharmacy depot doing inventory with Suzy, another missionary here. Her primary role is to help the pharmacy function more efficiently. Hence, the day of inventory. Supposedly it is going to take all day and be boring, but I am pretending like it will be a party so I am excited. I actually really enjoy monotonous tasks some times. Like in the lab on Tuesday afternoon, the lab guy (Florent) told me to make some cottons swabs out of sticks and cotton. So I just sat there and rolled cotton swabs, and I could have done it for an hour happily. I have gotten really good and completely zoning out and thinking, which helps when I have repetitive tasks to do.

I guess I will just mention a few highlights that have happened since my last blog. Candace and I went to the river and just laid on the bank for a few hours last weekend and that was wonderful and so much more peaceful than the mission and the hospital. Then, one day last week, I got a package from my friend Ashley! Big shout out to Ashley for being awesome. She sent it on April 29^th and it arrived July 23^rd and it definitely looked as though it had been on a long journey. Included in the package were Starbucks instant coffee packets, which was perfect. I drank two the next morning and started shaking. I forgot how strong Starbucks coffee was…

The next good thing that happened was getting a phone call from my grandparents on Monday! Since arriving in Congo, all of our communication attempts have failed, so it was such a blessing to get to talk to them! Hang on…I need to get some bread out of the oven. Ok, got it. Hopefully it is done. Sometimes it doesn’t bake all the way through because our oven just has one temperature (super hot), so we really can’t control it. Also, it turns out we have a rat and mice living in the house. That was an unpleasant surprise. The rat is kinda funny though because every night around 9 he makes a beeline from the hallway across the living room into the kitchen. I don’t know what he is so panicked about. Then two nights ago while I was reading in the living room, I saw the mice running around by the kitchen. Luckily, Isabelle (another teenage daughter or Dr. Harvey) happened to come over to the house with a bunch of cats following her, so we let one in to hunt the mice. Though it searched hard, no mice were found. We are gonna have the cat over again though for round two of mouse hunt soon. Speaking of Isabelle, I need to talk about how great she is really quick, because she says things like, “I always take an umbrella when I go bat hunting,” and “Did you hear about our dog? We castrated him today,” and “Did you hear about the Wegner’s cat? We castrated him today.” She is fun.

Lets see…what else? Honestly, sometimes I feel kind of discouraged because it doesn’t always feel like I’m making an impact because outcomes in the hospital still don’t always turn out as I’d like. That is probably a big reason that I havn’t blogged. So if you want to pray for me, you can pray that my joy will be in the Lord and that my contentment will come from being obedient to him, regardless of results or feelings or whatever. Or you can pray whatever you want! Thanks. Also, I have been loving some Psalms lately. Like Psalm 84:7 which talks about those whose strength is in the Lord go from “strength to strength til each appear before the Lord in Zion,” and verse 11 which says “no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.” That really fits in with Psalm 85:12 “The Lord will indeed give what is good…” The Lord will renew our strength as we seek him and he will give us the good things that we need. Maybe not what we want necessarily, but what is good. I also just finished this book called Mimosa written by Amy Carmichael. The story is about a woman in India who, as a child, was briefly told about Jesus one afternoon and even though she had no Bible and no followup, she lived her entire live fully committed to the Lord despite being an outcast in her community and having absolutely no support or guidance except that which was given by the Lord. It was an incredible story and a great testimony of how the Lord can really draw people to himself. I guess thats all for now!

All things new!

As Candace, Joan and I ate our usual Friday night dinner of pancakes, we were reflecting on the week and couldn’t decide if it had flown by or been super slow. So, I will just recap some of it for you. I don’t remember when I blogged last, but I will start my recap on Saturday. I mentioned in my last post that my friend from college, Sarah, was getting married on Saturday. So I called her Saturday morning and got to talk to her and my friend Bethany for a long time before they started getting ready for the wedding. I was so sad to miss out on being with her as she got ready, but she told me that she would set up her computer so I could watch the wedding via skype. At 8:00 on Saturday night, I got a ride to the hospital and set up my computer and watched Sarah and Doug get married via skype, halfway around the world. It was awesome! The call dropped like 12 times, but one of their friends kept reconnecting me so I could keep watching. I was so incredibly happy to be able to be a part of that huge milestone in their life! And I even got to chat with some friends briefly after the wedding because someone set the computer on this table at the reception. It was kinda funny.

Sunday was pretty normal…some girls came over and braided my hair, and then we went to our weekly Sunday night worship service at the Harvey’s house next door. However, on the way across the lawn, we spotted a women laying beside the driveway behind the Harvey’s house. One of the girls who had been braiding my hair was like “Oh, she just had a baby!” And sure enough, she was on her way to the clinic next to our house but didn’t make it in time. So she birthed the baby beside the driveway, between Dr. Harvey and Dr. Fuka’s house. She had her suitcase packed and her baby clothes and everything. So Dr. Harvey came out with his leather medical bag and cut the cord and all that, and it was very Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. It was then and there that I decided I really should learn to deliver babies. I have told the maternity nurses here multiple times that I am afraid of pregnant woman and I typically do not go to that area, but I might give it another chance. Then after the worship service, we went to the middle of town to watch the final game of the World Cup on the big screen that was sponsored by one of the phone service providers so everyone could watch the games for free. I was definitely rooting for Spain, especially when I saw how dirty the other team played. We were happy they won. That was fun, even though I got bored and had to take a short nap on the sidewalk. And I realized that at home I typically wouldn’t sleep on pavement in public, but things are just different here.

Tuesday turned out to be a rough day, because we lost one of our pediatric patients that night right before my shift ended. It was awful because I had worked in the pediatric ward a lot lately and I was just not prepared for that to happen to him and it really shouldn’t have, but its complicated. One of the cultural traditions here is that when someone dies, the family of the patients and whoever else happens to be around at the time begin wailing and crying. It is kinda eerie, because whenever you here it start you know immediately that someone died. That was especially hard to hear on Tuesday night when we finished the ‘code’ we tried to run. That situation hit a lot of us hard and it still occupies my thoughts. He was the cutest kid! I think I just spent Wednesday recovering from that night. I did go to the hospital and worked on better organizing emergency drugs so we would be better prepared next time. And as it turns out, that “next time” was this morning at the beginning of my shift when we lost another pediatric patient. She had been declining so we were not surprised, but it is still hard to watch a child die before your eyes and know that there is nothing you can do to stop it. We did all we could do in our setting and it just wasn’t enough. I really want us to have a success. And we do have alot of successes; they just aren’t as memorable as the deaths I guess. When it comes down to it, I just expect people to be alive. That is the norm. So, death and sadness has been a huge part of this week and that has been hard. I am glad that it is the weekend. Me and Candace are doing dressing changes tomorrow morning but that is all. I talked to my sister a lot after losing that kid on Tuesday and she emailed me the verse in Revelations 21:4-5 “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”" Whatever things we can’t fix here, he will make it new! No more children with low hemoglobins and difficulty breathing and low oxygen saturation levels and sepsis. He can redeem the imperfections we have witnessed here. And for now, he isn’t wiping away our tears. He is letting them fall freely. But one day he will.

Thanks again for your prayers and support. You all are a blessing to me! Also, I would love it if you could pray for my dad too as he works on plans to come visit me in September.

This and That…

Things at the hospital seem to have slowed down a little bit. I am sure we will get another wave of intensity soon, but the past week has not been as busy. Yesterday, I worked in the lab because they were understaffed. It was nice to have a change of scenery and to learn how things in the lab work. It was hard though because it is kinda like cooking different meals for like 10 people at once because you have these tests everywhere being timed and you have to keep track of whose test is whose and the result and write it in a million places and all that. And then, you have to stick all these kids’ fingers and they cry and scream “Nakufi!!” which means “Im dying!!” And then they jerk their little hands away and blood goes everywhere. I stuck this one little girl’s finger and she did all the things listed above, and when her and her mom merely walked by the lab door later that day she just started bawling. It was sad. That part of lab work is not fun, but I don’t know how to make little kids think that getting stuck in the finger with a needle will be fun and until I figure that out, “Nakufi!!” it is. I will probably be working there more often though as long as they are understaffed.

Yesterday, Candace was given a big sugar cane stick by one of our patients in the men’s ward and since she accepted it, she is probably accidentally engaged. So, her life just took a big turn and it looks like she will be staying here forever with a man who has chronic ulcers related to hypercholesterolemia. Tough luck. I am feeling pretty accomplished today because I scrubbed our shower curtain that was covered in mold, and it all came off! Two points me, no points mold. Did I ever tell you all about the tailor? How me and Olivia took fabric to the tailor, and then he moved away and we couldn’t find him? Well, Olivia found him and everything looked really good! But, when I tried on my dress I couldn’t get it over my head and I almost had a panic attack because I was stuck. Something about making full length cotton dresses with no zippers or buttons just makes them hard to get on. Apparently the tailor thought I had a head the size of an infant too, which is not the case.

I did spend some time on the 4^th thinking about future plans, but not a ton. I was talking to Sus on the phone last night about how great it is that we don’t have to worry about the future, because the Lord will provide and take care of all of those details. I have various ideas about things I will pursue, but it is all on the back burner until December. This morning I was reading this book called Realizing the Presence of the Spirit by Margaret Therkelson, and it led me to Hebrews 4. This chapter talks about the word of God as living and active and how we can approach Jesus with freedom and confidence to receive mercy and grace in our time of need. And as I was reading and praying this morning, I was just thinking about how faithful the Lord has been in giving me grace and mercy and how much I have needed that since getting here. I feel like so much of my weakness and selfishness has been revealed since coming here, but I also see how the word of the Lord has actively been working in me as well. Seeing that happen is like the biggest blessing ever, just to be reminded that the Lord will change us and mold us as we approach him and ask him to help us. I am very thankful for this.

Saturday night Tabitha came over and braided my hair while we watched the Lion King on Candace’s computer. Last night I decided it was time to take the braids down, so Candace and I watched old episodes of the Office that I found on my computer. It takes a while to take braids down. Anyway, it was fun watching The Office because I had not watched it in a really long time.

Well, that basically covers everything since Saturday night. Thanks for reading and thanks for praying!

Happy 4th of July!

I would like to start this blog by wishing America a big Happy Birthday. Normally, the 4^th of July is one of my favorite holidays. I love the fireworks and festivities and I feel like it is always a perfect summer day. The past few years, I have commenced each 4^th of July in downtown Lexington, running the Bluegrass 10k with my friend Hannah Stone. Though I rarely train effectively for the race, it is a tradition that Hannah and I have remained committed to, each year shaving a few minutes off of our previous time. I won’t mention our times…they aren’t that impressive. But, this year, I am in Africa and she is in Paris, so it kinda worked out well. It just wouldn’t have been the same running it without her, and since she isn’t there to run it without me, I don’t feel left out. Someone asked me how I was going to celebrate the 4^th , and I decided that if I want to think about America and future life plans today, I will let myself. I have tried really hard to focus on being here and not being too distracted by homesickness and thinking about my next step. However, I love thinking about the future and I love planning and I love home, so I decided that today, I am going to pray about my next step when I get home and think through some things I might want to pursue. But only for today. I am kinda excited about it! It is already 12:00 and I have not started thinking about home yet, so I am pretty impressed with my self restraint.

Medically, I am feeling unprepared. We lost two more pediatric patients on Friday night and I feel like I need to have a better grasp of physiologic processes. I know that I came here with little experience, but I do not want to lose any of the foundation I had built during nursing school and my time working.

Biblically, I have been spending time in the New Testament. Me and Sus have been talking about Philippians 1:21 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” That is such an awesome verse, but the grammar seems weird. “To live is Christ…” What does that really mean? It challenges me to think about the characteristics and attributes of Jesus and how my live should be spent emulating him day in and day out. Any other thoughts about this verse? Anyone? I also want to give a shout out to my friend Lydia who came here back in April to teach a seminar on music at one of the churches here in Impfondo. She has been so faithful in praying for me and sent me this verse the other day from Lamentations 3:21-24 “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”